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Lauti1970

23 Posts

3483

May 25th, 2007 10:00

Help!! Adding IDE Harddrive and DVD in E520 - doesn't work, where am I going wrong

I am posting this call for help a second time as I did not get sufficient answers first time round.
 
Hi there, I need help. I have been trying to add a 320GB ATA (IDE) hardrive and a Dual Layer DVD writer (IDE) into my new Dimension E520. I overcame the lack of power supply connectors by splitting the spare mini molex in ot 4 larger 4pin molex connectors and I used IDE to SATA adaptors (see pics) for the data transfer. When I hook everthing up, the PC wont go beyond the BIOS start screen. I went through the BIOS and switched the SATA sockets on the MOBO on but that did not have an effect either. I tried every jumper setting on the drives as well. Where am I going wrong? Could it be that it is not possible in the first place or is there a power supply issue here? Could it be that the standard psu is struggling to supply all the devices as well as the gfx board? Any ideas/comments would be greatly appriciated.
 
System:  Dim E520 Dual Core E6300, 2 GB DDR2 553Mhz, 250 GB SATA II HD,
Standard DVD+/- RW, PNY 8600GTS (no extra power connected!), 22" Widescreen LCD
    

osprey4

6 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

May 25th, 2007 10:00

Lauti:
 
Please have mercy on our dial-up friends by providing a link rather than the pictures. Thanks.
 
My suggestion would be simply to add an IDE controller card. I have seen far too many instances of these connector adapters not working.

Lauti1970

23 Posts

May 25th, 2007 11:00

I tried that before and it worked for the harddrive but not for the DVD writer as it was not supported and the BIOS was telling me at start up that it had to reduce the speed to ATA33 because of the cable in use. It was a proper 80/40 pin cable. I did not investigate that further as that is where my understandding of these things ends.
I wanted to use the converter solution as it is tidier and leaves the PCI sockets free for other things. Why do these connectors not work? Is it because the cheap ones are rubbish or could this happen with any of them? I got these for a fiver each from Hong Kong via eBay. Am I just unlucky that the two I have don't work? I'll give it one more go when I have installed my new PSU. Maybe it's power related as well. I need to try the jumper settings on "Master" as I don't remember trying that as someone had suggested. Good luck to me.

osprey4

6 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

May 25th, 2007 13:00

Welcome to the world of SATA. Best of luck with this.

jackshack

6.4K Posts

May 25th, 2007 14:00

One other problem you could be having is with the setting of the controller.  The E520 comes from Dell in the RAID ON setting which means you are using the AHCI driver in the os.  This may not work with ATA unless your adapter can perform the translation.  For ATA compatible mode you should have set the controller for RAID Autodetect/ATA so that the controller is in ATA compatible mode.  Unfortunately to do this you will also need to re-install the os because you need to have the ATA driver there as well.
 


Message Edited by JackShack on 05-25-2007 10:09 AM

Lauti1970

23 Posts

May 26th, 2007 20:00

EUREKA! I've done it! Well at least one of the drives is now fully integrated into my system. I managed to get the 320GB WD harddrive working. The reason I believe was the jumper setting. To run this drive as Single or Master it does'nt need a jumper, so I removed it and there it was, VISTA booted up and it installed the driver for it. 
The installation  of the adaptor however is a bit of a squeeze, but with a bit of adapting of power cables and a bit of insulation tape etc. all is well. Now all I need is a 90deg. SATA cable and we're up and away. Don't try this at home, guys. It's cheaper bying a new SATA drive and it saves a lot of hastle.
 
By the way I put that DVD drive on eBay as I have given up installing that one as well.
 
Good night and good luck.

jackshack

6.4K Posts

May 27th, 2007 13:00

Congratulations and thanks for the feedback.  It's always nice to learn something.
 
 

Lauti1970

23 Posts

May 27th, 2007 16:00

I am quite proud of my achievement. :smileywink: Anyway, I will provide a picture (downsized for the dial-up friends!) of the installation as soon as I have finished it of with the 90deg sata cable.


Message Edited by Lauti1970 on 05-27-2007 12:03 PM

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