New HDD in an old Toshiba Satellite A60

[ade searle]

I have an old Toshiba Satellite A60. The old 30gb Toshiba HDD (MK3025GAS) has died. I have bought a 60gb Toshiba HDD (MK602GAX) as a replacement.

My problem is that I can't get the bios to see the new drive and boot off it. The bios for the old dead disc says under 'Built in HDD = Primary IDE (1F0H/IRQ14)'. With the new HDD it says 'Built in HDD = No Drive'.

Is there something I need to configure or have a bought a non compatible HDD ?

[Mickha]

Have you tried changing the jumper pin position, or removing it completely?
Are you sure the original problem was with the hard drive? As this new one isn't working maybe the cable has come lose, or the motherboard is faulty.
Can you check this hard drive in another laptop, or PC, using and adapter?
Check the Toshiba website, for the A60/A65 laptop, to see if there is a compatibility problem.
Have you access to any other IDE HDD's, that will fit the laptop?

[ade searle]

Thanks for those ideas.

The thing that I am struggling to understand is why the bios menu says 'Built in HDD = Primary IDE (1F0H/IRQ14)' with the old HDD and with the new HDD it says 'Built in HDD = No Drive'.

[Mickha]

Have you checked the Toshiba forums/technical advice?

http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=11289

[FlyerUK]

Originally Posted by ade searle

Thanks for those ideas.

The thing that I am struggling to understand is why the bios menu says 'Built in HDD = Primary IDE (1F0H/IRQ14)' with the old HDD and with the new HDD it says 'Built in HDD = No Drive'.

If the bios says "no drive", then it's not recognising a drive is present. Did the replacement fit just like the old one did? Is the replacement a new drive, or an unknown quantity?

[ade searle]

The replacement HDD is the same spec as the old one, but the new one is 60gb rather than 30gb.

Using a cd, I have installed Ubuntu onto the new HDD. The ubuntu installation cd sees the HDD and allows me to format it and install Ubuntu. When the installation has finished and I try to boot Ubuntu up, nothing happens and the Bios menu shows 'Built in HDD = No Drive'.

If I run Ubuntu from a cd I can 'explore' the 60gb HDD and see all the installed Ubuntu files. I just can't boot the PC from the HDD.

Bit confused and not sure what to do next !

[FlyerUK]

Originally Posted by ade searle

The replacement HDD is the same spec as the old one, but the new one is 60gb rather than 30gb.

Using a cd, I have installed Ubuntu onto the new HDD. The ubuntu installation cd sees the HDD and allows me to format it and install Ubuntu. When the installation has finished and I try to boot Ubuntu up, nothing happens and the Bios menu shows 'Built in HDD = No Drive'.

If I run Ubuntu from a cd I can 'explore' the 60gb HDD and see all the installed Ubuntu files. I just can't boot the PC from the HDD.

Bit confused and not sure what to do next !

That sounds weird, all I can think of, is maybe the Tosh needs a bios update in order to "see" the 60. I wouldn't have thought so, but given that Ubuntu has no issues with the drive it's all I can think of.