New burner, works but BIOS doesnt recognize

Question

Hi all, just purchased a Pioneer DVR-A09XL to replace my stock Toshiba DVD-Rom that seemed to be dying.  Anyway, I installed it, making sure it's on Cable Select mode, and it works like a charm.  Only problem is that my BIOS can't recognize the drive.  I just updated to the A07 version of the BIOS and I updated the firmware on the Pioneer.  BIOS still can't recognize it.  Anyone have any suggestions?  I'm not too terribly worried since it works, but it bothers me that it's not recognized in the BIOS.   System Details: Dimension XPS Gen 3 Primary IDE is a stock NEC DVD burner   Should be all that is needed.  thanks in advance

Predator · Answer

BJ,Did you verify in the BIOS that the IDE channel is set to Auto and that both Drives are on, Save & Edit? If so, then consider Clearing the NVRAM (CMOS), for Dell`s article, click on the CD/RW link in my post and scroll to Section 11, article 2.Best Regards God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference. CD/RW Link

bjboucher · Answer

I moved the one jumper I could find on my motherboard like is stated in that article. I don't know if it did anything or not, but my BIOS still can't recognize the name or type of drive that is installed. In my BIOS I can only select options for the SATA not the PATA which the CD/DVD drives connect to. SATA is is set to AUTO/AHCI (or something like that). Should I change it to AUTO/IDE? I don't think this is the right place for my CD/DVD drives though. And all I can do is turn drive 1 or 2 on and off, I can't change them to auto or anything else.

Thanks

osprey4 · Answer

bjboucher:

No, leave the SATA setting where it is. There should be a listing for up to five drives. See if you can turn the drive off, then reboot and turn it back on. Are you using any other optical drives?

bjboucher · Answer

I am still using the original NEC burner in PATA slot number one (moved it from the Slave position to the Master position).  I'll give that a go and see what happens.

bjboucher · Answer

Ok, that didn't work either, still says 'unknown drive.'  I did find something rather odd out when I tried it though.  When I turned the drive to 'off' in the BIOS, it was still there and working when Windows booted up.

osprey4 · Answer

bjboucher:

Have you checked for BIOS updates for your system? Go to downloads (use the support button above) and see if that system has a BIOS update. If so, download and flash your system. All the instructions should be there.

Predator · Answer

BJ,Good advice from John, I recall Dell releasing BIOS updates for a numer of tHeir systems to address ATAPI detection issues.Best Regards God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference. CD/RW Link

bjboucher · Answer

Sure have, I mentioned it in my initial posting.  I updated it like 2 days ago to the A07 version.  Like I've said before, I'm not too worried about this since the drive works fine.  I would like to figure out why the BIOS can't recognize it though.  Seems weird.

bjboucher · Answer

Just thought I would post an update in here in case someone in the future has the same problem and isn't left wondering what happened.  I finally decided to just try and swap the 2 drives around.  Put the NEC back into the Slave position and move the new drive to the Master position and it works like a charm.  BIOS now recognizes both drives.  Not sure why they don't work the other way around.  I checked to make sure the jumpers are in the right spot about 100 times so I don't think the problems is there.  Who knows, but it works.  So,if you are having a similiar problem, just try changing the position of the drives.

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New burner, works but BIOS doesnt recognize

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