Strange Harddrive and DVD RWs

S

Shell

New Member
hi,

I have posted this problem on several computer forums and after getting a
reply asking a question or two...never another. Not sure what I am doing wrong. but I am gonna try here and see if anyone can help me.

I recently re-installed XP pro 2002 with service pack 3
I am using a AMD Athlon 64 processor 3500+, 2.2GHZ, 448 MB of RAM

I formatted my c drive where I put the XP .

It was a brand new clean install off the store bought copy of XP Pro..to my C drive..I only use the C drive for Windows and a couple of other programs. I use the D drive for all other programs and the E drive for making videos. they are still working fine...

I now have new items in my device manager ..(see pic)

I have 3 hard drives. c, d, and e

I had 3 USBs connected when I did the re-install one goes to my printer, one to a scanner and one to the remote for the mouse.

I have 2 DVD rw that show up as CD roms. whenever I place a DVD in them they change from DVD RW to to CD rom. sometimes this will
cause a shutdown when I try to burn a DVD, but not always. I notice that autorun will change to ...what do you want to do with this CD when I put a blank DVD in the DVD drives.
the DVD RWs will read and play DVDs and the autorun will ask what I want to do with the DVDs.

I installed after wiping everything off the C drive (14 gig) and used a store bought copy of XP Pro version 2002. with service pack 3...YES I have 3 harddrives that are working right now. same as I have always had....I have a C drive where the XP is... I have the E ( 89 gigs) drive which is listed on the photo and the device manager next to the C and the 2 reflected drives as you call them which are the ones that showed up out of nowhere after the re-install. and I have the D drive (37 gigs). I know I have these as I put them in the tower when I built it and I have been using them before and after the re-install. the Drives that show up without letters assigned to them are the ones I want to delete. Physically they do not exist. the device manager says they are healthy but unknown partition and 100% clean.

this machine has always had XP on it.

I have a GeForce 6100 M9 motherboard that is pretty much self contained, has sound and video built in.

I used to have a different XP disc, but replaced it with a new one right out of the microsoft envelope.

I had it on this machine working fine until I got a Virus a couple of weeks ago and decided to wipe it clean and start fresh.


1) ....should I / can I delete the new invisible hard drives in the device manager? they show up as unknow partitions and are 100% un-used.

2).... what can I do about the DVD RW issue?


thanks for any help you can offer.
 

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First thing first. That screen is not the device manager, its disk management which is totally different then device manager. Now answers to your questions...

1. As of the time that screenshot was taken you had 2 physical hard drives attached to your system. A 160gb and a 40 gb. Right now you have 4 partitions on the 160gb drive. If I were you, i would do another fresh install and backup the data that you need saved that is on drives c and e. When you do the fresh install, make sure that you delete the existing partions of the 7 and 37. Then recreate whatever partitions you want. You may even want to delete the E partition and make it bigger with the space available from the old 7 and 37gb partitions. Also, I would make the C partition bigger then 15gb, I would make it at least 25gb.

2. As far as your dvdrw drives goes.... It could be anything causing the issue. You can see if there is an available firmeware update for the drives. Try using different media(dvd's). What burning software do you have installed?
 
First of all, just to clarify, you only have two physical hard drives in that machine: Disk0 and Disk1. Your "E" drive is just a partition on Disk0, not a physical third drive.

1) You can remove the two "Unkown" partitions without issue. This is just unused space on Disk0 from prior installs. You could delete them and create a new, single partition from that unused space if you want. Or, just format them as they are and you will be able to use the remaining space on that drive.

2) Check the properties of your burners. Under the "Recording" tab, make sure that the "Enable CD recording on this drive" box is checked. Other than that, it is not unusual for XP to change what the disc drive is called. This will not effect the way the drive operates.


Edit: Oops, johnb beat me to it. Second on the re-install suggestion for Disk0.
 
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well, I am kinda lost here.
I have 3 hard drives in this tower, a small one that came out of my daughters old computer which I have used as my c drive for the last 7 years. it is around 15 gigs.

I have a 40 gig drive that came out of my old computer and I have a 90 gig that I bought when I bought my current system and have had it a bout 5 years.

all 3 of them are setting in the tower and were showing up right before I re-installed XP

I have no idea why two of the drives have shown up on the Disc 0...side by side or why the invisible non existent drives have shown up there either.

I have no Idea what the 7 gig removable is that is showing up either. I don't have one.

the point of my post.

I use the little c drive of 15 gigs for the operating system. and just a couple of other programs. I install all other programs on the 40 gig drive. I have a lot of programs on it.
currently I can access all the drives. they are as they always have been before and after the re-install. no changes except for the way XP is seeing them.
When I re-installed the XP it wanted to know if I wanted to format the C drive where I was putting the operating system. I went ahead and did it. I guess that was the mistake. I should have done the short / quick format that was the option it highlighted.

I am not trying to be argumentative or anything I just can't understand why you think I have some big hard dirve on disc 0 that I don't have.
I have never owned a 149 gig hard drive. it's just not there.

I have a twilight zone computer. I guess. ??? lol
 
If you are sure you have three physical hard drives installed on the machine, then something else is going on. The OS is only recognizing two physical hard drives right now. That is something we can see right there in your screen shot. If the third physical drive was recognized, it should show a sixth device (i.e. Disk 3). The disk manager is only showing two physical hard drives (with five partitions between them), a floppy drive, and two DVD drives.

Reboot the computer and enter the BIOS. In the devices section, please jot down what you see. I am curious to find out if the third drive is even being recognized by the BIOS.
 
in the Bios if I went to the right place it is showing the
IDE channel O master auto
capacity 160 gb
cylinder 65535
head 16
precomp o
landing zone 65534
sector 255

IDE channel O slave auto
capacity 40022 MB
cylinder 19158
head 16
precomp 0
landing zone 19157
sector 255

also I have to hit F1 after every reboot to get it to load.
it says at the prompt...
press F8 to enable system configuration...(which doesn't work)
F9 to select booting device after post
F1 to continue (which is what I do)
Del to enter setup
09/20/2005-c51mcp51-6A61HB09C-00

Looks like it thinks I have a 160 GB hard drive as well. I assure you I don't.

THANKS again for your kindness and patience with me.
 
No problem Shell. :)

Well, the BIOS is in fact only seeing two hard drives. And the master drive on IDE channel is identified as a 160GB drive. Does the BIOS list show the model number or manufacturer of the drive? That could help confirm that it is a 160GB drive if you still doubt what the computer is telling you.

Were there no other hard drives listed? On IDE Channel 1 perhaps?

Pop open your computer and trace the IDE cable from the missing third drive back to the motherboard. Is it connected to anything? Also, while you are in there, you should be able to confirm the make and model of the two drives that are listed in the BIOS.
 
yeah it had a bunch of numbers up there next to them.. I am sure that is the serial nubers or id numbers or something like you are wanting.

I opened up my case and found the 2 hdd. and not my 3rd so I am feeling like a dumb A$$ right now ...BIG TIME... wtf...

I had a buddy help me build this machine a few years ago, maybe he took the little one out. I know I had one, cause I took it out of my kids machine. I can't find it though.
so, I don't know how you guys put up with idiots like me. I don't even know how to continue now.

all I wanted was the 3 drives back like they were. 15, 40 and 80...gbs I still don't know how I got they extra stuff showing up.
 
No worries Shell. We won't hold it against you. Just glad to help.

Well, as far as getting your drives setup the way you want again, we mentioned a few options further up. I would tend to side with Johnb35's suggestion about re-installing the OS after backing up what you want to of of your C and E drive. During the install, make sure you delete all the existing partitions on that drive and set it up with one single one, or two separate ones.

To keep it simple, and especially if you aren't up to re-installing the OS, I recommend just deleting the Unknown partitions and setting up a new, single partition in the remaining space. It should come out to about 45GB.

Let us know if you need any further help.
 
you are a fantastic human being and I thank you for you understanding and kindness.

I deleted the partitions.
you are right I have 45 gb I never knew I had before.
I will try and figure out how to re- partition it the way I would like.

thanks again to all of you.

Shell
 
Glad to help Shell. :):good:

There are several re-partitioning utilities out there (such as Gparted - that's the link to the LiveCD option) if you want to get fancy. That is a bit more advanced tool that can save you some time in the long run. Just an option to look into if you get bored some day. It can be quite handy.
 
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