Second hard drive troubles

  • Thread starter Thread starter cbrace1
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cbrace1

I have a Dell Dimension 8100 to which I am trying to add a HDD.
Currently, the IDE1 master is the 40GB IBM drive that shipped with the
box. The new drive is an 80GB Seagate (ST380020ACE) that is set to the
slave position of IDE1. IDE2 contains only the DVD-ROM. Here is the
problem: when starting the computer, the BIOS will not recognize ANY
drive on the system if the new drive is installed. If I remove the
drive (or at least remove the power supply to it but leave the cable
installed), things work fine. I have tried every permutation of
master/slave/cable select, including putting each HDD as a master or
slave and even tried putting the new HDD on IDE2, but no luck. As long
as the drive is connected, I can't even bypass the BIOS setup (that
would normally occur if a drive was expected in the slave position by
not found) or boot since none of the other drives is recognized...
including the DVD-ROM on the other IDE channel. Any thoughts?
 
I wonder if the cable for the HDD's is faulty, Since dell likes to keep
customers out of their pc's, I wonder if thy put a drive cable in that only
allows one drive.
Seems kinda doubtfull, how bout this, set the master drive jumpers as master
with slave present, and set the slave as slave be especially careful that
your looking at the jumpers from the proper orientation, and are certain you
are jumping the correct pins. I know my old eyes have needed more light
lately and I've missed a pin. usually if the system won't even boot, the
pins are not jumpered properly.

also set the bios to auto on both the master and slave.
 
http://www.roberthancock.com/dell/hdnotes.htm | 3rd paragraph
If there are twists in the IDE ribbon cable set both to cable select.
No twists in the cable ? ....then you're playing with jumpers ...and maybe
bios !
....sure that slave on IDE1 isn't switched off in bios ?

Find your IBM (now Hitachi settings here)
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/jumpers.htm
e.g.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/40gnx/40gnxjum.htm
and Seagate here:-
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ref/jumper_settings.html#block

regards, Richard
 
oooooh ! http://www.roberthancock.com/dell/hdnotes.htm wasn't very good was
it ! I didn't notice that he should have gone on to explain, in as many
words, that if you do have a "cable select" ribbon and you want to change
the configuration e.g. use jumpers instead of cable select, then you should
swap out the ribbon for one without twists in it.

regards, Richard
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, but I have already tried every
permutation of master/slave/cable select and positioning on the cable.
I am also using an 80-pin IDE cable, but no twists. I had no problem
with the HDD1/DVD on one channel and ZIP/CDRW on the other. I don't
use the ZIP or CDRW anymore and have no problems with HDD1 on one
channel and the DVD on the other. It's only when the new HDD is added
that things go south. Any other suggestions?
 
cb78 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions, but I have already tried every
permutation of master/slave/cable select and positioning on the cable.
I am also using an 80-pin IDE cable, but no twists. I had no problem
with the HDD1/DVD on one channel and ZIP/CDRW on the other. I don't
use the ZIP or CDRW anymore and have no problems with HDD1 on one
channel and the DVD on the other. It's only when the new HDD is added
that things go south. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Perhaps the power supply isn't beefy enough to handle the extra drive.
If you connect both drives using cable select (which is what Dells
want), can you go into Setup? Some Dells need you to go into Setup and
re-discover the drives when you make changes. It doesn't sound like
you've done that.

Malke
 
I was tempted to mention IDE controller setttings in bios but, seeing as I
haven't seen a Dell bios for ages I didn't. I think I did fight with one
ages ago and I think it had an AMI bios - horrid and old and not much to
choose from in it !

regards, Richard
 
I have a Dell Dimension 8100 to which I am trying to add a HDD.
Currently, the IDE1 master is the 40GB IBM drive that shipped with the
box. The new drive is an 80GB Seagate (ST380020ACE) that is set to the
slave position of IDE1. IDE2 contains only the DVD-ROM. Here is the
problem: when starting the computer, the BIOS will not recognize ANY
drive on the system if the new drive is installed. If I remove the
drive (or at least remove the power supply to it but leave the cable
installed), things work fine. I have tried every permutation of
master/slave/cable select, including putting each HDD as a master or
slave and even tried putting the new HDD on IDE2, but no luck. As long
as the drive is connected, I can't even bypass the BIOS setup (that
would normally occur if a drive was expected in the slave position by
not found) or boot since none of the other drives is recognized...
including the DVD-ROM on the other IDE channel. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

You've checked the jumpers on the master drive? I've seen drives that
have to be jumpered differently for being alone and for being master
with slave present.
 
I realised that just after posting, (twists only in floppy ribbon - too
tired is my excuse), The long and short of this one I suspect, is that the
OP has not yet hit the correct hardware configuration WITH the slave drive
enabled in BIOS. Indeed, on the link to Dell specs. for the Dimension
Inspiron 8100 they specifically state that "Primary Hard drive1" (slave) is
set to "Off" in BIOS. This of course, needs to be switched on !!!
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dsleest/syssetup.htm :-)

regards, Richard
 
Try a different optical drive. Maybe there is something about the DVD drive that
is confusing the machine. I know on this PI, 200 Mhz machine I'm reworking, that
it might be the optical drive is too old, and directions were to replace it with
a newer one and then the 2nd HDD would appear. That didn't happen, so now it may
be a jumper issue on the mobo.

Otherwise, copy the old HDD to the new HDD, then take out the old HDD and
replace it with the new HDD.

Another thing you could try is the Promise PCI Controller card solution and hook
up the two HDD to one of those (it's what I did to my parents' Dell when we have
3 optical drives (Zip Drive included). We have dual boot (ME and XP Home), and 2
partitions on the 1st HDD (60 GB) and 4 partitions on the 2nd HDD (120 GB). I
have the DVD burner and the Zip on the IDE 1 cable, and the DVD-ROM drive on the
IDE 2 cable.

| Thanks for all the suggestions, but I have already tried every
| permutation of master/slave/cable select and positioning on the cable.
| I am also using an 80-pin IDE cable, but no twists. I had no problem
| with the HDD1/DVD on one channel and ZIP/CDRW on the other. I don't
| use the ZIP or CDRW anymore and have no problems with HDD1 on one
| channel and the DVD on the other. It's only when the new HDD is added
| that things go south. Any other suggestions?
|
 
BIOS config has been checked, set and reset several times. Booting
from a DOS disk didn't work, but that might just be the disk. I am
doubtful about the cable, since it works fine with both HDD1 and the
DVD connected to it, but I will look into some of the other
possibilities. Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
in my opinion you are looking for harddisk of 80gb on salve is not
good,
insert only the 80gb harddisk and than configure it on master, after
making its partitions and installing windows you can attch youre older
harddisk that is of 40gb.
i think it will work for you if you make 80gb on primery master and
40gb on secondry master.
ok, will hope you can get sloution,
with regards
shahid
 
Most Dells you have to go into the BIOS setup and tell it that you have another hard drive attached
because the default on Dells is None for devices not factory installed. What brand hard drive is
the 40, sometimes different makes of drives don;t like to play together.
 
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