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ckingry

6 Posts

9437

June 3rd, 2006 00:00

Adding 2nd HDD - Not Recognized - No Raid (?) - BIOS configuration problem ????........

**UPDATE** I was able to enter the system setup at boot and select the SATA Secondary Drive after which I was able to select 'AUTO'. After exiting system setup and letting Windows start, the drive was recognized. I then used the Seagate Disc Wizard Program to partition the drive successfully. Problem is solved after finally getting the nerve to explore a little in system setup. I think I may have let it intimidate me to start with. 
 
I'll leave this post so that it might help someone in the future unless admin see fit to delete it.......Happy Computing :smileyhappy:
 
_____________________________________
 
Original Post.... 
 
I've searched and will continue to search but want to go ahead and post this just in case somebody can help before I find what I need.
 
My system information is down below.
 
After adding a Seagate Serial ATA/300 500GB HDD (ST3500641AS-RK) (internal) to my system, the drive is not recognized.
 
Before adding the second HDD, my XPS only had one HDD, the one that came with it. It is in the specs below. I'm not interested in a RAID configuration, only a second HDD for storage space.
 
I added the drive in an internal bay and plugged in an available power cable (It was marked P5). I then used a data cable that came with the drive and plugged it into the available slot on the motherboard, next to the one for the existing drive. I used no jumper setting on the drive, left it as it was when unpackaged as instructed by the Disc Wizard Program that came with the drive.
 
The instructions (Disc Wizard) say that if the drive is not detected, to enter the system set-up and select to auto-detect the drive. I've entered the system set-up but cannot find such a selection. I did find where configuration information can be edited RE: Drive set-up, (primary master, primary slave, master, slave, etc.,but do not feel comfortable with trying that nor do I have the knowledge to do so anyway.
 
Can anyone offer a simple help to configure the BIOS (?) properly so that the second drive is recognized or any other solution. Thanks for your help......I'll be searching the forum as time permits.
By the way, I've really enjoyed my XPS system.
 
General Information
Computer Model Dimension XPS
BIOS Vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Version A01
BIOS Date 04-28-03
Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 
Processor
Manufacturer Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Clock Speed 3GHz
Manufacturer Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Clock Speed 3GHz
Processor
Clock Speed 3GHz
Clock Speed 3GHz
 
Storage
Drive  Type    Drive      Size         Total Available Space   Used Space
C:       NTFS 111.7Gb 30.19Gb   81.55Gb
F:       FAT32 149.0Gb 82.53Gb 66.48Gb
L:    
 
Storage
Hardware

Type Description
Disk Drives Seagate ST3120023AS 111.7Gb
 WD       1600JB External  IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device 149.0Gb
 EPSON Stylus Storage USB Device 
Display Adapters 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 128Mb
 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 Sec 128Mb
IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
 Secondary IDE Channel
 Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
 Primary IDE Channel
Keyboards Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mice and Other Pointing Devices HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
Monitors SyncMaster 191T/195T/190T, SyncMaster Magic CX195T(Digital) - Samsung
 Default Monitor - 
Sound Devices Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)
USB Controllers Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D4
 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE
 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
Memory
Available Memory 37.45 %
Page File Size 2461.8Mb
Available Page File 79.18 %
Virtual Memory 3484.8Mb
Available Virtual Memory 66.93 %
Memory Slot 1 [CHANNEL A DIMM 0]  512Mb
Memory Slot 2 [CHANNEL B DIMM 0]  512Mb
Memory
Memory Slot 1 [CHANNEL A DIMM 0]  512Mb
Memory Slot 2 [CHANNEL B DIMM 0]  512Mb
 

Message Edited by ckingry on 06-03-200606:12 AM

Felix-ElGato

2 Posts

June 7th, 2006 16:00

Hi ckingry,

I

Felix-ElGato

2 Posts

June 7th, 2006 17:00

Hi, I too have a similar situation, so I'm glad to hear that you got it resolved. I added an SATA hard drive which I'm not able to see in OS or device manager. I'm not interested in a raid configuration, but would like to know how you set your BIOs to "auto detect". My SATA Operation controller came set to Raid Autodetect/AHCI. Not sure what this means so I'm afraid to change it. I would like to keep my data on my primary drive intact.

I'm new to this forum, and I hope I'm not violating any rules.

 

ckingry

6 Posts

June 8th, 2006 00:00

Follow the instructions here

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

 to enter the system setup program. See "Entering The System Setup Program".

Once there, on the first screen, select Drive Configuration and then the Secondary Drive, I believe, (second on the list in my case). Keep digging there until you find the option to toggle on AUTODETECT for that drive.

Exit the setup program and the you should see the drive in windows by right clicking My Computer, selecting Manage, then under Disk Maganement you should see listed all your drives including the new one. It has to be formatted before you see in Explorer.

In my case, the Seagate Disc Wizard is what I ran to set up the drive and partition it. Very easy. It started running automatically after I rebooted. It came with the hard drive.

You might check the Seagate site for more help with that if you have a Seagate drive.

Hope this helps, there are several posts here about this situation, search this forum for more help.

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