[robina80]

im trying to install windows XP Pro on this pc, ive upgraded the RAM to 384 and ive just installed a new hard drive its an IDE 500GB Western Digital, i enter bios select boot first from CD, once windows cd boots it then does the usual, then it asks me to select a hard drive and format it so i do, after it completes it restarts the computer and thats when i get the following message.

A disk read error ocurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

does that mean my Hard drive is faulty, or maybe the Hard drive is to big for this pc im trying to install windows on. my pc is a Dell Optiplex GX1 450S+

[robina80]

its wierd coz when i plug in the old HD that i had on that computer the bios recognizes it plus also shows the CD aswell but when i plug in the new HD it doesnt show in bios atall not even the CD

[marko]

i would imagine that that a computer that old my have problems Reading a hard drive of that capcity, i have read a couple of things saying that this pc has trouble with a 40 gig it would probabaly work if you upgraded your bios, but that is very risky and may not be worth it
:)

[robina80]

ive upgraded the BIOS but still no luck, thanks for your time

[thingie2]

have you tried a second install? sometimes things like this can happen if there was something not quite right during the setup.

[robina80]

yes!!! louds of time lol

[thingie2]

oh, ok. Have you tried the HDD on a different computer as secondary? or even use it as secondary with your other drive to boot to. This was you can run a disk error check to see if there is actually something wrong with the disk, or if it's something wrong with your computer.

[robina80]

i know why my computer wont see my HD because my GX1 can only see HD max 120gb so the only way for it to see my 500gb is to get a controller card and to be fair my computer isnt worth it i might aswell get a new computer

[thingie2]

Is there no BIOS upgrade that will allow it to see larger disks?

[robina80]

ive upgraded the bios