Adding a new harddrive

Question

Hi,   i have a dell 8100.  originally, i had a zip drive as the second hard drive on my primary ide channel.  i would like to add a hard drive.  as i understand it, i should just be able to connect this hard drive at the position of the zip drive.  However, when i do this, i completely lose my system, i.e. my bios no longer recognizes my original hard drive or my cd drives.    An unfortunate complicating factor is the following: The partitioning of my original drive is a mess due to an unconventional manner in which i installed redhat 9.0.  I currently have 3 partitions. in order from the beginning of the drive, they are: F: my local disk. ~40 gigs C: my old local disk, which is still identified as the boot partition ~20 gigs G: unrecognized and unnamed unless i use a linux boot disk: ~20 gigs    Any ideas on what the problem could possibly be would be greatly, greatly appreciated!   james p.s.  i recently received a new hard drive from teh manufacturer and this problem has occurred on both the previous and current 'new' drive.

volcano11 · Answer

First make sure that the jumpers on the hard drive are set to Cable Select (CSEL or CS) to be consistent with the jumpers on other hard drives on your system. If that isn't the problem, try clearing NVRAM and forcing the the BIOS to redect all hardware. Instructions for clearing NVRAM can be found at:

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=FA1023538

Steve

jed2103 · Answer

Steve,

Thanks for the tip! Clearing out the NVRAM worked and i got my dual system up and running at full memory capacity. You are a lifesaver.

There is, however, one small catch..... my system is sometimes gone if i try to cold start. i can get in by reclearing the NVRAM again and restarting, but, this is making me a bit nervous. Do you have any other suggestions? should i try a new version of bios?

thanks for your help
james

Majestic · Answer

A BIOS upgrade won't help with the boot up problem you are experiencing which I assume to be the 'press F1 - F2' boot up error.  If you are encountering problems at a cold boot where the machine loses the time and date or has a difficult time detecting previously installed hardware then try replacing the 3-V CR2032 coin cell motherboard battery.  Given the age of your machine it is not uncommon for the battery to eventually fail and lose the system settings or configuration when it is shut down.  Click here for a link on how to replace the battery on your model which can be purchased for around $3 at any computer store or Radio Shack.  If the problem continues after the battery replacement then try running the Dell Diagnostics on the system.  A failing hardware component can cause boot up problems such as a 'press F1 - F-2' boot scenario when the machine is powered on.

jed2103 · Answer

Okay, so after a couple days, the second hard drive completely pooped out adn i'm back where i started. clearing out the NVRAM does not work anymore, however, if i just unplug the second hard drive, then my system boots fine. THis is annoying though, as i really need that extra space!

i haven't tried the battery yet, but since the system works if i just unplug the new drive and i'm not losing my clock, it seems that losing power is not really a problem.

any other suggestions guys?

thanks,
james

Majestic · Answer

Assuming you have the drive's jumpers correctly set as Steve had mentioned, what about the ribbon cable?  Are you using a 80 conductor-40 pin ribbon cable with the new drive or was the Zip drive connected using a 40/40 cable?

jed2103 · Answer

I'm at work and can't check the cable. For my info though, what cable do you recommend using?

Also:

1.) what's the advantage of cable select? why not just explicitly define one as master and the other as slave?

2.) is it possible there's a problem with my hard drive controller?

3.) do you have any advice on reinstalling hte boot partition? this partition did get moved when i was fiddling around. maybe that's part of the problem?

i can't use the diagnostics disc effectively. if both drives are seen, everything works fine and is diagnosed as okay. if there is a problem, the problem is complete. i lose everything in the system, including the cd player, so i cannot use the diagnostics disk.

thanks

Majestic · Answer

'For my info though, what cable do you recommend using?'   If the present ribbon cable is the 80 conductor - 40 pin type then it will be more than adequate.  Just count the number of wires in the cable.  You don't have to count them all, just make sure there is more than 40.  To rule out the possibility of the cable being bad you might want to try another one.     'what's the advantage of cable select? why not just explicitly define one as master and the other as slave?'   Cable Select is the setting Dell uses on the drives from the factory and seems to be the most trouble-free setting with new drive installations.  You can try using the Master - Slave setting to see if it will resolve the problem.   'is it possible there's a problem with my hard drive controller?'   It's possible.  It could also be a problem with the ribbon cable  Try another ribbon cable.  Also try installing the new hard drive on the second IDE port.    'this partition did get moved when i was fiddling around. maybe that's part of the problem?'   From what you described it doesn't sound likely.  The problem is occurring during the detection phase of the boot up when the BIOS is checking the installed hardware.  This indicates to me the problem is happening before any attempt at loading an operating system from the messed up partitions.  Once you get the new drive up and running you might use the opportunity to straighten out the partition problem on the original hard drive although you may need to use Partition Magic to do it without having to reinstall.   Message Edited by Majestic on 01-29-2005 08:15 AM

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Adding a new harddrive

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