Could be that 320 gb is too large a sata hard drive for this older model to recognize and the bios doesn't support the boot partition over 120gb. The way to overcome this is to partition the drive into 2 partitions with the boot partition 120 gb. This is important for windows XP which came out long before huge hard drives. BTW, XP is due to be unsupported by MS in less than 2 years.
A couple things to check in the BIOS. What's the current hard drive controller mode (normal or compatible)? What's the HDD acoustic mode? There is also an "OS Install" mode. Be sure that's turned OFF.
To find all of the downloads for your system, click Support above, then go to Downloads, enter your service tag or model number and select the operating system.
I am trying to install a new WD 320 gigi SATA drive.
After the VERY SLOW Windows XP install and download of SP3 and all updates, I installed all of the downloads on the Dell download page for the GX280.
I have 1gig of memory.
The CMOS battery appears to be good ... date and time are always correct and any changes BIOS setting are kept between shut downs.
With all other drives out of the circuit, I have the only drive (new SATA) as #1 boot device.
In bios, SATA 0 is ON. All others OFF.
Have tried in bios SATA OPERATION switches of NORMAL and COMBINATION ... both similarly and incredibly slow.
SMART reporting is ON
The HDD acoustic mode has always been on BYPASS.
In an effort to elimate all possible problems, I have physically disconneted all drives except the SATA drive...and have removed their presence in the latest BIOS version A08.
I have tried the NORMAL and COMPATIBLE bios settings.
I checked the A08 bios for this mini tower and could locate no reference to anything similar to "OS Install".
So...today I dug out an old 120 gig IDE drive, installed it, and very easily installed Windows XP and got all the updates from Windows Update no problem. Also went to Dell and used their automatic drivers checker to load a few files ... I recall an update to the chipset and an audio driver at least...all runs perfectly and with normal speed.
All items in hardware show good and have drivers. No yellow exclamations.
Then...I attached the 320gig SATA drive (SATA 0) into the SATA 0 motherboard socket and selected the COMPATIBLE mode. I noticed that when I tried to access it in Windows Explorer...the access time was very sluggish. I went back to Dell's auto driver checker and it suggested loading the Intel Chipset driver again...that would be the downloadable .exe file named R79695.exe. I installed it again but the 320 gig remained sluggish.
Switched to NORMAL SATA mode in Bios and system would not run. Switched back to COMPATIBLE and system operated normally....with the exception of the continuing problem of EXTREME SLUGGISHNESS with the 320 gig SATA drive.
Swapped SATA cables out ... no difference.
So...I then went to Dell and ran the online hardware diagnostic. Every test was in the green....all tests on the 120 gig HD were green....but all was not well with the 320 gig SATA....
SMART STATUS pass
SMART THRESHOLD pass
SMART SHORT SELF TEST fail
TARGETED READ fail
I have given up for the night. I guess in desperation that I might be able to find an old PCI SATA card somewhere. But I will bet there is some obscure black magic procedure to run or switch to throw somewhere !!! Thanks for trying to help me.
Looks like that 320GB drive might be bad. It happens.
Just to explain, compatible = ATA mode. Normal = RAID or AHCI (whichever the controller supports). So if you installed in normal mode, then switching to compatible isn't going to help anything.
Drive is good. Brand new and checked on another computer with SATA controller on motherboard. It appears that a lot of folks have had problems installing SATA drives on this Dell model.
But...thanks for trying. If anybody has any new ideas for letting this SATA drive work normally ... I'll try them ! Regards and thanks.
Mary G
4 Operator
•
20.1K Posts
1
June 13th, 2012 15:00
Could be that 320 gb is too large a sata hard drive for this older model to recognize and the bios doesn't support the boot partition over 120gb. The way to overcome this is to partition the drive into 2 partitions with the boot partition 120 gb. This is important for windows XP which came out long before huge hard drives. BTW, XP is due to be unsupported by MS in less than 2 years.
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
June 11th, 2012 05:00
Hi Larry,
What is the form factor of your GX280?
A couple things to check in the BIOS. What's the current hard drive controller mode (normal or compatible)? What's the HDD acoustic mode? There is also an "OS Install" mode. Be sure that's turned OFF.
To find all of the downloads for your system, click Support above, then go to Downloads, enter your service tag or model number and select the operating system.
LarryASilva
5 Posts
0
June 11th, 2012 19:00
Thank you for your response.
I am working on the Mini Tower GX280
I am trying to install a new WD 320 gigi SATA drive.
After the VERY SLOW Windows XP install and download of SP3 and all updates, I installed all of the downloads on the Dell download page for the GX280.
I have 1gig of memory.
The CMOS battery appears to be good ... date and time are always correct and any changes BIOS setting are kept between shut downs.
With all other drives out of the circuit, I have the only drive (new SATA) as #1 boot device.
In bios, SATA 0 is ON. All others OFF.
Have tried in bios SATA OPERATION switches of NORMAL and COMBINATION ... both similarly and incredibly slow.
SMART reporting is ON
The HDD acoustic mode has always been on BYPASS.
In an effort to elimate all possible problems, I have physically disconneted all drives except the SATA drive...and have removed their presence in the latest BIOS version A08.
I have tried the NORMAL and COMPATIBLE bios settings.
Any ideas appreciated !
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
June 12th, 2012 11:00
OS install is off?
LarryASilva
5 Posts
0
June 13th, 2012 02:00
I checked the A08 bios for this mini tower and could locate no reference to anything similar to "OS Install".
So...today I dug out an old 120 gig IDE drive, installed it, and very easily installed Windows XP and got all the updates from Windows Update no problem. Also went to Dell and used their automatic drivers checker to load a few files ... I recall an update to the chipset and an audio driver at least...all runs perfectly and with normal speed.
All items in hardware show good and have drivers. No yellow exclamations.
Then...I attached the 320gig SATA drive (SATA 0) into the SATA 0 motherboard socket and selected the COMPATIBLE mode. I noticed that when I tried to access it in Windows Explorer...the access time was very sluggish. I went back to Dell's auto driver checker and it suggested loading the Intel Chipset driver again...that would be the downloadable .exe file named R79695.exe. I installed it again but the 320 gig remained sluggish.
Switched to NORMAL SATA mode in Bios and system would not run. Switched back to COMPATIBLE and system operated normally....with the exception of the continuing problem of EXTREME SLUGGISHNESS with the 320 gig SATA drive.
Swapped SATA cables out ... no difference.
So...I then went to Dell and ran the online hardware diagnostic. Every test was in the green....all tests on the 120 gig HD were green....but all was not well with the 320 gig SATA....
SMART STATUS pass
SMART THRESHOLD pass
SMART SHORT SELF TEST fail
TARGETED READ fail
I have given up for the night. I guess in desperation that I might be able to find an old PCI SATA card somewhere. But I will bet there is some obscure black magic procedure to run or switch to throw somewhere !!! Thanks for trying to help me.
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
June 13th, 2012 08:00
Looks like that 320GB drive might be bad. It happens.
Just to explain, compatible = ATA mode. Normal = RAID or AHCI (whichever the controller supports). So if you installed in normal mode, then switching to compatible isn't going to help anything.
LarryASilva
5 Posts
0
June 13th, 2012 14:00
Drive is good. Brand new and checked on another computer with SATA controller on motherboard. It appears that a lot of folks have had problems installing SATA drives on this Dell model.
But...thanks for trying. If anybody has any new ideas for letting this SATA drive work normally ... I'll try them ! Regards and thanks.