"Russell W. Barnes" wrote in message ...
Hello,

COMPAQ PRESARIO 5000 SERIES, 5WV254 Running WINME

I have just replaced the 20Gb HDD (Quantum Fireball 3.5 series) with a
Western Digital 80Gb drive. Everything works fine, and I ghosted the new
drive up from some backup ghost-disks I made prior to the HDD exchange.

When I tried to connect the 20Gb HDD as a second drive, everything seemed to
work OK - the 20Gb second drive (which I formatted) holds and can transfer
data, etc - but on inspection I discovered in System Properties | Device
Manager that there was a red 'X' on GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE01 giving rise to
a 'Primary IDE Controller' (dual FIFO) black-on-yellow exclamation mark.

I have tried the link and connector ribbon in all positions, but no
difference. Both drives are CSEL.

I tried the old 20Gb HDD on its own in the PC, but the system wouldn't get
past the 'COMPAQ' bios-generated display, and a cursor just kept blinking
away in the top RH corner. Could this be related? Have I developed a 20Gb
HDD fault?

All information and advice much appreciated!

Sorted it!

I found out - from a link on this NG to a COMPAQ help-site - that
Compaq use either ATA or Conner HDD's in their machines, and the two
are incompatible when used on the same bus.

I think my 20Gb HDD must've been a Conner (though it didn't say), as
the 80Gb is ATA. When I fitted a 10Gb ATA as well as the 80Gb ATA
both HDD's worked fine.

The Conner 20Gb HDD works OK in the kids' Dell PC, so I pinched their
10Gb ATA and all's well. As for the 20Gb HDD not working on its own,
I think all was wrong was that the power connection was loose.
--

Regds,

Russell W. B.