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976
Living Room / Re: Kodak (Complaint)
« Last post by techidave on February 28, 2008, 05:11 PM »
Maybe we should start another thread to see who lives the farthest away from the nearest Wal Mart.  I am 45 miles.
977
Living Room / Re: look at the size of my recycle bin !!!
« Last post by techidave on February 27, 2008, 10:15 PM »
Will this program work on Windows XP?  I didn't find anything on their site that showed requirements for the OS.   :(
978
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 27, 2008, 09:57 PM »
Well I received an answer this evening.  Didn't tell me anything I hadn't already figured out.

Dear Dave,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.

If it is the only drive on the cable, then there shouldn't be any jumpers on the drive. If there are two drives, then one will need to be set to Master and the other to Slave. If that doesn't work, set both drives to Cable Select.

Answer Title: Jumper settings for WD 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch EIDE drives.
Answer Link: http://wdc.custhelp....p_created=1005005461

Answer Title: Potential problems when an EIDE hard drive is jumpered incorrectly in a PC.
Answer Link: http://wdc.custhelp....p_created=1088531904

Sincerely,
John E.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com
979
Living Room / Re: fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 26, 2008, 06:03 AM »
Can you recommend a good S.M.A.R.T diagnostics tool that is inexpensive or free.  I believe this would be a good thing to have since my 250 machines are spread out over 3 buildings in 3 different towns and are 7-12 miles apart from the town in the center.   :(
980
Living Room / Re: fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 09:39 PM »
maybe that is why he has never gotten around to writing a new manual??  Personally, I never understood his mumbo jumbo and actually haven't used the program for a year or two since I could never really verify it did much. 

Looks like trying the mfg's software may be the best way to go when a drive is going bad.  Since we are a small public school in the USA, money is always tight. 

During the summer when I usually run MemTest and reghost each student machine, I may have to add the mfg's diagnostic test to this project.  Maybe it will save some headaches as the new school year progress.
981
Living Room / Re: fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 08:38 PM »
Ok so this brings another question.  How does what Spinrite does differ than what WD Diags or anyone's elses do??  Hope you can understand that last question.  <grin>

982
Living Room / Re: fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 08:07 PM »
Whoa!  Sounds like I touched a nerve with fodder about Spinrite. :o  But lets not get into badmouthing others, ok.  The good thing about this particular hard drive is it's a classroom computer used by students, I can just re-ghost it and it will be up and running in short order.
983
Living Room / Re: fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 06:16 PM »
I think I will let it go back to the classroom as it and see what happens.  I could run Spinrite on it but it takes so long to complete.  I could wait and run it over the weekend to see how it does.

Dave
984
Living Room / fixing hard drive errors with WD Diags
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 04:14 PM »
I have a question about Western Digital Diagnostics testing procedure.  If I run the extended test, it first runs the quick test.  It found a read error of -23 (or maybe a -3) but i don't remember for sure.  It then asked if I wanted to go ahead with the extended test and I said yes.  At the end it said it had fixed the problem but didn't ask me if I wanted to fix the problem it just went ahead and did it.

Should I trust that it did fix it?? :tellme:  This  was a WD300BB drive made back in 2001.  I went and rested the drive and it didn't find any errors.

I am not sure about putting this  back in the classroom and then having to redo it again a month for now.   :-\

This is the first time I have had the diags fix a problem so I am a little hesitant if it will run for a long time or not.

Dave
985
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 03:07 PM »
Apparently it is an XP issue??  :tease:

I am waitin on a reply back from WD support (hopefully).  But I did find this:

    How do I configure a WD EIDE drive using the Alternate Jumper Settings?
     Answer
     When NOT to use Alternate Jumper Settings:

    * If you are running Windows NT/2000/XP.

    * If the system can boot with just one jumper on the drive without locking up.

    * If the drive is installed on an IDE controller card that is providing support to access the full drive capacity.


When to use Alternate Jumper Settings
The most common scenario when a drive should be configured with the Alternate Jumper Settings is when the system hangs up or freezes upon boot up after auto-detecting all IDE devices. The reason for this error is because the drive capacity is larger than what the system can support.

What happens after the drive is configured with the Alternate Jumper Settings
The full capacity of the drive is not recognized. In order for the system to boot properly, the BIOS will recoginze smaller drive capacity. Depending on your BIOS, your drive will recongize one of the following sizes: 2.1GB, 8.4GB, 32GB.

Configuring a single (alone on the IDE cable) drive with the Alternate Jumper Settings
If you are connecting your drive as the only IDE device on the cable, place the jumper shunts on pins 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. Connect the drive to the black connector at the end of the cable.

Configuring a primary or dual Master drive with the Alternate Jumper Settings
If you are connecting your drive as the Master drive on the cable with another IDE device, place the jumper shunts on pins 1 & 2 and 5 & 6. Then configure the jumper on the other IDE device as Slave. Connect the drive to the black connector at the end of the cable and the other IDE device to the gray connector located at the middle of the cable.

Configuring a secondary or dual Slave drive with the Alternate Jumper Settings
If you are connecting your drive as the Slave drive on the cable with another IDE device, place the jumper shunts on pins 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Then configure the jumper on the other IDE device as Master. Connect the drive to the gray connector at the middle of the cable and the other IDE device to the black connector located at the end of the cable.

Alternate Jumper Settings
986
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 10:37 AM »
yepper (yes)!   ;D
987
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 25, 2008, 06:44 AM »
well fodder I have tested your question and here are the results.  it will work if the Master has no jumper or is on the storage position of 3-5 or 4-6 and the second drive is jumpered as slave.  if I jumper one as the master and the other as slave then it will also boot about the same time frame, 40 seconds.

I do intend to ask WD why one hard drive jumpered as master doesn't work.

Dave
988
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 23, 2008, 02:49 PM »
I thought about that a little while ago.  or at least putting two hd's on the same cable marked as master and slave instead of cable select.

I will give it a whirl in the next day or two.
989
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 23, 2008, 02:26 PM »
I have used the following WD drives

WD1600JB dated 2007, 8mb buffer at 7200 RPM.
WD400BB dated 2004, 2 mb buffer at 7200 RPM.
WD300BB dated 2001, 2 mb buffer at 5400 RPM
all of these took 40 seconds from power on to windows desktop in cable select and with no jumpers.  In the master jumper setting they all showed the disk boot failure after 2.5 minutes of trying to boot.

I also installed a Seagate ST316023A 160gb drive, 8 mb buffer at 7200 RPM.
It also took 40 seconds in the cable select mode and also in the master mode.

So it must be an issue with Western Digital since Seagate will work in Master.

I reimaged each drive before testing with Windows XP Pro SP2 and all windows updates, nothing else installed.

Confusing but not amusing!  :huh:

I believe this concludes my saga unless someone perks my interest to pick it up and try something else again.
990
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 23, 2008, 01:26 PM »
I tried a WD400BB date in 2004 and a WD300BB dated 2001 and the boot times were the same as were the error when set to master.  I am preparing to try a Seagate just for fun.

Maybe I just thought I had been setting them at Master but am 95% sure that I have.  Although I was using the cable select method, I did change some or almost all of the 150 desktops I take care of to master.  The only way I will know is to take a cover off and look.

Not that it matters to me who is right or wrong  ;D or anything else but just hearing about the possible solutions that could or might fix my problem was very educational.

I would like to see someone else try changing their WD drive to master and see what happens.  I find it hard to believe that 3 hard drives made in different years can all have bad firmware. 

With all the members that the DC forum has, surely somebody has the answer.   :D

Dave

991
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 23, 2008, 07:49 AM »
Ok here is what I found on my Western Digital WD1600JB Caviar SE (mfg Jan 2007) on a Celeron 2.7 with 384 meg of RAM.

I used this link to show me how to position the jumper. http://wdc.custhelp...._li=&p_topview=1

Jumper set to cable select=50 seconds.
Jumper set to master=2.5 minutes and then disk boot failure
No jumpers=40 seconds
Jumpers on pins 4 & 6=40 seconds (this setting is basically a storage position, works the same as none).

Apparently in the master position,it has to have a slave on the same cable.  Not sure if the age of the drive affects this or not.
I did check the DMA settings both in Windows and in the BIOS and they were set to use DMA in both places.

One of these days I will check an older drive like a WD400BB and see how it performs.  I still wonder if WD didn't change something on their newer drives.  :(

And life goes on and on...

Dave
992
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 23, 2008, 06:26 AM »
I am fixing to head off to school to try out these ideas and time it until it boots to windows.  This is a fresh install of windows xp and nothing else is on it so I shouldn't have to worry about malware, etc interfering.  I will post my times with the different options listed above later.
993
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 09:54 PM »
here is a response from Western Digital's website when asked the same question (but not from me).  I have set them to master for a long time without problems, just cannot figure out why all of a sudden its going to be a problem.

   
     System takes a long time to boot up. The BIOS is slow to detect the hard drive.
     Question
     Why does my system take a long time to boot up after installing a new drive?
     Answer
     Problem:
After installing a drive, the BIOS takes longer than normal to recognize the drive. This results in a longer than normal boot up time.

Cause:
The most common cause for this is incorrect Jumper Settings.

Resolution:
Verify that you are using the correct jumper settings for your configuration.

    Single:
    If the drive is the only device on the IDE cable, the jumper shunt should be removed completely or on pins 4-6.

    Master:
    If the drive is a master with a slave present on the same cable, the jumper shunt should be on pins 5-6.

    Slave:
    If the drive is a slave to a master drive on the same cable, the jumper shunt should be on pins 3-4.

Note: Make sure that non-WD EIDE devices are jumpered correctly as well. Please contact the device manufacturer if you are unsure of the jumper settings.
994
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 09:46 PM »
No Tinjaw, the drive is set to the master connector on the ribbon cable, that is the very end one.

My hard drive shows up in the BIOS as primary master and my cd drive shows up as secondary master just as all of the other 250 computers do that I take care of and do not have this problem.  It has to be something in the drive being the problem follows to another computer as stated in my first post.

The question I have is why.. is the hard drive bad or is this the way they are making them now????
995
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 09:10 PM »
I will give the no jumpers a try also and check the other forum.
996
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 08:46 PM »
1.  ti does show the hard drive first.  it does take a while before the BIOS recognizeds it.

2.  no its not.  I don't connect hard drives and cd drives on the same cable.

3. its correct.  I have no slaves installed.

4.  I have it set on the "master" that is marked on the drive.  that is the way I have always done it, but this is the first time I have had something like this happen.
997
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 08:03 PM »
typically it boots faster if its set to master, then it doesn't have to search to see which part of teh ide cable it set to.  If you set the cd drive to master it will make a difference also.

its all about speed.   ;D
998
Living Room / Re: slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 07:53 PM »
No cmpm, mine are not sata drives.

Darwin, those settings in windows wouldn't affect the booting process before XP loads, would they?

Nosh, I will check those settings tomorrow when I am back at school.
999
Living Room / slow boot on new hard drive problem
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 05:03 PM »
I have put the same new HD in 3 different computers and they experience the same problems.  It is on a Western Digital 80 and 160gb Caviar SE drives with the jumper set to master.  It takes a really long time to get through the post and boot into windows.  I have tried re-imaging the drive but to no avail.  If I set the jumper to cable select then everything works as it should.  I have run MemTest plus and also have tested the hard drives for errors using WD Diags but everything tests out ok.

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas? :tellme:

Dave

this is an IDE drive in a desktop (whitebox).  it doesn't matter how I set the BIOS or anything like that.
1000
General Software Discussion / Re: Another System Explorer
« Last post by techidave on February 22, 2008, 05:58 AM »
Nice find Carol.  I like it and it saves me from Googling a lot of the processes to figure out what they are. :Thmbsup:

Dave
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