First let me admit, I am a novice at this. I have a Sony Vaio desk top that is 4 years old, model PCV-RX650. The original hard drive died and a new one installed under warrenty 2 years ago. This hard drive drops off when it feels like it and gives me the "recovered from serious error" message. I am attempting to upgrade to a Seagate 250 gig but, I get the message "cannot find the hard drive. insure the hard drive is connected properly" I believe it is properly connected. Sony will not help me with a 3rd party hard drive and I don't know how to get my desk top to recognize the new hard drive.
Are there settings in the setup menu that I need to change? I am using default settings now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PAULJ
Are the jumpers on the new drive set up to auto detect or to main drive?
Larry,
Not sure what you are asking (novice speak for saying I'm computer challenged) but, The flat ribbon connection was hooked up the same as with the old drive. I don't understand where auto detect is.
Do you have instructions with the unit? If so look at the hook up. Where the plug goes into the drive, there should be some jumpers right next to it. On the cover should be a small diagram on where to place the jumpers
Thanks. I'll take a look at the cover. No instructions from Newegg. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
Go here and see the video as well as the instructions.
Larry, Thanks for the video and instructions from Seagate. Followed instructions and still does not recognize the hard drive either when it is the master or slave. I tried using defaults on setup and every other combination but, no go. I will try using a diskette I downloaded from Seagate. Any other suggestions?
I would contact Seagate as it should have workede. Maybe there is a speacial way to install in a Sony puter.
You should double check the BIOS, and make sure it recognizes that the drive is there. At startup, you can hit the BIOS usually by pressing F1 or Del during POST. Be careful in the BIOS, you wouldn't want to mess anything up.
Most PATA cables have three connectors. One at each end, and one in the middle near one of the ends. The end not close to the middle connector plugs into the main board. If setting the drive as Master, make sure the drive is connected to the other end of the cable. If setting as slave (not recommended for a main hard drive) use the connector in the middle of the cable.
Also, if there is a second device on the cable (like an optical drive), make sure it's not set as CS (cable select) or the same as the hard drive. One needs to be master, the other needs to be Slave. You can try setting both as CS, but I've found that it rarely works well.