Computer help needed! - Master/Slave Internal Hard-drive situation...

[MinionZombie]

A while ago my "slave" hard-drive had a bit of a wig-out and stopped working - after a restart it seemed fine and hasn't given me any problems in months. I wasn't too fussed if it conked out in the end as the data is all backed up elsewhere.

Of course, today it conked out (after 7.5 years of being there, most of which was heavy use until the last couple of years) - and because the slave drive is busted, the computer can't start up - the slave drive just click/bleeps and attempts to spin-up, but fails and just cycles around click/bleep-attempted-spin-up and repeat.

What I want to know is - how do I disconnect the slave drive and make it so the computer doesn't know there's one there at all, so I can just work from the master drive (which is what I've been doing exclusively for a year or two now).

I've uploaded a couple of pictures showing the layout - tell me what to do in simple English, please ... I'm not a particular genius when it comes to the guts of a computer (and yes, I'll give it another dust-out when I perform this disconnecting of the slave hard-drive).

The master is on top, the slave is below:
http://yfrog.com/16p1020052xj

Another angle, might have to rotate left to get the angle correct:
http://yfrog.com/0ip1020050aj

Another view, master on top, slave below, might have to rotate left for correct view - master has the white plastic thing in that little recessed box with five two-sets of gold pins inside it:
http://yfrog.com/5zp1020051doj

My question is - as a simple work around for the time being so I can continue using the computer - can I do something with one of those little plastic pin covers on the slave drive to stop it from being recognised? Or, move the one on the Master drive to another position so the computer assumes that the C Drive (aka Master drive) is the only drive in the rig?

and

How would I remove the slave drive completely and continue working with just the master HDD - i.e. which cables to go where etc?

Would I just unplug the power cable and the IDE cable from the slave drive? - Would that cut the slave "D" drive out of 'the loop', so-to-speak, and allow the rig to run with just the master "C" drive just fine?

That method worked, by accident, on my master/slave CD/DVD disc drive set-up in the same computer (replaced slave writer wasn't showing up, I moved/removed the plastic thing and it was then recognised).

[LouCipherr]

What I want to know is - how do I disconnect the slave drive and make it so the computer doesn't know there's one there at all, so I can just work from the master drive (which is what I've been doing exclusively for a year or two now).

MZ - to do that, it should be as simple as pulling the data cable (the wide ribbon IDE cable) and power cable off your slave drive. Upon reboot, the BIOS should automatically detect the slave is longer there and only see the master drive and it should boot fine as long as there's no issues with your master drive.

The ONLY way this wouldn't work is if you are using "cable select" on the jumpers on your drives. Meaning, both hard drives little jumpers are set to "CS" (usually how it's labeled - you might have to pull them to take a look at the label on top of the drive that explains the jumper positions).

If that is indeed the case, then all you have to do is unplug the data & power cable from your SLAVE drive, then change the jumper on your MASTER drive to "MASTER" from "CS"

That's it, you should be in business.



***Edited to add: judging from the pics, if the IDE cable labeled "MASTER" is indeed hooked to your MASTER drive, then simply unplugging the IDE & power cables to your SLAVE drive should work perfectly fine and you can ignore the jumper switch thing I explained above. ;)

[Rancid Carcass]

Would I just unplug the power cable and the IDE cable from the slave drive? - Would that cut the slave "D" drive out of 'the loop', so-to-speak, and allow the rig to run with just the master "C" drive just fine?

Yeah do that - it detects what's plugged into it when it's booting up, if there's nothing attached to the wires it just potters along like you don't have one - lousy memory computers, a bit like goldfish... :D

[MinionZombie]

Thanks lads, I was hoping to hear it'd be that easy - will try it in a bit.

Lou - yeah, the wire goes from the master drive, loops into the slave drive, then heads for the motherboard. Will report back once I've tried it.

Also, seeing as I'd have to uplug it all anyway, I figured it was time for an air-dusting ... and blimey, even though I'd only dusted it out a year or two ago, it was like a snowstorm of dust.

...

I was writing when the thing conked out, and it seemed to be auto-saving my script at the time, so no doubt that file is corrupted - however, me being me, I have a few copies backed up so I'll go from there. Will have only lost about 1.5 pages of changes & additions.

---------- Post added at 07:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 PM ----------

UPDATE:

I should have know it wouldn't be piss easy...

I removed the power and IDE cables from the slave "D" drive ... plugged everything back in and started up the computer.

The screen where it detects your drives took quite a while to do it's business, and came up with "Primary Slave (or whatever it is): None." (as it should). Then it went onto another page I hadn't seen before, which must be because the situation has changed inside the case ... anyway, got to this point:

"Verifying DMI Pool Data" (and took a while about it)

Then it came up with:

Boot from CD:
Boot from CD:
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Tried pressing enter anyway and it was just a black screen with a flashing "_" in the top left corner.

Obviously I don't wanna re-install windows or anything like that, or lose any of my existing data (why should I, after all, I'm just removing a broken 2nd hard-drive from the rig, and Windows is installed on the working "master" "C" drive) ... very confused, and searching Google doesn't give me any suitable answers. :confused:

Could this be something to do with the order in which components are booted up - "boot order"? I remember a while back having to jig those around for some reason ... might be computer still having the slave "D" drive in its "boot order"?

Or might I have to change the jumper on the master "C" drive from "Master" to "CS/Cable Select"?

So guys - l'il help? :o

[Craig]

http://www.made2mentor.com/Images/jurassicholdbutts.jpg

Not at all helpful but I could not resist, sorry.

[LouCipherr]

MZ - It seems like it's trying to boot from the CD-ROM drives only, can't find a windows or OS disc and just stops and doesn't try to find the HDD.

Do you know how to get into the BIOS of your machine? Usually, when you first turn it on and it's at the 'POST' screen (showing amount of memory, doing the self-test before windows comes up, showing what drives are hooked up, etc) - you can hit a button - usually DEL or F2 or F12 or something - it'll usually say it on the screen if it doesn't flash too quickly - if you manage to get into the BIOS, then you should be able to set which drive it boots to first. Usually, in the BIOS it's called "BOOT DEVICE ORDER" - it might take some digging around in there to find it, just be careful not to change anything by accident other than the boot order. Anyway, I would set it to boot from your HDD first, then one of your CD-ROM's 2nd and it doesn't matter really what's third.

That could and sounds like it should be the solution, but I'm not sure. Give it a shot and report back.

Also, make note in the BIOS to see if it is indeed seeing your MASTER drive and you just didn't unook the SLAVE by accident. I know, I know, you know this i'm sure, but I have to cover all bases. :lol: If you don't see a hard drive listed as a MASTER IDE device in the BIOS, then you have bigger problems - like your HDD isn't being recognized. If THAT is the case, check your IDE cable connection to your motherboard.

If your drive is seen and if changing the boot order doesn't work, then I would indeed change the jumper on your master drive to "master" and try again, making sure it's booting to the HDD fist, just to make sure

It would be so much easier if I could sit down with it and get hands on with the sucker. Could get it up and running in minutes. :mad:

[MinionZombie]

The "master" drive is indeed recognised to be there - Primary "master" HDD comes up, Primary "slave" HDD no longer comes up (the slot is now listed as "none") and then it has the two disc drives (a CD/DVD reader, and a CD/DVD writer).

I unhooked the slave drive for sure, and have checked that nothing is dislodged at all or anything, so will try this BIOS thingymy out (if memory serves I have to press DEL, or so it said anyway, but I think last time I had to go into BIOS I was told to press F12 ... hmmm).

Will report back shortly.