SATA hard disk on Dimension 3000

Question

I have an old Dell Dimension 3000 with a dead IDE hard disk that I am trying to get up-and-running for a family member.

I flashed the BIOS to the latest release, A03 (the motherboard is an E210882 Rev A02), bought a Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA hard disk, a 4-pin Molex to 15-pin SATA adapter, and a Pluscom 4 port SATA PCI adapter (VIA VT6421A chipset) thinking that I could boot from the SATA drive via the PCI adapter. Unfortunately, I soon realised this wasn't a workable hardware configuration.

Are there PCI SATA adapters on the market that would allow me to boot from the SATA hard disk with this antiquated motherboard? (For example: the Promise FastTrak TX2300?) I wouldn't want to make a purchase of another PCI SATA adapter only to find I have the same problem.

The computer is supposed to be for a family member and I'd hate to have to let them down. I would be very appreciative if someone could help me out with this problem.

rdunnill · Answer

I used a 3000 as a workstation for two years. During that period I equipped it with a Syba 150R SATA card and Hitachi 160gb SATA hard drive.

One caveat is that you will need to use a third-party LED if you want the hard drive activity indicator on the front panel. Pull out the factory LED and let it hang and squeeze in the new one. You can buy such an LED from sellers like Directron.

Monte Oliveto · Answer

Thanks for the response, rdunnill.

Just for clarification: so you had no trouble with booting from the SATA drive using the Syba 150R PCI SATA card?

I could probably acquire an old IDE drive from somewhere for booting and have the SATA drive set up as a second hard disk, but I would much prefer to boot from the SATA disk to make matters simpler for the eventual user.

I'm not worried about the lack of a HDD activity LED, but thanks for the advice anyway.

If anyone has any other suggestions or recommendations for other compatible, bootable SATA PCI adapters, I would be most appreciative.

rdunnill · Answer

Thanks for the response, rdunnill.

Just for clarification: so you had no trouble with booting from the SATA drive using the Syba 150R PCI SATA card?

I had no problems booting from the Syba card, which has a Silicone Image SI3112 chipset. I originally bought the card for use with a Dimension 4550 back in 2005.

The card was originally set up for RAID but I reflashed the BIOS with a download I acquired from Syba.

You can buy the card here.

beau neal · Answer

I seem to be having the same difficulties, except I knew that my 3000 wouldn't take Sata unless I bought and adapter.

I purchased a BYTECC IDE to SATA connector. I installed it in the IDE slot that my old hard drive was connected to.

I also, had to get a female Molex to SATA power connector.

Well, I have all the supplies, but my bios still don't recognize a hard drive and it want recognize my CD-Rom drive now either.

I would think that this adapter would satisfy the SATA hard drive and work.

Please Advise, I don't want to spend to much on this old thing.

rdunnill · Answer

I'd suggest an inexpensive third party SATA host adapter card ... it'll work without interfering with your CD-ROM.

rdunnill · Answer

A high quality SATA card is on special: www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx This card has four internal ports and 2 eSATA. Use promo code EMCJJKJ57 for $10 off; total price is $15 including shipping.

beau neal · Answer

I bought the SYBA silicon3512 PCI card. Updated my bios to A03 then installed the drivers for the RAID card.

I did everything the disk instructions said and went into the properties of the hardware tab to ensure that the drivers was working properly. They are and no updates are available.

I connected the SATA hard drive and once again I get the same page. press control + s or f4 to enter raid utility. When I go into this menu I have 5 options. the last option is the only one that has an effect, it says low level format.

I have done everything I know to do but still can't get the old dimension to recognize this SATA hard drive.

PLEASE HELP

rdunnill · Answer

I think your problem is that the card has a RAID BIOS; to fix this, you need to flash the BIOS, possibly downloading BIOS-003512-xxx-4384.zip from Silicon Image. You will also need to download the BIOS update utility for Windows in order to perform this.

For some reason, Syba sets these cards up for use with SATA RAID arrays rather than as simple SATA host controllers. However, my Syba 150R worked very nicely with a Dell Dimension 3000. (The card is currently installed in a Dell Dimension 2350.)

Here is the download link: http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=29&cat=15&os=0

beau neal · Answer

Ok thanks for getting back to me so rapidly,however, I went to this site and downloaded both the 3*12zip download and the bios update utility for windows. extracted them printed the instructions for the si flash tool syntax and nothing. i'm ready to smash this thing.

rdunnill · Answer

I flashed mine with a DOS-bootable floppy.

Whatever you use to flash with, you need to overwrite the RAID BIOS with the standard BIOS. I had to do this recently with a PCIe-1X card a few weeks back; for some reason (like Syba), the manufacturer saw fit to ship it set up for RAID, and it wouldn't boot a single SATA drive. A re-flash fixed the problem.

I posted a link to a Rosewill card that seemed to be sold single drive-ready, but I haven't tried it with a 3000.

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SATA hard disk on Dimension 3000

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