F1 Appears in Boot Sequence

Try clearing the NVRAM which can be useful in resolving boot up problems especially if the SATA card and drive were just installed.  The link here explains how to clear the NVRAM on your model.  If that doesn't resolve the problem then try running the Dell Diagnostics on the system to see if it will indicate the source of the problem.  Usually a F1 -F2 boot scenario is an indication of hard drive problems

Thanks Majestic.  I think you hit the nail on the head.  The problem I"m having is hard drive related.

I have just installed two Maxtor 160 GB SCSI hard drives on my system using a SATA/150 PCI adapter.

Although both drives appear in System Device Manager as trouble free with the descriptions of their properties available there, my Windows XP SP2 OS will not recognize the second, most recently installed hard drive.  Both hard drives are identical.  The second (Slave) HD doesn't appear as a drive in "MY COMPUTER."  The first (Master) HD does appear in MY COMPUTER.  I am NOT confident of the BIOS settings I have made.

How can I reconfigure my BIOS or system so as to have Windows recognize my second HD?

One further thing: If you can recommend a primer or other source for basic information about my Dell Dimension 8100 BIOS, what the settings mean, how to make them, etc, I would appreaciate it very much.

From a BIOS stand point there isn't much else to do in order to detect the second hard drive.  In the BIOS Setup only the drives attached to the motherboard controller are listed and managed.  By clearing the NVRAM you would have forced the BIOS to redetect all the installed hardware including the PCI Controller card.  Since the drives are attached to the controller card, the card would then manage them.  I assume that the Master drive on the controller card is the boot drive and that the machine boots up the operating system after you get past the F1 - F2 error.  Your boot up problem I suspect is more than likely coming from the fact that the second drive is not being detected or the system is having a hard time detecting it.  The BIOS is picking up on the "non-detection" and is offering you the option of going into the Setup to correct the error.  During boot up is the card's BIOS being displayed as well as the drives connected to it?  If it does then make sure the drives are correctly identified on the boot screen.  Double check to insure the drives are jumpered and cabled correctly.  Also double check with the manufacturer's web site to see if they have any FAQs in their support section related to the problem you are experiencing.

If the card's BIOS is correctly identifying the drive then try re-installing the drive in Windows Device Manager.  With the drive not being recognized in My Computer could be an indication that there is a problem with the way the drive was partitioned and formatted.

Regarding the 8100's BIOS information.... the only thing I can point you to is the on-line version of the 8100 model's User Guide and the section dealing with the BIOS Setup.  That is the information I reviewed when answering someone's posting.  Unfortunately as each new model comes out, the User Guide information gets a little less detailed.  The link here is to that User Guide.

Majestic, the problem was one of formatting.  The second drive was not formatted using the Windows Disk Management utility.  I had simply added the second drive (Slave) which was new and unformatted to the interface cable attached to the SATA/150 PCI adapter and to the boot drive (Master). I depended on Norton Ghost to format the Slave as it copied the Master drive to the Slave.  Done that way Windows XP Professional SP2 will not recognize the Slave.

I formatted the Slave using the Windows Disk Management utility.  That solved the problem.  The Slave drive is now recognized by Windows XP Professional SP2.

Thanks for your help.

AusJohn