You added an additional hard and didn't replace the orginal. Right?

If you added a drive you probably need to go into the bios and set the primary boot device or define the new drive.

Or if you replaced the harddrive you need to re-install your Operating system.

If you just added the drive you could always just take it back out. Or if you changed drives just put the orgianl back in.

Was the new drive SATA or ATA?
Did you connect the cables fully?
If ATA did you set the jumper for Master or Cable Select?

There certainly is no need to buy a new computer, this is probably a very simple fix.

yes you really need to give us more info here all we can do is random guessing if you don't provide us what you did how you did it and what exactly is happening and what OS is it as much info as possible pleas including the questions asked by the above posters.

The new drive is SATA. The cables are connected. Do you have to set it to Master with SATA?
I replaced a drive that was failing so I need to install the OS.

I had the weather network icon on my deaktop. The weather network came on when I turned on my computer. Now the icon is gone & the weather network doesn't come on when I turn on my computer. Before it disappeared, it said it wasn't connected to the interenet. I am lost, can you tell me how to get it back the way it was.

Thanks,

Sharon.

Sharon, please start your own thread regarding your problem since it probably has nothing to do with the OP's problem. That way, helpers can concentrate on a solution to your problem.

tdsmith, the boot sequence probably needs to be changed in the BIOS to show the hard drive as the first option in booting. Yes, the operating system must be installed on the new hard drive. Do you have a disk for this or an "image/clone" on an external hard drive?

Grandms is on the right track with setting the BIOS to recognise the CD/DVD player first but even so you should be able to insert the CD in the drawer. That way the computer fails to recognise the C: drive and will automatically seek the CD and start the install process.

Is this a local build or a name brand computer? If it is a local build you need to find drivers for the motherboard, sound, LAN etc from the makers of the motherboard. If it is a factory build then go to their site and punch in the model number to seek the needed drivers.

The old drive was showing signs of failure and it couldn't be tolerated any longer.
I connected all the cables in the same places as the old ones and checked to make sure they were adequately secured. I haven't tried to install the original Vista OS. Do I put the disk in before I turn the computer on?

No, you cannot place the CD in the drawer until the computer gets power by you switching it on. As soon as it starts open the CD drawer, insert the CD then close and it should automatically start the process for you.

Actually, if you're replacing a drive, you probably want to create a disk image from the old drive and restore it to the new one. Connect an external drive that is at least as large as the old drive, get some imaging software (Paragon software has a free image program and there are a few others that I can't remember). Paragon's imaging program seems to restore file by file rather than rewriting the image, so if you have lots of files, it can take a really long time. I had something like 20,000 small html files for test purposes, in addition to all the "normal" files people tend to have and it took more than a day to restore after I had a drive fail. I used a different program a while back and it took a couple of hours.

Sometimes, when the drive size changes, you need to adjust the MBR (the image program should have an option for that).

When I try to post a reply, Gardenweb says my message is rejected so it's taking a while to answer questions, sorry.
My son bought this computer at walmart because he didn't have the funds to buy a better one and he is now paying the price.
It is a Compaq Hewlett-Packard computer. I started thinking that the problem was Vista but someone told him it sounded like a hard drive that was failing.
I'll go to the manufacturers sight and find drivers.
Thanks for helping me.

the reason it is rejecting your reply is you had just recently posted to stop that from happening simply add a new space in the title after the RE: then it fools it and it will allow you to post back immediately.

If your old drive had not failed then you definitely should do the image/clone of the old drive and simply put that image on the new one it is so much faster easier no hunting for drivers or the disc to install the OS.

Here is a free imaging program
disk imaging software

buying at walmart is not bad I have bought several computers through them with no problem at all, compaq and HP are good brands, but hard drives do fail no matter what brand some are even shipped dead.

so all of this is due to a maybe the hard drive is failing?
why don't you tell us exactly what was happening to the pc that caused you to start to think something was wrong.
There are some good diagnostics you can run on a hard drive to tell if it is failing or not. Did you run any on that hard drive?

going by a sound is not always definitive, I know of several cases where a person assumed it was the hard drive because they were hearing a strange sound, turned out to be one of the fans going out.

My goodness gracious, this really isn't that complicated.

If you suspected a bad drive, what you should have done is determined the manufacturer of the drive and downloaded the manufacturers diagnostic utility. If it reported errors, replace the drive (perhaps under warranty) if not, look elsewhere for the source of trouble.

As it appears you replaced the original drive, the new drive is blank and has no operating system hence the error message. You have four choices:

2. Reinstall the original drive and run the appropriate diagnostic utility to see if the drive is actually failing.

3. Leave the new drive in place and reinstall the operating system via the supplied recovery disc which will return the computer as it was when you first opened the box. Once that's up and running, get all the Windows updates and install any software you'd like to use. Of course, you'll loose any data on the old drive. You do not need to download any drivers first unless you've made big hardware changes to the computer. "Big" changes would most likely be video or sound cards.

4. Use the original drive to make a clone (exact copy) of the drive contents on the new drive. Every drive manufacturer includes the necessary software and instructions in the package or makes it available as a free download from their website. While this method will preserve your son's data, if the problem wasn't the drive but rather, say, some corruption in Windows, those problems will continue.

5. Leave the new drive in place and reinstall the old drive. Run the recovery disc, installing Windows to the new drive. As described above, get Windows updates and reinstall any software. Selectively copy data files from the old drive to the new drive. If the diagnostic software indicates impending failure, do this part quickly.

Let us know how you want to proceed and if you need additional instructions.