First, you need to ascertain whether this is a WinMe issue or - more
likely - a hardware issue.

Confirm that you can 'see' both physical HDD's in your BIOS. If not, check
cabling AND Master/Slave links correctly set. Have you acknowledged
(detected and set) a second drive in the BIOS?

If OK in BIOS, boot with your WinMe Startup (floppy) disk and confirm that
you can 'see' both disks AND their partitions in Real Mode DOS.

If so, can you read AND write (in DOS) to all partitions.

Confirm the above then worry about WinMe.

BTW - What letter(s) is/are assigned to your CD-ROM(s) - if fitted?

Mart



"Nigel Andrews" wrote in message
...
I am having problems with Windows ME when adding in a working old hard
disk.

After going into 'safe mode' (because I switched off the PC) I get a blue
screen 'Windows protection error'.
This happens whenever a replacement second harddisk is connected. If I
remove it then Windows starts cleanly.
I have checked that the cable is connected correctly (any other connection
gets a worse result i.e., No O/S!)

I have treid this with two old harddisks that should be OK. I also had it
with the orginal harddisk which is why I am trying to replace it.

Any ideas please?
Thanks

Nigel