Thrown for a loop

[torontoSatGuy]

Now I'm really confused...

I just installed my registered copy of Winhex on a clean PC running WinME. Software installed perfectly and was ready to go.

Problem - The boot sequence for the drives is very confusing. Unlike most PC's where it detects all of the drives in sequence and then begins to start Windows, this machine was different. It started the boot process, read the CD/floppy drives, and then went to a blank screen. After a second it then comes up with a new screen showing all additional drives and 3rd party hardware, etc.

I tried the IDE cable technique several times between the boot of the CD and time the drives are shown to get the machine to take the drive... nothing worked. If I paused the system right after the machine had detected the CD/Floppy, connected the DTV, the system froze. If I plugged it in and continued on just before the drive page came up, the drive was never detected.

All cables were checked and secure. Drive was powering up fine inside computer.

Any suggestions? I was wondering if Virus Scan software (which this WinME PC had) messes with the boot sequence at all. Is it some BS to do with WinME?

Help would be appreciated. I'm about pull out my hair.

[RiseStar]

Have you gone into your BIOS to make sure that the boot sequence it correctly set? You may have the boot from HDD disabled or you may have the HDD manually configured. Your boot sequence should be

1.Floppy
2.CD ROM
3.HDD


If your HDD is manually configured, try setting it to AUTO. Also make sure that your jumpers are set correctly on the drive and you have it in the correct position on the IDE cable. If the drive is a MASTER, and you have a dual IDE cable, you should be using the middle connection, if it is a SLAVE, use the end connection.

[torontoSatGuy]

I thank you for the follow up, but I've already tried the textbook solutions on this. DTV drive was in proper pin position for slave mode. Also went into the BIOS on the PC and tried many different drive bootup configs w/ manual/auto settings. The Slave DTV was also on the last IDE connection. I just don't understand where the problem is.

[chrissy]

I might be new to UTV HDD problems, but not with computer hardware. I deal with this all the time, build computers.
Try this: remove the Master/Slave jumper from both hard drives, that way the computer uses the cable to set drive priority. Just make sure that the drive with the OS is ide0 in the bios and is at the end of the ide cable.

[RiseStar]

What type of drive is it, an ATA66 or ATA100/133?

If it is an ATA100/133 then make sure you are using 80wire IDE cable, not the old 40 wire type.

Also have you tried plugging the drive into the secondary IDE port and seeing if it can boot from that one?

Also double check that your IDE controller is enabled in your bios