Dell Optiplex FX160 - No HDD Spin Up

[taterworks]

Gosh, it's been a while since I've been in here, but I've got an issue that is perplexing me.

I have a Dell Optiplex FX160 that I bought to convert into a linux-based FLAC audio-streaming client, and the machine I bought had no HDD, only the NVRAM. I bought a hard drive kit (including the caddy w/fan, and the SATA power/data cable, plus mounting screws).

The drive I installed first was a Corsair Force 60GB SATA3 SSD, and while the BIOS recognized the drive was present, the drive would not show up during Ubuntu installation, and if all other drives were removed (including the 2GB NVRAM module), the machine would report "No HDD" or "No Boot Device Present". In my other machine equipped with the same SSD, the drive becomes slightly warm, but in the FX160, it's deathly cold.

When I attempted to plug in a 3.5" SATA2 hard drive to the same power and data cable, the drive would not spin up, and the machine would report "No HDD".

Could it be that by mucking around in the BIOS, I've somehow turned off the power to the SATA power connector on the motherboard? Or since this Optiplex model is normally an enterprise machine and did not initially ship with a hard drive, could this be disabled within the BIOS somehow via a setting that I can't see? Is it likely that the cable set is bad? Or could this motherboard just be bad, and it's just not supplying power to the SATA drive?

I'd like to get the thoughts of a few folks in here before I shell out for a replacement motherboard from eBay, since that's practically swapping out the entire system (though I might be able to get a dual core Atom CPU that way).

Thanks!

 

[Ketchup]

I would suspect an issue with the power connection before suspecting at issue with the BIOS. From pics I see, it looks like two regular connections (power and SATA) with an adapter in the middle. Are there any more standard power connections in the system?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm not familiar with that particular machine, but some Dells do come with the additional SATA ports set to disabled in the bios from the factory.

 

[paul878]

Make sure the sata power cable is well seated into the MB connector.
Go into the bios and take a look at the setting.
Use a multimeter and measure the voltage at the SATA connector.

 

[Lanyap]

I picked up a FX160 from Dell outlet a couple of years ago and did the NVRAM to HD upgrade. I don't remember what I had to do but it was unusual and I think it was a setting in the BIOS. I had to switch a jumper on the MB and then make the change. I haven't used it in a while. I'll boot it up and see if I can remember.

 

[Lanyap]

In the BIOS under the Drives tab my HD SATA HD shows up under SATA-1 and the SATA Operation setting is set to ATA instead of AHCI. Also under the System tab / Boot Sequence / Hard Disk Drives, make sure the 1st drive is not Off. I am running XP.