Author Topic: Need help with an old computer  (Read 2901 times)
Lumex120
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Need help with an old computer « on: January 16, 2016, 08:53:16 PM » Author: Lumex120
A few days ago, I got an old p4 tower from my church. It had no hard drive, so I stuck an old 40GB IDE I had from a computer we had over 4 years ago. The drive worked just fine in the computer (it had Win XP professional), so I have started using the computer. However, there is one problem. The 40gb drive is full, so I can't add a few programs I would like to install. To fix this, I purchased a 160GB SATA HDD from Micro center. I installed it onto an extra SATA port, and started the computer. I went into BIOS to make sure the drive was detected and working, and it was working just fine. I booted the PC off the 40GB drive, and went in My Computer. The drive wasn't there. I looked it up, and found out I had to format it. I followed the instructions I found on multiple sites, which said to go into Disk manager and give the drive a name. However, the drive wasn't displayed in Disk manager either. I went to device manager, and it said the drive "this device is working properly". However, even when trying to do a google search, i find multiple people with the same problem, but none really have an answer. Can anyone help?
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Ash
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #1 on: January 17, 2016, 04:05:41 AM » Author: Ash
Post screenshots of Disk Management and Device Management

Besides, an installation of Windows XP does not take up 40GB. Find out what fills the old drive and free it up a bit. If the installation is "abused" a lot (too much stuff was instaled etc) format it and install new
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #2 on: January 17, 2016, 12:28:27 PM » Author: xelareverse
Use a usb hard drive
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #3 on: January 17, 2016, 03:50:15 PM » Author: themaritimegirl
Windows XP does not support all SATA controllers out-of-box. You may need to install a driver for the motherboard's SATA controller.

As Ash said, it sounds like the 40 GB drive is full of junk anyway - a fresh installation of Windows XP with all updates installed only uses 5 GB of so. I would just wipe the drive clean and reinstall.
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #4 on: January 17, 2016, 04:23:34 PM » Author: rjluna2
Are there any junk application software that can be removed?

Does the Disk Management not able to see the new hard drive?
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #5 on: January 17, 2016, 04:29:55 PM » Author: Ash
Most common "junk applications" while they slow down the computer, take space in the system tray, and so on, dont really use up much disk space.... Downloaded files are more commonly the culprit
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #6 on: January 18, 2016, 09:11:13 AM » Author: Lumex120
Thanks everyone for your help. The reason the hard drive is full is because it was are main computer about 4 years ago, so it has lots of games and other space-taking files on it. I don't know the model of the motherboard, but I know it is made by Intel. Here is a picture of it, as well as the disk management and device manager.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2016, 09:17:51 AM by Zarlog » Logged

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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #7 on: January 18, 2016, 09:25:18 AM » Author: Lumex120
In Device manager, the new drive shows up. (it's a Seagate drive), but in Disk manager, it doesn't show up. Only the partitioned 40GB drive and my flash drive shows up.
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #8 on: January 19, 2016, 07:12:16 AM » Author: rjluna2
Which version of service pack does the Windows XP have?  Right click on "My Computer" icon and click on "Properties".  It should show you "Windows XP" and other information.  Seems that the Windows XP is not picking up the physical disk information, but with the device driver shows up the new hard drive.
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #9 on: January 19, 2016, 12:44:54 PM » Author: Ash
Your mainboard drivers appear to be installed, but still maybe reinstall..

The mainboard is definitely intel (seen right away, only they ever used northbridge heatsinks with "X" shaped tabs like this). The model number would look something like D845xxxx (maybe something else instead of the 845) and is located on or near one of the barcode labels

In the BIOS there is normally a setting to switch the sata port between AHCI (proper SATA) and Legacy (appear to OS like IDE) modes. Try switching, see if that helps

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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #10 on: January 19, 2016, 01:58:36 PM » Author: rjluna2
The AHCI interface is not available on the older mainboard.  He has the Pentium 4 system.

The problem may be the O/S that doesn't support larger hard drive :-\

Still needed to know which service pack version of Windows XP....
« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 02:01:29 PM by rjluna2 » Logged

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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #11 on: January 19, 2016, 02:21:22 PM » Author: Ash
It maybe under a different name, but im pretty sure it was allready there along with the first SATA equipped boards that came out in 2003. Actually, especially with them, in order to provide absolute compatibility with the IDE drives and existing OS (there wasnt even SP2 yet for Win XP)

I got a few such systems, can go and check if you ask..
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #12 on: January 19, 2016, 04:28:35 PM » Author: Lumex120
The mainboard is an intel d865gbf. It also has Windows XP SP1. If I got a newer service pack, would it maybe fix the issue?
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #13 on: January 19, 2016, 04:54:17 PM » Author: themaritimegirl
Good lord, you should have stopped using SP1 10 years ago. How come it has never automatically upgraded to SP3?

I would seriously just wipe the drive and start from scratch. A machine running SP1 in 2016 is bound to me full of viruses and stuff.
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Re: Need help with an old computer « Reply #14 on: January 19, 2016, 06:57:40 PM » Author: icefoglights
This last summer, I fired up my old computer which still had XP SP2 on it.  Had no trouble downloading SP3 and 7 years worth of updates.

Your hard drive space maybe an issue.  Wiping it and reinstalling, or running the system restore on it would be the best idea.  Did it come with discs?
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