Help Installing a second Drive

[Galashiels]

Hi
I am trying to install a second hard drive in a 486DX running windows 3.1 & Dos 6.2. I need the extra drive to get to load Win95.
I have set up the drive in the bios and formated it but the PC does not seem to recognize that its there as I can Not see it in Explorer. What do I need to do to get this to work.
Also having problems with the CD Rom as it was D drive, now needed by the new Drive I have set it to E but the Pc freezes after running the load drivers in autoexec. Any suggestions?

Thanks
John
Just to add the new drive is 1.2 gig, I assume I will need a file to allow all of that to be used.


[This message has been edited by Galashiels (edited 05-23-2001).]

[Eeyore]

How big is the new drive? If it is over 2.1gb, you will need an overlay program such as EZ-BIOS. Depending on the computer, this could be necesary for a drive over 512mb as well. This allows a computer to recognize a drive larger than the computer was designed to handle.

Also, if you Partitioned it with a Windows 95b (osr2) or later, and choose Large Drive support, DOs 6.x and Windows 95a will not be able to see the drive.

I have have problems with my CDROM while running the EZ-BIOS program. That might be your problem with the CDROM.

For more on Partitioning, see Partitioning/FDISK (http://www.geocities.com/politalk/dos/partiton.htm). For more on setting up the CDROM at DOS, see CDROM at DOS (http://www.geocities.com/politalk/cdrom/dos.htm).

Let us know what you find.
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My
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Dennis
Politalk (http://www.geocities.com/politalk)


[This message has been edited by Eeyore (edited 05-23-2001).]

[davidgsmith]

Just asking....
Wouldn't some type of 'Boot Manager' also be needed?
Dave http://server3006.freeyellow.com/images4u/smoke.gif

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Check Ledger 2001 (http://www.geocities.com/asdf85016/ledger2001/index.html) *** Help (http://www.thehungersite.com) others less fortunate.

[rambler]

Did you add the second drive as a master on second IDE? If so, try it as a slave on IDE 1. Some older IDE's weren't fully configured on channel 2.

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I wouldn't be paranoid if everyone wasn't out to get me...

[dacomputers]

Hi Galashels:

You said you "have set up the drive in the bios and formated it". Did you format it in the BIOS? If so that is a lowlevel format and, depending on your BIOS may mess up the drive.

In any case, after making sure that the new drive is on the same cable as the old HD, and that the old one is set up as a 'primary with slave' and the new one is set as the 'slave', you'll need to run FDISK from DOS and set up an 'Extended DOS partition on the new drive' and assign a logical drive or drives to the space.

After FDISK is done shut down the system and bring it back up in DOS. Run Format X: where X is the drive letter(s) FDISK assigned to the new drive. Your new disk should be recognized at this point.

Note: some of the old 486 machines were unable to address a drive larger than 520 MB. If that's the case you may find that your drive only has 520 MB available and you'll need to flash or replace your BIOS or go to a boot manager like davidsmith suggested.

Good Luck, http://discussions.virtualdr.com/wink.gif

DA

[Galashiels]

I think this is screwed up big time.
I formated it in the bios, then tried to run Fdisk but got the message 'incorrect dos version'. I have Dos 6.2.
I can not boot from a floppy even after creating a system disk it just says 'Non-System disk or disk error'
I had a backup of the drive but it won't read from A drive writes OK suggests the A drive is stuffed? I have checked all the cables, beginning to think this may be consigned to the scrap heap.
I was thinking of reinstalling after a format of the existing drive but if it don't read then I'm stuffed.
Any suggestions? is it worth it?
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/frown.gif

John

[dacomputers]

Hi John:

It's easy for a "simple" change to get totally out of control and leave you feeling like just giving up. I suggest that you step back and take on the problems one at a time.

Remove the new hard drive and set the jumpers on the original one to "Master only". Then go into the BIOS Setup and make sure that that drive is set up correctly. While you are in BIOS Setup check on the floppy too just to make sure that it's settings are correct and if you also have a 5-1/4 drive, that the swap drives function is disabled. Also check the boot sequence, it should be set to "A, C" not "C, A" or "C only".

Now see if you can boot from that old reliable hard drive again (remember to remove the floppy disk). If you can, try booting from the floppy drive again. If that doesn't work It's a bad drive or a bad floppy. Make sure the access light on the floppy flashes as it is accessed (Steady on indicates that it is connected wrong). A cleaning disk may restore it to operation or you may just have to replace it if it won't read.

Only after you are positive that everything is working correctly should you begin to try to install the new drive again. That keeps the problems down to a single device rather than suspecting everything on the system.

Good Luck, http://discussions.virtualdr.com/wink.gif

DA