catgate Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 OS = W98SEI am trying to check if my XHD is operational. I have taken it out of its enclosure and put it in to my machine with the jumper set to "slave". The BIOS picks it up as slave but when I look at My Computer it does not show. I seem to think that in the past, when I have added a slave drive, the machine itself has allocated a sequential drive letter. So what have I forgotten to do? Or does this mean the answer is a lemon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 My memory of W98 is dim but, try RIGHT clicking on My Computer then click Manage -> Disk Management and see what that brings up.I should ask though, why are you testing out of its case and as a slave in your main box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 My memory of W98 is dim but, try RIGHT clicking on My Computer then click Manage -> Disk Management and see what that brings up.I should ask though, why are you testing out of its case and as a slave in your main box?Well it's a long sad tale...but then aren't they all?I have been suffering dropout from BB for a long time, and I decided to put together the XHD in order to have a back up of everything before attacking my machine seriously. Having got all safely recorded I wiped and reformatted my HDD and reloaded W98SE.Of course I had wasted my time, just as I had wasted endless hours previously, looking for bugs and gobblethripes that were not there. So I did not use the contents of my XHDMy next move was to take my newer computer, which was my Linux experiment machine, wipe it free of stuff and reformat it. I then loaded W98SE.Over the next few weeks it became apparent that again I had failed in my objective, but then during a 'phone conversation with a friend, who is an electronics wizard, he was telling me of problems he had been having with drop out. He told me he had cured it by putting ferrite rings round the input and output leads of his modem, to suppress the interference caused by spikes, emanating from central heating switching.By next morning I too had a couple of ferrite rings fitted (from Maplins) and since then I have had no drop out problems (yet).I now want to get at the info on my XHD, but, in the way of computers world wide, it will not play. The fan in the enclosure works, so there must be a few amps getting there. So its down to either the driver for it or the HDD in the enclosure, because other USB attachments seem to work quite happily.A few days ago either Doug or AllenHo was complaining of a newish Matrox HDD that had given up the ghost and I thought it worthwhile just to try the HDD in the tower rather than the enclosure. In that way I felt I would have the answer. But...... Sadly right clicking on My Computer does not bring up Manage, or anything else that looks even vaguely co-operative. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 I'm sorry but it's just the fact that it's W98 that's confusing me. As I inimated in the reply, it's a long time since I looked at this O/S and my memory is fading because of age.If, though, you are getting everything else working on your USB ports and you can get no life out of your USB HD - even out of its box - it does suggest that there is something wrong with it. As a point of interest, what brand is the HDD in the USB box, assuming it's a standard IDE model (they usually are) as I've seen some with either no markings on the case or (worse) had identifiers scratched off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 I'm sorry but it's just the fact that it's W98 that's confusing me. As I inimated in the reply, it's a long time since I looked at this O/S and my memory is fading because of age.If, though, you are getting everything else working on your USB ports and you can get no life out of your USB HD - even out of its box - it does suggest that there is something wrong with it. As a point of interest, what brand is the HDD in the USB box, assuming it's a standard IDE model (they usually are) as I've seen some with either no markings on the case or (worse) had identifiers scratched off.It is a Matrox that I bought (I think) from DABS about eight months ago in order to build the unit. It was because of the make, and the comments a couple of weeks or so ago on WF., that I thought it prudent to check it separated from its enclosure and attendant bits.It shows up in the BIOS boot up screen, and also Start>Control Panel>System>Device Manager shows it to be there, so there must be some handshake going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 OK, has the drive ever been operational?Forgive me for asking this but, if the answer to the previous question is "no" then did you format the drive when you first had it? If not, it will not be recognised as a drive anywhere but in the BIOS and device manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Yes it has been operational. Not on this computer, but on the one on which the dropout problem originally manifested itself. It was formatted and it would write and read with no trouble. On that computer I had a USB2 PCI card (and driver) but this computers Motherboard has built in USB2 (x4) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Oh!!Do you still have the other (old) machine so you can check the drive on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Oh!!Do you still have the other (old) machine so you can check the drive on that?Yes I do, but it has got one of the Linux 57 varieties on it at present. That having been said, it would be a worthwhile thing to try.I shall have a go, somehow, even if it means reformatting and reinstalling W98SE. As Captain Oates said," I may be gone for some time".I need to sit down for a while. I have been sowing two types of beans, spinach and celeriac and erecting the broadbean scaffold. It is the first day for months that the garden has been friable. Tomorrow we are promised rain, so there is my 'window of opportunity'.Thanks pops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalhandy Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Oh!!Do you still have the other (old) machine so you can check the drive on that?Yes I do, but it has got one of the Linux 57 varieties on it at present. That having been said, it would be a worthwhile thing to try.I shall have a go, somehow, even if it means reformatting and reinstalling W98SE. As Captain Oates said," I may be gone for some time".I need to sit down for a while. I have been sowing two types of beans, spinach and celeriac and erecting the broadbean scaffold. It is the first day for months that the garden has been friable. Tomorrow we are promised rain, so there is my 'window of opportunity'.Thanks pops.What fileing system was used to format the drive? If it was NTFS win98 shouldnt pick it up/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 What fileing system was used to format the drive? If it was NTFS win98 shouldnt pick it up/It was originally formatted using W98SE (presumably FAT32) and has since written and read using W98SE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Have you tried slaving it in the linux box? rather than refinstalling 98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Have you tried slaving it in the linux box? rather than refinstalling 98Not yet. I will see what transpires in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.