Hi,
im new here so if i leave anything out im sorry just ask and ill let you know :-)

Basically my old motherboard was shorted out by a bent usb pin. the back panal with ps/2 and usb ports didnt work but i could run the pc with a usb mouse from the front usb slots.

i then decided to get a new motherbaord asap to get the pc running again - i brought a MSI km4m with a 2600 athlon processor for cheap until i save money for a new dual core system.

Stupidly i didnt even think to check that my hdd (Maxtor 6y160m0) was SATA 1.0 and this motherboard has only ide drives.

So i got a SATA to IDE convertor connected it up, and the HDD is recognised.

When the power is turned on the screen gets to "Detecting IDE drives" then lists the drive. (the only one i have connected) After about 2 minuites the message "Primary Hard Drive Fail".

I have searched and seen other posts about similar problems but it seems that they generally get stopped before the list of drives comes up. with my problem its one step past the "detecting IDE drives" when they are listed.

I have swapped the SATA cable to no avail.


I have also tryed to insert the windows XP cd to attempt a repair but the cd dosent even attempt to run, the same situation as before happens.

Any ideas - the HDD isnt dead as its running fine on this PC where i am backing up my files at the moment

Thanks any input will be most welcomed.
Scott

Hi givethedogabone,
Welcome to PCHF
We have a staff of techs who have a wide variety of skills and will be able to help you with your problem, this is not my area of expertise, one of the folks who can help you should be along shortly.
Thank you
Cart

Have you been into the BIOS to autodecect the HDD? Is LBA mode to ON or OFF? Make sure it is set as the PRIMARY HDD.