HH wrote:
Compaqs ship with Cable Select IDE cables and drives attached should be
jumpered CS. With such an arrangement the end connector is the master and
the niddle is slave. Make sure the drive(s) are jumpered CS.

I switched the jumper to Cable Select. So far so good... time will
tell if the wrong jumper setting was compounding the problem...
whatever the problem still is...

I did not buy the HD from Compaq. Why pay $260 + tax + shipping when
I can get it from a reputable company for $86!

Thanks Dale too for your suggestions.

VM