Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
27 Posts
0
1873
Unusual booting - Optiplex GX270
I have a few old GX 270's running XP Pro SP3 that i most use for reorganizing files on external HDDs and sometimes simple games, i keep them offline to avoid any problems with hack attacks, etc. Recently encountered an odd situation.
I have 2 HDD's connected at the end of the cable on each of the 2 MB HDD connectors and the drives are each set to Cable Select.
Primary Drive 0 = boot drive
Secondary Drive 0 = data drive
When i start the computer it gives me the following error:
SATA Drive 0 not found - since there is no drive connected.
Primary Drive 1 not found - since there is no drive connected - and since no error it does see Primary drive 0
Secondary Drive 0 not found - this one is the problem drive and is connected
Secondary Drive 1 not found - since there is no drive connected
And the Secondary Drive 0 also does not show up in drive setup.
So it appears it is not seeing the data drive, however once the computer is started the data drive is visible and works fine.
The data drive did have a bootable OS as well but it will not boot in the secondary position. Due to some cable issues I don't want to switch it to the Primary MB port unless i have to. Any idea what is going on that the drive is not visible at boot but is visible once XP starts up?
TIA
ed
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
Moderator
•
16.7K Posts
0
June 27th, 2017 06:00
Wambeer,
Unplug the SATA cables for all drives. Then, make sure the SATA is plugged into the first SATA port, and try to go into the BIOS and see if it is recognized as a boot drive. If no, try another port.
Next, plug in the hard drive into the next SATA port, check in BIOS to make sure it is recognized as a boot drive - set it to #2. If both drives aren't recognized, change the port on the HDD.
Next, add the optical drive using the same method - all three should be present, set to boot in the order you want.Also, verify that the cable is plugged into the drives correctly.
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
47K Posts
0
June 27th, 2017 14:00
All Drives All Controllers should be Set CABLE SELECT. This includes Optical Drives.
Any Drives not actually installed should not be enabled in F2 bios.
Blue connector goes to motherboard.
Black connector is Drive 0
Grey Connector is Drive 1
80 wire cables are required.
Warmbeer
27 Posts
0
June 27th, 2017 14:00
Thanks Jesse, but uh, these are IDE drives.
The thing is ancient
There is a SATA connector but not using it for now.
ejn63
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
87.5K Posts
0
June 28th, 2017 08:00
Are there any bulging or leaking capacitors on the system board?
Warmbeer
27 Posts
0
June 28th, 2017 08:00
as in the OP - "the drives are each set to Cable Select"
I disabled any drive ports without drives connected - same result
not all cables have that color coding or config, hard to tell from the pic which color is at the end but mine is as stated "I have 2 HDD's connected at the end of the cable on each of the 2 MB (MotherBoard) HDD connectors", the open connector being in the middle of the cable. Meaning Primary cable has the C:\ Drive connected to the end connector and the Secondary has the problem drive also connected to the end connector.
Warmbeer
27 Posts
0
June 29th, 2017 05:00
I've had that problem on other units before, but never where the unit would boot. It always was an MB total failure. Are you saying a blown cap could let the machine boot normally except for it's reaction to a single HDD? Seems unlikely but i will check.
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
47K Posts
1
June 29th, 2017 05:00
Blue Goes to motherboard , Black is the Drive 0 end and Grey is Drive one end. The cable is not bidirectional either way. If your cables are not colored in this fashion then there will be PIO errors because the cables are NOT 80 wire cables. The optical Drive or drives MUST ALSO be Cable select. Mixing master/slave with cable select causes damage to motherboard and drives and onboard controllers.
80 wire cables are not horribly expensive. You cannot fool the motherboard by posting on the forum that you are set cable select on all drives.
https://www.amazon.com/SIENOC-wire-Drive-Ribbon-Cable/dp/B0126SUXAK
Warmbeer
27 Posts
0
July 2nd, 2017 08:00
My error, you are correct as far as my cable connector colors (a little hard to see clearly w my old eyes and the jumble of cables in the machine), although the C:\ drive was and is connected by a single drive cable (no middle connector) and it was reversed and seemed to have been working fine, but i did reconnect it as recommended. The cables are def 80 wire. Original issue remains.
Not trying to fool anyone. What the OP stated is that the DRIVES are set to CS (with the drive jumpers), and the position on the cables, which continues to be as stated.
No optical drives or other connected.
Original issue remains.
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
47K Posts
1
July 3rd, 2017 10:00
REMOVE ALL DRIVES. " I have 2 HDD's connected at the end of the cable on each of the 2 MB HDD connectors and the drives are each set to Cable Select. (That means 4 drives)" (You now say that one drive was on a cable of single connector and there are no optical drives.) So you were not forthcoming and I suspect that there are drives set as Master and Slave in the mix. Mixing cable select and master and slave means it will never boot from ANY Drive.
Connect 1 drive to the PRIMARY controller port and turn all the rest off in bios. Disconnect all other drives. It should boot if that drive is bootable. The system will not recover to another drive on 2nd port or 3rd port or 4th port bootable.
Windows WILL NOT ALLOW all the drives to have active partition.
ALL DRIVES Regardless of which one MUST BE SET to cable select.
Bios is not a boot manager. It will not look at all the drives and boot from one that looks like its active.
Non active partitions will not boot.
Warmbeer
27 Posts
0
July 3rd, 2017 13:00
okay, i see the problem, i stated the config unclearly.
There are and always have been 2 drives total, one at the end of the MB Primary connector cable set to CS and the 2nd at the end of the MB Secondary HDD connector cable set to CS. The Primary 0 HDD boots the box, the Secondary 0 HDD is the one that is not recognized at boot but is visible once the OS loads.