Computer Repair Tips

Important: Western Digital only supplies Windows 98 SE drivers for the Silver WD Passport portable hard drive (pictured below). If you have a black or colored WD Passport portable hard drive, you will not be able to install the drive under Windows 98 SE.

1. To download the WD Passport (silver) 98SE Driver, click on the Download button next to the .zip or .exe version of the driver download.
2. Then click the Save button and save the driver to your desktop.
3. Close your web browser and…

Why is Windows failing to locate and install drivers for an external hard drive?

Problem:
During the initial installation of an external hard drive, Windows does not locate or install drivers for the external hard drive. Windows may report that there is no driver found for your device.

Cause:
This happens because Windows is seeing the USB or Firewire drive as an unknown device, and therefore can’t install any drivers for it.

Critical: The USB and Firewire drivers for our external hard drives are already built into…

Why do I encounter a "Type 10 Error" message while using my FireWire or USB drive in Mac OS?

Problem:
"Type 10 Error" encountered while using a FireWire or USB drive in a Mac.

Cause:
According to Apple, this is an attempt to execute an instruction that does not exist in the CPUs repertoire. Basically, the machine on which it is being run does not support the command (for example, a 68020 instruction execution attempt on a 68000).

Resolution:
Apple suggests that you try copying the file to…

Why is the error "A Disk Read Error Occurred: Press CTRL ALT DEL to restart" shown while booting to Windows 2000 or XP?

Possible Causes:
There are many possible causes for this issue. This error does not indicate that the hard drive is defective.

This is most likely caused by a change in the computer’s BIOS or drive geometry settings. This causes the Windows Boot Manager to seek and use incorrect boot information from the hard drive.

Possible Resolutions:
IMPORTANT: The solutions provided may cause data on…

Try these tips to speed up both startup time for your Mac and overall performance.

• Rebuild your desktop once a month by holding down the Command and Option keys as you restart your computer. Leave the keys pressed until the computer asks if you want to rebuild the desktop. Click OK.
• Remove fonts you never use. (Open the Fonts folder in the System Folder and drag the fonts out.)
• Open the Extensions Manager control panel and turn off system extensions you don’t need. For example,…

If you think your computer may be infected, take all necessary steps to clear your system and avoid infecting other computers.

• Be cautious about what disks and files you accept from other people.
• Don’t reuse disks that have been in other computers, don’t download files from insecure sites, and don’t open e-mail attachments unless you are expecting them. Be wary of messages and attachments, even from people you know, with vague subject lines and contents, such as ‘Check this’ or ‘See these…

External Storage devices are shipped with the FAT32 Windows file system installed. The drive will mount as a Windows-formatted disk on the Macintosh desktop; however, the Macintosh disk repair/recovery tools cannot repair or recover data from Windows-formatted drives.

For the highest performance and compatibility, we recommend you reformat the drive using the Mac OS Extended format. However, if you will be transferring files between a Windows system and a Macintosh, leave the drive in the FAT32 format, you will have to either:

• Limit the FAT32 Volume…

If your system hangs after installing the new Maxtor hard drive – either before or after setting the system BIOS – this may be an indication that the BIOS has a capacity barrier or capacity limitation and does not correctly support the hard drive’s capacity. This could also be caused by a conflict with another device on the same cable as the new drive. For either of these conditions, try the following:

1. Remove any device that is on the same cable with…

If the operating system, BIOS, DiscWizard, or MaxBlast can only recognize 32 GB of the drive it may be caused by one of the following:

1. Drive Jumpers: Applies to Mac and Window users. On drives that are larger than 32 GB there is a Capacity Limitation Jumper (CLJ), also known as the Limit Capacity Jumper or the Alternate Capacity (AC) Jumper setting. This jumper will limit the capacity of the drive to 32 GB and should only be used when…

There are six main reasons why a system BIOS will not detect the presence of an internal hard drive.  Here is a list of them.  They are not in any particular order, but you can follow these steps one by one to troubleshoot this problem:

• Drive not enabled in the BIOS
• Serial ATA drivers are not properly installed
• Faulty or unplugged data cable
• Drive is not spinning up
• Incorrect jumper settings on the drive
• Faulty hard drive

Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 pertain to PC or Mac systems. Sections…