Topic: help with a computer problem

[Don Karnage]

Hello all, someone is in need of help with her computer, can someone help her?

no1auntieil <no1auntie@hotmail.com>


I have been fighting my crappy computer for a week trying to install
a new internal hard drive.  I have a Gateway 'puter and Windows ME,
and every single upgrade has been a major pain in the ass (which has
basically consisted of installing new memory cards, but they were
more complicated than they need to be!).

Long story short (kind of), it has taken me 3 1/2 years to fill up
the 10 GB hard drive that came with this hunk of junk (only 9 GB
full, but why wait 'til the last minute?).  I bought a Seagate 80 GB
drive at Best Buy...the guy at the desk assured me that it would be
simple to slave the new drive to the old, copy the old files over,
then remove the old drive (and yes, I have to remove it entirely,
because there's only room for one drive inside the tower case), and
that there would be instructions on how to do all this included with
the new drive.  (At this point, please keep in mind that I'm pretty
sure my TV and microwave operate with some kind of magic - I'm
technically impaired)

There was a fold-out flyer included, but no detailed trouble-shooting
instructions.  I DID manage, after a combined 8 hours over a 2 day
period last weekend to slave the drives together & copy my files
over.  However, now my computer will only start in "safe mode" if the
new drive is hooked up (in any way that I've tried), and will not
give me access to my cd-drive (which I found out when I tried to re-
load the software that came with the damned thing).  I have also
tried pretty much everything in the Windows trouble-shooting
thingamabob that automatically open up when safe mode starts, with no
success whatsoever.
If I try and boot up in "normal mode", I get any one of a number of
Windows error messages (the ones that pop up on a blue screen, and
you can't get rid of unless you turn your computer back off).  I have
tried nearly everything, and have finally removed both the new drive
and the IDE cable that came with it, and reconnected my original
drive - voila! - my computer starts normally, and I now have access
to the internet and my cd-drive again - a temporary solution at best,
however. 

I went to the Seagate tech support pages, but nothing there made ANY
sense to me.  I hesitate to contact their support crew yet, since
they'll talk to me in the same language that everything else was
written in, and I'll feel stupider than I do now, and probably STILL
won't know how to fix the problem

I'm hoping that with over 10,000 members, and several way-smarter-
than-me mods, SOMEBODY will have some suggestions in PLAIN ENGLISH. 
I can't have tried everything, right?

Please help - I bought Superstar over 2 weeks ago, but don't dare
install it until the new drive is working properly.  (whiiiine)

Thanks!   

[Cleaven]

Sorry but it was a bad plan.

1. Swap in new drive as master, format it and install windows from scratch and apply all updates and reload all hardware drivers that are required. Install all software from scratch as well.

2. Add in the original hard drive as a slave and copy all data into a subdirectory called OLDDRIVE or something.

3. Take out old drive and keep it for an emergency. Don't give it away if it has any personal info on it.

[Byzantine]

Your drive should have come with DiscWizard on a floppy.  It looks like this software (I have never used it) will do the copying and configuring and generate an instruction sheet for you.  If you did not get DiscWizard I suspect you should go back to BestBuy and see if they will cough one up for you.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/use_dw2002.html

This is probably the best route to go if you are not too tech savvy.  It will prevent you from having to do a lot of software re-installs etc.  That being said it is good to re-install the OS from scratch now and then to 'clean things up'.  But that is not always a good option if you are not a PC hobbyist or professional.

[wulf111]

I may be a little late in helping as i am new to the group here but as a certified technician i do have some optional ways to what you ask.

1) connect 80Gb drive as slave (wich you have done)
2) use the system backup (in the start/programs/accessories/systemtools to make a backuo of your 10GB drive on the 80GB make sure you put iit in a folder call it old backup or something (this will probably take quite a bit of time)
3)after backup is complete shut off system and configure the 80GB as master and install into system
4)reinstall your windows ME but do not reformat drive (select install on existing partition)
5)remember that backup we made double click on in and chose the restore function chose the correct settings in the next screens and the restore should overwrite the windows install and all should be as it was before except you now have a 80GB drive

Good Luck

[Gambler]

Your computer BIOS may not be able to properly address the 80gb drive so that could be giving you issues.

I would personally recommend doing the clean install of ME and also all the software instead of doing a restore from your existing windows folder.  The reason is that if you've been having issues with the computer currently, all you're going to do is moving the problem to a bigger drive.  The longer you run ME, the screwier the registry and system files get.  Sometimes it's better to just say forget it and start from scratch.

[wulf111]

That is a possibility Gambler, thanks for reminding me about that, if the bios is an older version he may have to set the cylinders and head count manually to make the drive detect it as the proper drive size. And I wholeheartedly agree with you about the full reinstall of the OS and progs.

[Don Karnage]

1- don't reply to my post cause its not me.

2-send your help to the email on my post

3- thanks for the help.

4- why does the computer hate me   (just kiding)