This problem isn't actually with Mandrake, but it's preventing me from being able to install. I have an Asus P2-99 motherboard, updated with the newest bios, but the hard drive I have hooked up to it is not being detected. I also have a CD-R and a DVD drive hooked up and they are both detected fine as the secondary master and slaves respectively. However, the hard drive is the only primary drive, but it's not being detected. It's an 80gb Maxtor that I had hooked up to my Windows comp and that was working fine, but I removed all the files I needed from it and then formatted so I could use it for linux. When I've used a spare hard drive I have and set it to master, it's then detected, but the 80gb can't be found as the slave. I've checked the jumper settings and I've even tried it every possible way with the problem never being solved. If I try to manually enter the hard drive in the bios configuration, the comp just locks up. Any ideas as to how to get this hard drive to work because I know the drive isn't the problem???

When you say it is not being detected I assume you have something else installed on it, perhaps windows? Is that what you mean? Your post does not given enough information. Is that a correct assessment? Is your hard-drive partitioned?

If you have windows installed on it, Mandrake may not see any free space on that hard-drive, therefore it bypasses the install. But I am just guessing based on the information you have provided.

d-1

No, I literally mean the hard drive isn't detected at all, as in the BIOS doesn't detect it when you first start up the comp when it does the check for IDE devices. It can find the CD-R and DVD drives, and it can find another smaller hard drive I have lying around, but it has never yet detected this 80gb hard drive I'd like to use.

Did the 80Gb drive work with Windoze?
Did the ASUS board recognise the drive before you updated the BIOS?
Could be it's your BIOS that's at fault:
Can you reload an older BIOS and see if it'll detect the drive then?

I know this sounds rediculously simple but have you enabled your bios to look for the drive. Where the primary and secondary master is listed in the bios make sure it says auto for all entries, or detects the corresponding drives already. If it is set to none the drive will not be scanned for.

Also check the cables are plugged in the right way round and in the correct order. The blue bit goes in the motherboard and the furthest end in the master drive, middle in the slave.

My apologies if I am trying to teach you to suck eggs, all the best.

The drive worked fine with windows. At this point, I can't remember if I tried the drive with the ASUS board before I updated the BIOS, but I can probably find an older version and see if it works then.

Anytime I change the BIOS settings involving this drive, the comp locks up. If I attempt to add this drive manually, the comp immediately locks up. Otherwise, if I set to auto as you said, the comp locks up when I restart and it attempts to detect this particular drive.

So the 80Gb drive wasn't connected to the ASUS mobo when Windoze was installed on it?
Getting confused here...

No, it was connected to my other comp that I only run windows on. Worked fine on it. Also worked fine on an even older comp than the one with the ASUS board where I ran windows and linux. I can't recall this drive ever working probably since I've been attempting to get it to work with the ASUS board.

Can you try the drive in another computer now, or try to analyse the drive using whatever tools maxtor recomends.

Check out https://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=48&&p_sid=UlU4N5hh&p_lva=205&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm 93X2NudD02OTImcF9wYWdlPTE%2A&p_li=

for reasons for your problem

Thanks for that link, I'll see if any of that helps. Also, the drive does work on my newer windows system, so the drive itself is working.

I can't seem to find the specs for your mobo on the ASUS website.
Are you sure that's the correct model number?

This isn't from the ASUS site, but I assure you it's there as I've downloaded BIOS updates from them.
http://www.dansdata.com/P299.htm

On the dansdata link you posted it's got this to say:
And they're right, it doesn't.
Marvellous....
Bit stumped then really.
Suggest you try out the 80Gb drive with another mobo. If it powers up and is detected, then the problem's probably not with your drive but with your mobo.

EDIT: hah. forget that. found the info on the p2-99. It's hidden away though, isn't it?

Okay, I think the info you need is on Page 43 of the manual - section 4 BIOS setup - hard disks.
There's a section about setting up the 'MODE' in your BIOS. You need to set this to 'LBA' for drives over 528Mb. Try this setting rather than AUTO.
If that doesn't work, and as this mobo is quite old, you might want to try a smaller hard drive, say a 20Gb.