[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Need help on Hard Drive again

luongt@tekig6.PEN.TEK.COM (Lu T.) (08/07/90)

> Hi,
> 
> I have 2 IBM PCs, one portable has 20MB HD and one desktop has
> 10MB HD, both of them have only one 360K floppy drive and one HD 
> default to C and they both work fine with DOS 3.30.
> 
> Yesterday I swapped the HD (with controller card), and when I 
> powered it up, it said "Bad or missing Command Interpreter" so I
> booted it with floppy and now it recognizes HD as drive D instead 
> of C.  If I try to go to drive C then it says "Not ready error 
> reading drive C".  I didn't know what I did wrong so I swapped 
> them back, but it still gives me the same error. 
> 
> What did I do wrong?  Any help will be deeply appreciated.
> 
> 					Thank much.
> 
> 
> luongt@tekig6.pen.tek.com


I'd like to thank all of you who replied to my post last week on my PC
recognizes drive D instead of C.  Most of you think I'd got the wrong
cable connectors.  Sound is very right, but last weekend I'd tried all
of the possible cable connection but I couldn't make it works.

There are only two cables connecting from controller to hard drive,
one small and one big.

The controller has three connectors, one big and two small (drive 0 and
drive 1) and they are marked pin number on them.  Each cable has two 
connectors at each end and have pin number marked on them also.  At the 
hard drive connector interface there is a cut on board for the latch of 
cable fit in, therefore there is only one way to insert the connectors, 
so no mistake can be made at this end of cable connectors either.  I did 
not see any twist wire on the cable as some of you mention.  But doesn't 
matter what I tried it still did not work.

Could you think of anything else that I can try?  Thank very much.

dlow@hpspcoi.HP.COM (Danny Low) (08/08/90)

>The controller has three connectors, one big and two small (drive 0 and
>drive 1) and they are marked pin number on them.  Each cable has two 
>connectors at each end and have pin number marked on them also.  At the 
>hard drive connector interface there is a cut on board for the latch of 
>cable fit in, therefore there is only one way to insert the connectors, 
>so no mistake can be made at this end of cable connectors either.  I did 
>not see any twist wire on the cable as some of you mention.  But doesn't 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>matter what I tried it still did not work.

If the cable has no twist the controller probably expects a jumper 
on the drive to be set in the right position to indicate whether 
it is a C or D drive. 

			   Danny Low
    "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You"
	   Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley
     HP SPCD   dlow%hpspcoi@hplabs.hp.com   ...!hplabs!hpspcoi!dlow