Please Help! computer wont detect hard drive

I been resurrecting an older system. 800 mhz got everything installed and when i boot up it will not detect my hard drive it is a maxtor 20 gig. i have changed every possible jumper combo and different cables. ive even unhooked my burner and cd still no avail. tried the hard drive on pri. ide and sec ide connection on motherboard. i took it out and tried it on my dell and it wont detect it. And i was wondering about why this doesnt work. I took the hard drive out of my dell and put in the computer im trying to resurrect and it reconized it but when it starts to boot os which is xp pro the computer just restarts. Whats going on? Please Help!

 

Sounds like your 20gb HDD might be dead, or maybe just not formated.
You can run Maxtors HDD diagnostic utility:
http://majorgeeks.com/Maxtor_Powermax_d1386.html



The HDD from your Dell is recognized but fails to boot just restarts, that is probably due to differance in hardware between the two PC's.
You could format/reinstall the OS. but then it would boot if you put in back in the Dell.

 

If I've read the first two posts correctly, the BIOS in both machines has failed to see the drive. The results that you got when you installed the drive from your Dell in your 800MHz machine confirms that the latter is probably OK.

You should expect XP to crap out when used to start a machine other than the one it was installed on. (I'm pretty sure that ASUS meant to say, "... but then it would not boot if you put in back in the Dell".)

You might make sure that the Maxtor is spinning up when power is applied. If it's not, all is not lost -- yet. If the Maxtor is spinning up and is not being recognised by the BIOS -- well, see if the Maxtor diagnostics tell you anything useful.

If not, it's probably time to start looking for another drive. If you're buying new, don't get carried away. Your 800MHz machine may have drive size limitations, depending on how old its BIOS is.

 

put the 2nd drive in the dell as slave and see what you get
make sure you don't use cable select on jumpers
put it on 2nd cable eide 2 if you can as slave