Presario 5304

How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan

If you installed, cabled it, and jumpered it correctly it should auto-detect
and not require you to do anything in Setup/BIOS.

I don't think that model has an 8GB limit--but if so then you would have to use
overlay software also, supplied by the manufacturer.

Dale

The 5304 came with a 4.3Gb drive so there may be an 8GB drive size limit in
BIOS. However the highest model in the series, the 5365 has a 12 GB drive
and uses the same chipsets so that may not be the issue.. Did you jumper the
new drive Cable select? It should be if you used the original ribbon cable.

HH

"Stan Webb" wrote in message
...
How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to
install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan

The PC came with a 4.3GB drive so it may have an 8GB drive size limit in
BIOS. Is the 2nd drive jumpered Cable Select?
HH


"Stan Webb" wrote in message
...
How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to
install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan

The original ribbon cable only had a single input (guess this should have
been a hint . But have tried both ways, cable select and master-slave
setup. Neither works with the 40GB drive. Have an old 4GB drive that I will
try. Just wondering if there is a BIOS upgrade to allow acceptance of the
40GB drive.



"HH" wrote in message
et...
The 5304 came with a 4.3Gb drive so there may be an 8GB drive size limit
in
BIOS. However the highest model in the series, the 5365 has a 12 GB drive
and uses the same chipsets so that may not be the issue.. Did you jumper
the
new drive Cable select? It should be if you used the original ribbon
cable.

HH

"Stan Webb" wrote in message
...
How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to
install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan

I don't see any BIOS updates at all for the 5304. You might try installing a
PCI IDE controller card with its own BIOS. They are available for less than
$30 US.
HH

"Stan Webb" wrote in message
...
The original ribbon cable only had a single input (guess this should have
been a hint . But have tried both ways, cable select and master-slave
setup. Neither works with the 40GB drive. Have an old 4GB drive that I
will
try. Just wondering if there is a BIOS upgrade to allow acceptance of the
40GB drive.



"HH" wrote in message
et...
The 5304 came with a 4.3Gb drive so there may be an 8GB drive size limit
in
BIOS. However the highest model in the series, the 5365 has a 12 GB
drive
and uses the same chipsets so that may not be the issue.. Did you jumper
the
new drive Cable select? It should be if you used the original ribbon
cable.

HH

"Stan Webb" wrote in message
...
How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to
install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to
be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan

I have installed a second 20G HD on my Presario 5304 successfully.
40G should work. I had a heck of a problem in the beginning but it was
worth it. Things to look for:

Make sure the new hard drive:
-piggyback on the original drive.
-is set to slave.
-formats, partitions. Go to StartHelp and make a startup disk, at bootup type FDISK.
-finally, go to my computer and right click and choose format on the new drive.

This was done on Win2000 and Win98.

Personal story: I'd unintentionally reverse the power supply
plug on the hard drive. Poor design and just being clumsy. Severe
damage to the hard drive and PC. The PC went out of commission
and then sprung back to life, thank God. The hard drive is
history, its main board and magnetic pickup driver was toasted.
Its two spinning disk had bad skid marks on them created by the
magnetic pickup swinging back and forth wildly.

Tibur

"Stan Webb" wrote in message ...
How do I get this computer to accept a second hard drive? Trying to install
a 40GB. Nothing in the BIOS pertaining to harddrives. Does it need to be
upgraded? If so, where do I go?

Thanks
Stan