I just received my new Dell XPS which arrived with a 74G SATA primary drive. Also in the package is a CD-RW/DVD +RW combo drive. The SATA drive is set as primary SATA .

I’m trying to add the Samsung 160G IDE drive and a Lite CD-ROM from my last computer and am unsure of how to configure these drives. I’ve installed the new HDD and it works and is recognized by the PC. I’ve installed the Lite CD-ROM which is recognized but now the CD-RW/DVD+RW has disappeared?

Should the new IDE drive be set as the Primary IDE slave or Master? Which cable plug should I use; the last (master) or 2nd (slave)?

Ditto the CD drives. How should they be configured and which plug end should each use?

Thanks for your advice.

Ken

Have you tried both IDE drives on same cable- one as master and on set as slave, leaving the SATA drives together?

TO clarify, I have one SATA HDand one IDE HD. There are now 2 CD/DVD drives using the secondary IDE controller channel.

Make sure the jumpers on the two optical drives are correct and make sure they are set correctly in the BIOS.

I ran a IDE diagnostic and I've got this all screwed up. Not sure where and how to fix this.
Primary SATA Drive 0
Primary IDE
Drive 0 -no device
Drive 1 - no device
Secondary IDE
Drive 0 - Lite cd-Rom
Drive 1 - no device
???
Thanks

Originally posted by classicsoftware
Make sure the jumpers on the two optical drives are correct and make sure they are set correctly in the BIOS.

Well???????????????????????????????????

It sure sounds like the IDE/ATAPI devices have problems with cabling or jumpers.

Generally put the drives jumpered as master at the end of the cables and have the red line on the edge of the cable going to pin 1. Put the one jumpered as slave on the middle connector.

If using 80 wire cables you could probably jumper all the IDE/ATAPI devices as cable select.

You are going nowhere until these devices are properly detected in the BIOS setup.

I've figured out that the IDE drive should be in location 1, or as IDE drive one not 0 as it presentrly is set. The back jumpers are ser to slave in upper 32GB, but not slave with limit capacity in upper 32GB or cable select. The cable connector attached to the drive is the last one on the cable. This is usually reserved for the slave. Must a jumpered slave use only the 2nd connector?

I corrected the CD-RW to slave and it is not correctly recognized.

What should I do about the IDE 160G drive.

If left as IDE Primary 0, the boot stalls until I hit F1.

Thanks for the help so far.

Ken

You need to speak to DELL about how to set the boot order. When you set the IDE up as primary IDE it trys to boot from there instead of the Sata drive. Since Dell uses proprietary motherboards you will have to contact DELL in order to set the boot order properly.

The cable connector attached to the drive is the last one on the cable. This is usually reserved for the slave.

No - The Master, as mentioned previously, should be at the end of the cable and the Slave in the middle.

Thanks for all the good advice. ALl is rolling smoothly.

Ken