problems with installing 2nd drive to optiplex gx260

thanks for replying back peterfelgate, but i am still having the problem.

I have left the original hard drive to its default setting ( cable select) and i set my new hard drive to cable select too, as shown in the hard drive instructions. when i switch the computer back ON , its goes thru the bios and returns the same problem message  'primary hard disk drive 0 not found'

'primary hard disk drive 1 not found'

press F1 to reboot, F2 to go to setup.

if i switch the pc off and then back on , the bios initilisation tends to hang and after a while i get a message again , but this time it shows ' primary hard disk drive 1 not found'

in the set up i have set the primary device 1 to auto. but still no joy.

How can i fix this problem..

thanks in advance

 

Still sounds like the bios is having problems with one or other of the disks caused by use of master/slave on harddisks or other IDE devices either on the primary or secondary channels. Assuming you're using the original Dell cables, try putting JUST the "new" drive on the cable on the endmost connector - set device 0 to AUTO and device 1 to NONE on the primary channel. Check the system recognises your disk OK and with the right capacity. Repeat with the original drive. Have you double checked that BOTH drives are on the cable select position? Don't assume that the original disk was....

thanks for the reply peterfelgate,  i tried to istall the "new" drive on the cable on the endmost connector - set device 0 to AUTO and device 1 to NONE on the primary channel, but had no joy, still came back with the same primary hard disk device 0 not found.

The hard disk in question was previoulsy partitioned using windows 98 in my other pc, could that have something to do with it. and do i need to set anything up in the bios.... by the way i am running phoenix bios A03 on my pc at the moment, is the second hard disk supported by that.

 

thanks in advance

 

I assume that the GX260 has the connectors as is normal for Dells i.e. such that the endmost is drive 0 - but I have seen cabling that has them the other way round - is the cable marked differently? Was the original configuration such that the sole drive was on the endmost connector? Try your new drive alone on the innermost with the same bios settings (drive 0 AUTO drive 1 NONE) to verify which way round they are if you are unsure.

If the disk still can't be detected, then the problem seems to be with the cabling or disk (assuming the controller still works with the original configuration) - the OS shouldn't matter at the bios boot stage....

UKMale21

If the drives are cabled and jumpered correctly and your still experiencing problems the next step to try is clearing the NVRAM.  By clearing the NVRAM you will refresh the stored hardware configuration that the BIOS uses.  This is useful in resolving hardware detection problems as well as boot up problems.  Here is a link to a Dell Knowledge Base article on clearing the NVRAM: