Adding ATA133 Controller to Dell 8100

[Mike Coleman]

Need Hardware Wizard!!

I am not a hardware guru, but have built a few PC's. I have a Dell
Dimension 8100 with onboard controller, one 40 GB HDD, CD-ROM, DVD
burner and IOMEGA ZIP drive (total of four devices…the max for my
onboard controller). I wanted to add a second fast hard drive for DVD
burning (very disappointed in DVD burning speed, but that's another
story). I bought a MAXTOR 40 GB drive and a SIIG ATA 133 PCI
controller card. I put the card in and installed the driver for it.
It shows up in the Device Manager as a SCSI controller. I connected
the new MAXTOR drive to the ATA 133 card by itself, but cannot get the
PC to see the new drive. I have tried different slots, tried running
the new drive as master, slave, cable select…no good. The SIIG card
has several jumpers (1) one that changes the card from PCI to
RAID…tried both. Also jumper for primary and secondary channel. Not
sure what they are for, but they came without jumpers installed. I
have scoured the USENET and found that most people recommend fooling
the PC by making the bios boot from SCSI. I cannot find that option
on my PC. One option I am considering is canning the IOMEGA ZIP, and
adding the new MAXTOR to the onboard controller. Am I giving up too
easy? Any advice is welcome.


Mike Coleman

 

[Rod Speed]

Need Hardware Wizard!!

Not really!!

I am not a hardware guru, but have built a few PC's.
I have a Dell Dimension 8100 with onboard controller,
one 40 GB HDD, CD-ROM, DVD burner and IOMEGA ZIP
drive (total of four devices.the max for my onboard controller).
I wanted to add a second fast hard drive for DVD burning

Rather pointless, DVD burning will always
be much slower than any hard drive.

(very disappointed in DVD burning speed, but
that's another story). I bought a MAXTOR 40
GB drive and a SIIG ATA 133 PCI controller card.

It would have made more sense to just get an 80GB drive
instead. Replace the 40GB with an 80GB or 120GB.

I put the card in and installed the driver for it. It shows
up in the Device Manager as a SCSI controller. I
connected the new MAXTOR drive to the ATA 133
card by itself, but cannot get the PC to see the new drive.

Probably just because you havent
partitioned and formatted the new drive.

I have tried different slots, tried running the new
drive as master, slave, cable select.no good.

Probably just because you havent
partitioned and formatted the new drive.

The SIIG card has several jumpers (1) one that
changes the card from PCI to RAID. tried both.

It probably just controls whether the drives plugged
into that card are to be used in a RAID config or not.

Also jumper for primary and secondary
channel. Not sure what they are for,
but they came without jumpers installed.

Likely thats for when you have two of those cards installed.

I have scoured the USENET and found that most people
recommend fooling the PC by making the bios boot from SCSI.

That isnt fooling the PC. Its just for when you
want to boot off a drive thats on that card.

I cannot find that option on my PC.

It should be in the boot entry, one of
floppy, cdrom, hard drive, SCSI etc.

Some bios have a single entry for the boot
drive, where you specify which to boot from.

Other bios have more than one boot entry
and you basically specify the sequence to
be used when looking for a bootable drive.

One option I am considering is canning the IOMEGA ZIP,
and adding the new MAXTOR to the onboard controller.

Yes, I'd go that route myself. ZIPs have passed their useby date.

Am I giving up too easy?

Yes, you likely just have to partition and
format the drive thats plugged into the card.

Any advice is welcome.

Even advice to shove your head up a dead bear's bum ?