hey everyone,

i just got a new western digital 80gb internal hard drive. the model # is WDC WD800JB-00CRA1. i'm running windows xp sp1, which the drive was designed for.

although the drive is working in terms of being able to store info--which i have no trouble accessing--everytime i start my computer, i get a "found new hardware" message from windows. then windows tries to install the hardware automatically and fails, giving me one of two messages: either 1) this service is not an installed service or 2) filename directory or syntax is wrong-->it's something like that.

when i go to device manager, the drive is displayed with an exclamation point, and when i look at properties, it tells me there is no driver installed for the device. (no other device on the computer has any problems, btw.)

i've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software the disk drive came with, but it doesn't help at all.

fyi, the drive is the secondary/slave. i've got the c drive i've been working with since i bought the computer as the primary/master. my computer uses the cable select jumper settings, so i know i didn't put the jumpers in the wrong place.

i've checked microsoft's and western's websites for drivers, but there are none. any help would be appreciated!

-smv

what jumper setting are you using on the problem drive? slave or cable select?

what jumper setting are you using on the problem drive? slave or cable select?

hi jerry,

cable select on both the primary and slave. i've got a dell dimension 8200 purchased in summer of '02.

thanks.

What software did you use that came with the drive? You should not have need to use software if your motherboard bios supports large hard drives. Just curious if your problem is caused by the software.... have you tried just uninstalling the software and see if Windows will automatically support the drive?

What software did you use that came with the drive? You should not have need to use software if your motherboard bios supports large hard drives. Just curious if your problem is caused by the software.... have you tried just uninstalling the software and see if Windows will automatically support the drive?

Jerry, his problem can also be caused by not preping/formating the drive corectly. if the drive was preped using formating software such as EZ-drive, or was fdisked wrong (fat32 or fat 16) he can have problems.



i would determine how the drive was setup (formated/partitioned) before looking elsewhere.

damien & jerry, thanks for the replies.

here's what i can tell you: the instructions that came with the drive said to physically install it, turn on the computer, and then install the software. i followed these instructions, and my cd-rom reader automatically launched the software on the cd, which is called data lifeguard, by the way. as i followed the on-screen install process, i noticed that i was getting pop-ups from windows in the background, saying found new hardware, windows will try to install your hardware now, etc. i tried to ignore the pop-ups and finish with the data lifeguard software, which allows you to format and partition your drive in a couple of easy steps. i chose not to partition the drive and to format it as ntfs.

when i was done with the data lifeguard install, which told me my install was successful, i just canceled out of the windows pop-ups. everything seemed fine, and there was an icon for the new drive showing up when i clicked the my computer icon on my desktop.

i immediately started transferring over some files, making new shortcuts to them on the desktop, and had no problem getting "into" the new drive.

my problems began the next time i turned on my computer (yes, i am one of those people who shuts down each time i'm finished with the computer, because i only use it a couple of hours a day at best).

after getting in, i would immediatley get pop-ups from windows saying new hardware found, windows will now try to install hardware, etc. i decided to let windows do as it wanted, because i figured it'd be the only way to get rid of these pop-ups. so the windows install process would begin, and it would tell me that if i had software for the new hardware, i should put it in my cd-rom. i did, windows would try to install the new hardware, and then i'd get an error message saying one of the two things i wrote in my initial post, although it was more often that not the message: "this service does not exist as an installed service." so the windows install would fail. then it occurred to me that i should look at my device manager, and i saw that the drive was marked by an exclamation point and that windows claimed there was no driver installed for the device.

initially, i just ignored all this, since my drive was working, but each and every time i'd turn on my computer it would happen again. i tried everything, including not putting the data lifeguard software in the cd-rom and letting windows try to find the drivers elsewhere. nothing worked. and here's the kicker: as a test, i recently tried to install an external hard drive (usb). the same exact thing has happened, and i get the same exact error messages from windows. so now i think it must be the OS.

sorry this is so long, but i know details help. anything else i can tell you? any ideas? i just can't take seeing these error messages and having windows go through the install process everytime i turn on my computer!

thanks.

smv

I believe your problem lies in the initial setup of your drive (as damien suggested). You said you did not partition the drive... you must perform this step for a successful installation. Simply formatting a drive without peforming the partitition procedure first will result in multiple problems such as you are having.

I suggest you read the instructions again for using the drive prep software and redo from scratch again but do not omit the partitioning step. Western Digital website has a wealth of information and troubleshooting steps to correct this problem... including their drive diagnostics software. It does require a bit of reading if you're not familiar with drive installation procedures. If you are still unable to install the drive properly, I suggest a repair shop or communication with Western Digital tech support dept. :)

http://support.wdc.com/dlg/

http://support.wdc.com/download/#dlgtools

Many support/troubleshooting links are posted on the above links (left side of screen)

thanks, jerry! i will try this!

smv

It seems to me that i remember a fix for xp for the "new hardware found". This kept happening to me. I know you said you had sp-1 but you might re install it. The "new hardware found" message went away after I did the Microsoft update's after installing XP Pro.As for the hd problem good luck. ps i hated ez drive, now they call it what you said in the beginning of this post.

bob

It seems to me that i remember a fix for xp for the "new hardware found". This kept happening to me. I know you said you had sp-1 but you might re install it. The "new hardware found" message went away after I did the Microsoft update's after installing XP Pro.As for the hd problem good luck. ps i hated ez drive, now they call it what you said in the beginning of this post.

bob



Actually, as jerry stated your 80gig drive if used in a later model motherboard does NOT require the WD setup software.

simply connect the drive boot, and right click on the MY COMPUTER icon,
select MANAGE, then DISK MANAGMENT, now right click on the 80 gig drive (confirm drive Letter before doing anything else!!) and select FORMAT. take defaults. and reboot.

If you have loaded the motherboard chipset drivers (when system was setup) then your system can/will use large drives without problems or other setup software..