pwhittle

Just got a Dell Dimensions, first time I haven't built my own pc. Having a couple of issues.
I've changed the combo drive for DVD writer. The BIOS doesn't detect it, and needs F1 to bypass it everytime I boot. The drives works fine in Windows, it's just annoying the PC can't boot itself. If I disable the drive in the BIOS it boots, but the drive won't then work in Windows.

Also, I have a 300Gb HD I want to use in an external caddy. 2 smaller drives work fine, but the 300Gb one isn't detected (USB).

Any ideas?

cheers

bob269

Is the DVD Writer connected to the same ide cable as the bootable hard drive (assuming its ide and not sata), if so have you checked the jumper on the drives are not both set as master?

pwhittle

I think the boot HD is SATA (I haven't used it before, so I don't know the difference). You can set the BIOS to use older non-SATA drives which I have done, to no effect

I'll check the jumper settings

bob269

Sata cable should be about a centimetre wide usually red, IDE cable is about 1 1/2 inch wide. If the HD is sata and the writer IDE then I shouldnt think thats the problem, it's worth setting all jumpers to cable select tho (CS) just incase.

Just make sure the boot order in the bios is set to boot SATA 1st

pwhittle

yes, the boot drive is SATA, the DVD is on IDE. I tried a HD on the IDE cable, but that wasn't recognised either

lightning101

Doesn't putting your own components in a dell machine invalidate your warranty ?

pwhittle

Possibly, I haven't checked.
at this rate I'll end up with 3 external drives (excluding the 300Gb one which won't detect).
Should work, but not the quickest solution

I think the Pc was quite good money for what you get, but they wanted £45 to upgrade a combo drive to a DVd writer, which you can get for £30. Must be where they make their profits

darlodge

Dell are buggers when it comes to upgrades. I was quoted over £500 for a second processor in an old Poweredge 300 about 5 years ago. I managed to pick up a brand new from autdirect.co.uk for £70 inc fan and cable, delivery, and vat. Their prices are still similar now.

Dell used to be fine in the past with home purchased upgrades. If your PC shipped with 512MB RAM and you bought another 512MB Dell would only replace based on the original spec. They would also only fault diagnose on the original spec. IE if you added a new processor, they won't diagnose it, if it was a second NIC or additional memory, they used to make you remove it from the PC and they would then diagnose the fault. If it needed a new board, they would send it out and then you can put your bits back in again.

Darren