I just installed a hard drive I bought off eBay and when it runs through the BIOS, I get the message: primary slave hd fail. Does this mean the hard drive is dead or could something else be a problem. Thank you for any help.

When you install 2 drives on the same controller port (the same cable) one drive will be the master and the other will be the slave.

You should be able to look at the back of the drive and see a smaller jumper bank - probably with only one jumper block. Ensure the first drive is set to master and the second drive is to slave (do not use CS or cable select). You can check the model number on the manufacturers web site for a picture if it is not on the top of the drive.

NOTE: You might see a performance bump if you configure your boot drive as a master on the primary EIDE connector (probably already is) and your second drive also as a master but plugged into the secondary EIDE connector. Then configure any optical drives (CD or DVD) as slaves hanging off the second connector of each cable.

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

I took out my other hard drive and this is the only hard drive I have on the system. The back of the HD had three jumper "outlets" and I don't have the jumper for the HD. Can I use a "generic" jumper or is there a problem with the drive. Thanks again.

Sure you can use what you call a "generic" jumper - they just short the two posts together. You might find one on some old circuit boards.

Okay, I'll give that a try. The jumper area is wierd though, it looks like this, . . . usually there are two rows, this one has one row. Thanks again.

What is the brand and model of the drive? There should be two rows of pins and you will jumper a corresponding pair on each row.

It's a Quantum Fireball, 2.5GB. I'm out of town, but later I can send you a pic if you need it. Thanks.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/rayp/HD/QUANTUM/guides/fb_a_tm.htm
http://inf33-www.informatik.unibw-muenchen.de/infothek/computer/tutorial/eprmhtml/eprmb/1285.htm

I think between those two links you should be able to figure it out - keep in mind that 2.5G doesn't last long these days.

Great, thanks for the help!!!

Thanks for your help. I didn't realize that some HD's had jumpers on the bottom. I guess you learn something everyday. Thank you again.

Well, they are really on the back where all the connectors attach - the one image show the drive on its back for illustration purposes - just making sure there's an understanding.

Okay, one last question. When I turn the computer off and then start it up everything is fine. But, if I select restart and restart the computer I get the "primary slave hd fail". Thanks again for any help.

Well, I'm not sure why it would fail one time and not the other unless there's some timing issue - spin up time or something - will have to think about that or maybe someone else has seen that problem.

But the error points to the Primary slave, which would be the second drive on the cable attached to the Primary (that is the first, No 1, etc.) IDE drive connector on the motherboard. So what's attached there?

If something is there, it must be set to slave (this includes CD and DVD drives) and the first device must be set to Master

If you don't have anything attached to that connector, then check the Master drive's documentation again - on some drives, you remove the jumper if there is no Slave.