Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

window won't start when 2nd hard drive is connected


  • Please log in to reply

#1
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
I have a 2nd hard drive install that I use for back up and storage. (No OS installed) Recently my computer won't start and by accident I found out that only when the 2nd hard drive is disconnected my computer will start up. I have important documents saved in the 2nd hard drive and need to recover it. I am using windows 2000. Any suggestion or guide would be greatly appreciated.
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
rev_olie

rev_olie

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 532 posts
Hi,

When you say your computer won’t boot what happens? For example is there just a black screen?

I think it could be a jumper fault.

For the jumper fault you will need to look on the back of the drive and look for a series of small pins like the image below:

Posted Image

If you look on the top of the hard drive there should be an image of where the jumpers should be. The SECOND hard drive should have the jumper in the SLAVE position. The FIRST hard drive should be in the PRIMARY position.
If you are unsure then tell us the make and model of the hard drive and we may be able to find you an image of the configuration.

Edited by rev_olie, 15 July 2009 - 09:56 AM.

  • 0

#3
123Runner

123Runner

    Member 4k

  • Member
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 4,526 posts
Is the 2nd drive connected as a slave? or are you using a USB enclosure?
I am assuming as a slave. The jumper position being wrong will only cause the drive to not be seen. It will not cause the computer to not start.

I am suspecting either a bad hard drive or a power supply issue. The power supply (PSU) could be weak and not allowing enough power.
Do you have (or can you get) another hard drive to use as a test?
If you can get another drive, connect it as a slave and see if the computer will start.
If the computer starts, then the drive is the issue.

We can try the drive manufacturers diagnostic tools. These would boot off of a CD (iso image), but if the computer is not starting, I do not know if the drive will be seen (let alone the computer start).

Link to hard drive diagnostics is in my signature.

123runner
  • 0

#4
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
Thank you so much to you both for your time and quick respond.
Answer to rev_olie-- I am not sure if 2nd drive is in the slave. It is on a shelf between CD ROM and Floppy and connected to CD ROM. Do you consider this a slave? The first drive is attached to the front panel with 2 screws. Basically when it is connected my computer will not start and hang forever with status showing about 70% in both normal booth and safe mode.
Answer to 123Runner -- I will try to borrow a hard drive to test as you've suggested.
One sympton I want to add is, when 2nd hard drive is connected, I can see floppy disk was detected but not the CD ROM (both internal and extrnal CD ROM). Now with 2nd HD disconnected, computer detects external USB CD ROM. (I am not sure if this helps clarify the problem a little bit.)
  • 0

#5
rshaffer61

rshaffer61

    Moderator

  • Moderator
  • 34,114 posts
Are the drives IDE or Sata?
  • 0

#6
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
The drive is IDE. Thanks!
  • 0

#7
rshaffer61

rshaffer61

    Moderator

  • Moderator
  • 34,114 posts
Are they on the same ribbon or paired with any other drive like a cdrom?
Have you checked the jumpers to make sure one is set as master and the other as slave?

Make sure the Master drive is at the end of the ribbon and slave is in the middle.
Even if it is set with a cdrom on the same ribbon the master\slave jumpers must be set correctly.
  • 0

#8
mpascal

mpascal

    Math Nerd

  • Retired Staff
  • 3,644 posts

Answer to rev_olie-- I am not sure if 2nd drive is in the slave. It is on a shelf between CD ROM and Floppy and connected to CD ROM. Do you consider this a slave? The first drive is attached to the front panel with 2 screws. Basically when it is connected my computer will not start and hang forever with status showing about 70% in both normal booth and safe mode.


The placement of the drive in the case doesn't matter. If possible, I would reconfigure your drive settings so that you have both hard drives connected to one IDE cable, and the CD-ROM drive connected to the other.

Post #2 has a good image of the back of a hard drive. The "jumpers" on the back are used to switch between master and slave. If the jumper is in one spot, it will be set as master. If the jumper is in the other, it will be set as slave. The back of your drive should label which spot is which.

What you want is to have one drive set as "master" (the one Windows is currently installed on) and one set as "slave".

Hope that helps :)

-mp
  • 0

#9
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
Thank you so much! :) It works now. I am having another problem ever since I had the 2nd HD problem.
Every time I start the computer and Internet explorer, a window installer pop up to install "Scan soft omnipage se4". I tried to remove it through "Add/Remove program" but i wasn't able to do so. By the way,I used to have Cannon multipass printer installed in this computer and it was uninstalled. Is there any method to get rid of this annoying pop up?
  • 0

#10
rshaffer61

rshaffer61

    Moderator

  • Moderator
  • 34,114 posts
Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Startups


Find any entries with Scan Soft or Omnipage in them and uncheck them.
Tell it ok and the system will reboot
When system restarts you will get a System Configuration popup.
On the bottom left I believe is a little box that says do not show and\or start this again.
Check it and the popup will not start up again.
Let us know if this fixes the problem.
  • 0

Advertisements


#11
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
When I type in msconfig, I got error message "cannot find the file "msconfig' (or one of its coponents). Make sure the path and filename are correct and required libraries are available' message.
I find the msconfig under c:\i386\systems32\msconfig.exe and use this to open up the 'System configuration utility' to perform the steps.
I follow all the steps and restart the computer. But the window installer still pop up and asking to insert the "Scan soft omni page se 4 disk"
  • 0

#12
rshaffer61

rshaffer61

    Moderator

  • Moderator
  • 34,114 posts
Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to know location.
7: Attach to your next reply.
  • 0

#13
horseshoe

horseshoe

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 110 posts
Attched is the autorun.txt. Thanks!

Attached Files


  • 0

#14
rshaffer61

rshaffer61

    Moderator

  • Moderator
  • 34,114 posts
Open Autoruns, click on "Logon" tab, and UN-check:

+Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
+Adobe Reader Speed Launcher
+Update Mgr

The next entry needs to be turned off manually unless you need it.
CTFMON.exe is for multi language keyboards. If you are not using this function then continue. If you are using then skip this step.


To turn off just ctfmon.exe go to:


Control Panel then to Regional and Language Options

Click on the Languages Tab then click the Details button

Click on the Advanced tab

Check the box that says Turn off advanced text services option

Click A and then OK




When done restart computer and then:


Download Temp File Cleaner (TFC)
Double click on TFC.exe to run the program.
Click on Start button to begin cleaning process.
TFC will close all running programs, and it may ask you to restart computer.


Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged


Try this LINK and follow the steps from Microsoft to remove the Omnipage error.
  • 0

#15
hawklord

hawklord

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 400 posts
windows 2000 does not have msconfig,

do you still have the cannon software install disk ?
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP