Question about rebuilding a Dell

[imported_chrisbtx]

Okay, first off, I can't stand Dell, that's why I've rebuilt the one that I still have in my house with some spare parts to sell to a guy I know for his kids to use.

I am having a problem with getting the computer to recognize the dvd-rom drive that I have installed in the computer. It's plugged in to power and the motherboard, and when I turn on the computer, the drive light flashes on and off for about 30 seconds. It's not the drive that came with the Dell (Dimension 8200), since I pulled that one out a long time ago (it's a dvd burner). The hard drive that I installed in there is not what came with the computer either, since the guy does not need 80 GB and I definitely could use an extra hard drive in my Athlon 64 system . The drive that is in there now is an 18 GB hard drive, and the computer is recognizing it. I'm just curious as to what might be the problem with the computer and that dvd-rom drive. Any suggestions barring smartass remarks are greatly appreciated!

 

[Shooters]

Have you checked the jumper on the DVD-ROM?

 

[imported_chrisbtx]

Originally posted by: Shooters
Have you checked the jumper on the DVD-ROM?

No... but then again I'm still fairly new to the hardware installing side of things. I just finished building up the Athlon 64 system from the employee purchase program from AMD a couple of days ago and it was my first successful build without any help.

What do I need to look for with the jumpers?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: chrisbtx

Originally posted by: Shooters
Have you checked the jumper on the DVD-ROM?

No... but then again I'm still fairly new to the hardware installing side of things. I just finished building up the Athlon 64 system from the employee purchase program from AMD a couple of days ago and it was my first successful build without any help.

What do I need to look for with the jumpers?

...

You successfully built an entire system without knowing what drive jumpers are?

- M4H

 

[imported_chrisbtx]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

You successfully built an entire system without knowing what drive jumpers are?

- M4H

I did successfully build it, and I did have to change the jumper settings for a couple of things in that build. I'm just not remembering what I had to do, and I never had to touch the jumpers for my dvd burners *I think.* Any help with the jumper settings would be appreciated. Where do I put the jumper(s) for it to be the primary?

 

[Shooters]

If the DVD-ROM is the only device on the chain then set the jumper to master. It there is already a master device on the chain then set the DVD-ROM to slave.

 

[imported_chrisbtx]

Originally posted by: Shooters
If the DVD-ROM is the only device on the chain then set the jumper to master. It there is already a master device on the chain then set the DVD-ROM to slave.

Okay the drive is working now. I didn't even think about the jumpers until y'all mentioned it... thanks!

BTW, I noticed Dell systems have the jumper setting as different than the master or the slave apparantly, as setting it up in the way that this page said to for Dell systems is what got it working, not setting it where the master position is. Just thought I'd pass that info along....

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Shooters]

Without even clicking on that link I know that it's going to say to use the cable select setting. That's the dumbed down way of doing it that a lot of OEMs use to keep it as simple as possible for others, but typically it just causes more problems and confusion. All it does it allow the computer to choose the master/slave setting for each drive based on their position on the chain instead of requiring the user to do it. The problem is that when another drive is put on a chain that already contains a cable select device, it must be set to cable select as well or else drives will fail to be recognized, which is probably what happened in your case.

 

[imported_chrisbtx]

Dunno, like I said, I have VERY little experience with the jumper settings. I really do appreciate your help though. Thanks man!

 

[iwearnosox]

Originally posted by: Shooters
Without even clicking on that link I know that it's going to say to use the cable select setting. That's the dumbed down way of doing it that a lot of OEMs use to keep it as simple as possible for others, but typically it just causes more problems and confusion. All it does it allow the computer to choose the master/slave setting for each drive based on their position on the chain instead of requiring the user to do it. The problem is that when another drive is put on a chain that already contains a cable select device, it must be set to cable select as well or else drives will fail to be recognized, which is probably what happened in your case.

I have encountered Dell systems that won't work in master/slave configuration but did work with cable select, so be careful. I found it very odd but never did any follow up.