# Looking for info on Samsung 40gig HD SPO411N



## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

bought a new hard drive, Samsung 40 gigs,
PC doesn't see it .....

It sees other hard drives ...

But not this one, i dunno if i'm doing it right,
i tried the jumper/link in MA, SL, CS, nothing.

Any suggestions ?

John


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

Are you hooking up this drive by itself or is it on the same cable with another drive?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

How old is the computer? Are the other drives smaller then 30 GB?

Is it not recognised in Windows or even in the BIOS?


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi norton, Hi Triple,

I have tried it on IDE one with no other HDs attached to IDE 1 or IDE 2
and i have tried it with its jumper on MA and on SL and on CS.

I have tried it as slave on IDE 2 with Win98se running of another HD on
IDE 1, it is not showing up at all in Win.

I did not look for it in the bios. Perhaps i should.

This drive is brand-new, is there anything that has to be set up ?
Does it have to be formatted ?
Do i have to find and install a driver ?

Previous drives have all been second hand, haven't needed to get
drivers before ...

Cant seem to find info on the Samsung site, if anyone knows how to
negotiate that site, please advise !

I will check in the bios ... 

Regards, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

After a struggle i found this stuff on the Samsung website about this
hard drive.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP0411N.htm

The bit that drew my attention was:
Formatted Capacity = 40GB

Why does it say 'Formatted' ?
Does that mean its not already formatted ?
Do i have to format it ?

I dunno ...


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

yes, PC is old. At least three years old.
No, other drives are all less than 12 gig
(2 gig i think, and a 10 gig)Operating System:
Windows 98 SE

System Model:
FUJITSU Fujitsu PC e-series

Processor a:
333 megahertz Intel Celeron
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
128 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board: Board:
Gigabyte Technology Co.Ltd. GA-6LMM7
(i440LX) PCB ver. 1.2
Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc.
Award 4.51PG and GA 1.5 02/10/99

Memory Modules:
256 Megabytes Installed Memory


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

Yes you have to partition and format it.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi norton,

Thank goodness for that !!

Well i spose i better do that then.
I will see if it shows up in 'Fdisk'

cheers, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Apparently, Fdisk wont run unless theres a hard drive in evidence.

This hard drive is not showing up.

I tried it as MAster and as SLave on both IDE one and two.

I have no idea what i am doing wrong - if anything ...
maybe the drive is faulty ?


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

I havent tried limiting it to 32gig,
as can be seen from the accompanying jpg this requires two jumper/links,
i suppose i could nick one from something else, and give it a try ...

Any suggestions to get this working ?

Regards, John


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

How are you trying to format it.
You're are right though, the system needs to see it first. How do you have it presently hooked up. By itself on the IDE cable or with another drive? That way we can double check the jumper settings. Next will be to go into BIOS and see what's up.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi norton,

At present i have removed it, and replaced the drive i'm using now
to run the PC and contact TSG.

I can replace it in any configuration you recommend.

Regards, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Or i could set up another machine to contact TSG
and set this one separately.


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

What is your plan overall to use the drive as the only hard drive or in combination with another hard drive? We might as well set it up correctly the first time.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

I intend to use it as a slave or secondary drive, that can be moved to another PC if necessary.
But i would be just as happy using it as a primary drive on this PC.

John


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

OK for now just set up the jumper for slave and place it on the same IDE cable as your master drive. The other drive should of course be set to master. Then go into BIOS and see if both drives are there.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Is it possible that the PC takes a long time to see the 40 gig drive ?
If i gave it longer would that help ?

John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

HI,

just seen your post ...

I will do that now.

Cheers, John


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

John1 
Here's the page for their disk utility that will allow your mobo to see the whole drive assuming your mobo has a 32 Gb limitation.
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/index.htm


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

John

We still need to make sure that BIOS sees the drive at all, so don't change what you are doing yet.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi SacsTC, Hi norton,

Hi SacsTC, 
I was wondering about the 32 gig ceiling, i was going to try limiting the hard drive to 32 gigs using the jumper/link settings provided.
However, if this turns out to be a problem, i will use the program
that you have shown me, that would be a beter solution.

Hi norton,
i am still trying to set it up as you said.
i am having unexpected problems.
still trying to set it up as slave and master on IDE one.

will get back to you soon ...

your help is very much appreciated, John


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

John1,

Here's a little more from their web site: http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/Download/userguide/usersguide_02.htm Note that they are holding the HD upside down when looking at the jumper connections. The power connection is on the left in the diagram.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi norton, Hi SacsTC,

Ive been getting silly problems,
i took of my CD unit from IDE 1 and re-started, but the (existing)
hard drive then just kept clicking, and would not get any further.

That made no sense to me,
i thought i must have loosened a connection somewhere,
but all seemed ok.

So i replaced the CD unit, and everything worked ok,
just as before.

That made no sense to me either.

In between losing my internet connection, and various other silly
problems, its been a difficult time.

However ive been poking about on that Samsung site, and found a
dowloadable manual on this page:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP0411N.htm

Its a PDF file, so i thought i would download the pdf reader so that
i could view it. Installing that seemed to upset my internet
connection badly. I am back on now. Obviously.

Little of this makes much sense to me either.

The downloadable manual turned out to be one page of limited info,
very much the same as that posted earlier by SacsTC.

I am now going to try again with the IDE 1 this time i will include
the new Samsung drive in place of the CD unit, i am hoping that it
will behave normally this time. There is nothing on IDE 2 but there
will be the CD unit if all goes well.

I have read and re-read about those jumper/link positions, and i'm
still a bit unsure about it.

I am inclined to go with the actual picture on the actual hard drive
itself, as there seems to be a discrepancy between them somewhere.
That picture is shown earlier, a few posts back.

If i read it correctly, it shows no jumper/link for the slave on
that picture.

Any comments or advice welcome, Cheers, John


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

You're right about the pictures. Go with what's on the drive and use the full capacity of the drive. Do not limit it to 32 GB. If that's a problem we can deal with it later.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi norton,

Right, will do.

i will start pulling things apart soon to do this.
i will get back to you soon, i hope.

John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

Sorry this has taken so long ...
The IDE 1 cable has almost no slack,
anyway i have tried the Samsung HD on the IDE 1 cable as slave,
with the existing HD in place, i believe its set as master,
i ran 'Belarc' to see and 'Belarc' says the existing HD is set as
master on IDE 1, so i have set the samsung as slave.

One thing, which may not matter, is that the existing HD is not
closest to the mobo, the Samsung is closest.
This may not matter, and i dont know why it should anyway,
but i vaguely recall something about masters and slaves being
positioned appropriately along the ribbon cable from the mobo.
But i may be confusing this with something else.

Here is a pic of the screen that this produces,
It runs through mem check ok,
it appears to see the HD set as master,
then it gets to the slave and stops.

It offers to skip if i press 'F4'
but this is just a lie, it does nothing if i press 'F4'

This machine has no on/off switch, at the front nor at the back.
It has an 'On' button at the front, but this does not turn it off.
It relies on the 'Windows Shutdown' to turn it off, via the mobo.
Or you can pull the plug, this is how i have been turning it off,
i haven't found any way to operate the mobo 'off' signal when
using dos. There may be a way, but i dont know it.
I don't like to keep pulling the plug, it kinda grates on my nerves.

Cheers, John


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

Strange. Go to SacsTC's link for the drive and set up the jumper for slave like in the picture. Obviously one of them is wrong, maybe it's the picture on the drive.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Sorry this reply took so long ...
I.E. crapped out on me three times in a row,
i'm using mozilla now.

And ive changed the default to Moz as well.

I have looked carefully at the page from SacsTC's link,
and the drawing on the hard drive,
and i notice that the slave setting for 'Limit To 32 GB'
is the same on both.

So i was thinking i would try that, and see what happens.
What do you reckon ?

So you dont think the order of the fittings along the
IDE cable is anything to worry about ?

John


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

Yes, it does make a difference. The HD with the existing OS should be jumpered as either master or cable select and has to be the HD farthest from the mobo. (end of the cable). The Samsung has to be jumpered either as slave or cable select and has to be in the center position on the cable. If you are using master/slave jumpers they have to be set that way. If you are using cable select jumper positions, they must both be set to cable select. Either way the HD with the OS must be the farthest one from the mobo.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi SacsTC,

Thats interesting.
I thought i remembered something about that,
but i wasn't sure about it,
or even if i had got it wrong.

As it happens the existing hard drive with Win98se
is the further one,
The new hard drive is being tried in the middle position,
actually its about two thirds along.

This makes no sense to me either.
But i suppose it is worth knowing, it might matter one day.

Its getting quite late here now, and i must go to bed soon.

Regards, John


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

Hey john,
I figure that you have probably already tried this but when you place your fingers on the drive, is it spinning?


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Yes, but thanks for thinking of it.
Of course i can't really tell if its spinning, but it seems to be.
And it gets a little warm after a while, so its circuitry is probably
alive in there.

Tomorrow i shal probably try it again with the jumper/links in
the SLave 'limit to 32 gigs' position,
because after careful perusal of the pictures from you and me
that looks like its the same position in both pics.

What do you think ?


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

yeah, looks the same. What the heck do you mean by tomorrow?????????? Its already 3 am there!!!!!!!!!!!! What brand is your other HD??


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Tomorrow ...
yes, you're right, its already tomorrow.

Actually we're on "daylight savings time" and i don't think this forum
takes that into account,

So it was only a couple of hours after midnight, about half past two
when i sent that, althogh the time shown was about half past three.

Still quite late enough for me.
I still feel that the next day starts when i get up, so thats why i
said tomorrow. Had a bit of a lie-in today, didn't get up til noon.

So i'll give that a try ... the "limited slave" setting.
If that works ok, then i will be reassured that the drive is ok,
and see about setting it up to have its full capacity available.

The other hard drive ?
well i cant see much of it, but this is what 'Belarc' says:

ST31277A (1.28 GB) [Hard drive] -- drive 0

So i will do a quick google on that number, and see what comes up.

Get back to you soon,
Cheers, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Apparently its a Seagate Medalist 1277.

Capacity: ........................ 1.28 GB
Speed: ........................... 4500 rpm
Average Read Time: .......... 12.5 ms
Cylinders: ........................ 620
Heads: ............................ 64
Sectors: .......................... 63

John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

still trying to sort this out ...
had to do a bit of proof-reading ...

Anyway, now to re-try the Samsung hard drive as described,
that is set as "Limited Slave"

Cheers, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Well, it went through the mem check ok,
then looked at the IDE one and two,
It flashed by very quickly,
much quicker than i expected,
I am certain i saw "Samsung" flash by on one of them.

The Pc has started up with normal desktop,
but no sign of the Samsung drive.
Not surprising ... i haven't formatted it yet.

I am hoping that if i restart in dos,
Fdisk will see it ...

I am going to try that now,

Regards, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

So far - so good,
yes it seems that Fdisk does see the Samsung.

Unfortunately, i don't know what to do next.

John


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## Guest (Nov 23, 2004)

Create a partition.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

heres a pic of the Fdisk with the samsung showing ...



(i had to make it artificially small to meet the 200kb limit,
cant do JPGs on this machine)


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Lightning,

Thats probably the next step, yes.
However, i would like to try removing the link,
to see if that will make the full 40 gigs available first.

Cheers, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

No, removing the jumper/link does not improve matters,
the PC then just gets to primary slave and no further.

Again it offers to skip if i press 'F4' but this is just
a cruel and mocking lie, pressing 'F4' does nothing.

Maybe i should try the alternative arrangement requiring
two jumper/links which is shown on:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/Download/userguide/usersguide_02.htm

But i am a little wary of that, i cant see anything that
mentions the 'SP0411N' and it shows links engaged sideways.

I have never met jumper/links engaged sideways before, it
may be ok but i would like to see something that mentions
the 'SP0411N' before trying it.

But if others think that Pin "misalignment" on these settings
is unlikely to damage a hard drive, then i will probably
try it.

Regards, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

I am at present reading my way through this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q255867/#5

I am hoping that i will actually understand enough of it
to format my new hard drive.

Regards, John


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2004)

I don't understand what the problem is. You put the hard drive in the computer, set the jumpers, connect it to the appropriate IDE connector, and run FDISK and partition it.

What's the hold up?


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Lightning,

I have put the hard drive into the PC, several times.
And the way that gets a sensible response is as a slave on IDE one.
On IDE two as slave or master gets a non response,
as shown in the photo i posted.

It is a 40 gig drive, and i don't know how to set the jumpers.

Ive found that by setting the jumper to the "limit to 32 gig"
then i can at least see the drive in Fdisk.

But i would like to have the full capacity if possible.

As you can see from post #40 Fdisk is seeing it as a 32 gig drive.
If it is not possible to get the full capacity, then i will settle
for the 32 gigs that are showing.

There was mention earlier of a program i could D/L from Samsung
to help with some of their drives, if the mobo has internal
limiting to 32 gigs.

I don't know if this mobo is limited to 32gB or not, and i haven't
been able to find anywhere that sheds any light on that, one way
or the other.

I would be quite happy to split the drive into two parts, maybe
15 gig and 25 gig if that would help with the "32gig mobo limit"
situation, but i don't know how the limiting works.

Splitting it up may not make any difference.

I am, of course, open to any suggestions.

Regards John


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2004)

If you don't know how to set jumpers, you're going to have problems. The drive needs to be jumpered to master or slave, whatever is appropriate.

As for the motherboard drive size limit, have you tried looking up the information for your motherboard? Perhaps read the manual for that? Flash the BIOS?


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Lightning,

Yes, i agree. You have to know what the jumper/link settings should be
to suit the circumstances, otherwise you are in a difficult position.

Unfortunately, the arrangement shown on the label stuck on the drive
does not seem to operate as expected.

I am wondering if my mobo is limited to a 32 gig drive, as this could
possibly explain why i can get Fdisk to see the drive, provided that
i have the jumper/link in the place to limit the drive to 32 gigs.

Maybe i should download that prog mentioned earlier from samsung for
dealing with the 32 gig limit.

I think it might be worth adding to my collection, whether or not it
is what i need on this occasion.

On another note, i mentioned earlier that this 'Fujitsu' has no 'Off'
switch at the back, nor at the front. It has a start button which will
re-start it if pressed, but doesn't turn it off. It relies on the 'Windows
Shutdown' to turn off. This is annoying when in dos, or if windows is
having a hissy fit and wont play nice, because it means pulling out the
mains supply plug from a live computer, which i really do not like.

So ive been looking for a 'dos shutdown' and i found this:

http://elektron.et.tudelft.nl/~witteman/PowerOff.html

I downloaded it, and stuck it in C:/ and bingo! it works a treat.
Its only small, 1k, its called "PowerOff" and it runs in dos.
No more fiddling with the plug!

As to looking up the info on this mobo, i have tried with no success.
Here are the details in case you have better luck than me !

Main Circuit Board: Board:
Gigabyte Technology Co.Ltd. GA-6LMM7
(i440LX) PCB ver. 1.2
Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc.
Award 4.51PG and GA 1.5 02/10/99

The drive i am going to fit as slave is:

SpinPoint P Series
SP0411N

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP0411N.htm

I must admit, i had not thought of flashing the bios.
Ive never done that either, but i am willing to try it, if that is
what is needed, and would allow me to mount this drive with its full
capacity.

Regards, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

I tried unsuccsessfully to download that prog from samsung,
then a friend said it might be cos i'm not using I.E.

So i tried again using I.E. Got it on the second attempt.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...ities/index.htm

DM_creator.zip ( 1.6 Mb )

So i will be trying that soon, i hope that it works out ok.

John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Well, success i think.

After downloading DM_creator.zip, and un-zipping it,
this little program is for making a floppy disk, for the user
to run at start-up.

So i fiddled around, got a floppy that worked, mine are mostly
second hand and unreliable. Ran the DM-creator prog with the
floppy in drive A, and the prog made this special floppy.

Started up with this DM-floppy in place, and it ran in some
stuff on to a 'ram drive', and a disk managing program started.

It seemed fairly easy, i went for the easy install, it decided
correctly, that i had a 40 gig drive waiting to be set up, then
it set it up for me, leaving me with 37 gigs.

What on earth it used 3 gigs for i haven't a clue.

Now when i start up my PC i get some blue logos come up and go
away for some reason, but it does end up with both drives
available in windows.

It seems an 'untidy' answer somehow, and annoys me that it has
used up or lost 3 gigabytes from the drive.

Still, its working mostly anyway.

If theres a better way, i would be interested !

Regards John


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## SacsTC (Dec 30, 2003)

O.K. John,
With your # of posts, I know that you have seen the explanation for not having the correct (manufacturer size) size of the hard drive show up. You now need to run fdisk, create a partition and then format the drive before it will be usable.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi SacsTC,

I think that may have been covered using the "Disk Manager" floppy,
cos it did take its time, and the drive is now use-able, ive used it
a little bit already.

I didn't do any formatting myself, so i guess that prog did it ?

Anyway thanks to you all for your help through this unforseen mess:
norton850, Triple6, Lightning.

Regards, John


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