ok dell problem

[Jacx]

right..someone brought me over their dell to look at.

The pc is a Dimension 1100 running xp

Ok the issue:

pc had a single cd drive so they decied to add a dvd RW drive..no problem they got a friend to fit it and worked fine for weeks and weeks!

All of a sudden both cd drives stopped working!

Looking in system both drives show a yellow triangle with the info that both suddenly have a driver issue etc!

Roll back, all that stuff makes no difference!

Used system restore and nothing, no change!

so then went into bios to see that the bios says they detected but not supported!

Put one if my own drives in and same issue.

used some of my own ide leads and same issue!

put their hard drive into my pc to scan it, seemed ok!

put hard drive back onto their pc and the fun began!

Now it shows it recognises their drives fully in the bios, however..it now does not detect the hard drive :/

have again used different ide's, used my own drive and not detected!

I really dont want to hear that the MB is fried, any ideas people!

[Overw0rkd]

If you have more than one drive on the IDE chain and one of them has a problem... it can sometimes cause the other drive to not show up.

Have you tried plugging each drive in by itself and firing up the system to see if the drives can be recognized individually?

If thiat does not fix the issue... then try to reset the BIOS and clear the NVRAM. The procedure for doing that is below:

-Reboot system and enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2.
-Turn on Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Num Lock.
-Press ALT + E then ALT + F (should hear beep) then ALT + B

Once that has been done all the BIOS settings will be defaulted back to the way the system was when first shipped from the factory and the system will redetect all the installed hardware.

[Jacx]

yeh alternatied with the hard drives and nothing.

same with the bios and nvram did those too.

I think the mb is wankered.

i can put the drives in my pc and no problem

[Overw0rkd]

yeh alternatied with the hard drives and nothing.

same with the bios and nvram did those too.

I think the mb is wankered.

i can put the drives in my pc and no problem

I know this may sound dumb and you have already thought of it... but it is still worth mentioning.

If you have the drive jumper set to master and plug it into the slave on the cable... it will not show up. Make sure the jumper on the drive is set to cable select or be sure it is plugged into the right part of the cable with no conflicts.

Other than that... as long as the drive is picked up in your machine, at least your friends data can be retrieved in a worst case scenario.

[Jacx]

I know this may sound dumb and you have already thought of it... but it is still worth mentioning.

If you have the drive jumper set to master and plug it into the slave on the cable... it will not show up. Make sure the jumper on the drive is set to cable select or be sure it is plugged into the right part of the cable with no conflicts.

Other than that... as long as the drive is picked up in your machine, at least your friends data can be retrieved in a worst case scenario.

not dumb at all, yes however did that too!

its not all so bad, just found a biostar motherboard that will work with his ram and processor and fit the case and for only $57 bucks... just didnt want to have to do it if it could have been avoided! Being dell the drive wont want to work with the new m board so its gonna be a fresh install of windows too

[Overw0rkd]

not dumb at all, yes however did that too!

its not all so bad, just found a biostar motherboard that will work with his ram and processor and fit the case and for only $57 bucks... just didnt want to have to do it if it could have been avoided! Being dell the drive wont want to work with the new m board so its gonna be a fresh install of windows too

It just seems odd that it would just stop working with no real cause...

[Dymond]

You guys checked everything I would have checked... except for cables?? When the drive was moved did you use your own cabling?

[Uganja]

yeah i would check the cables, i had a problem recently, very similar issue with my cd drives, turns out my ide cable was fubar'd/... and that was just from me taking it out and putting it back in :/

[Smokie]

i dont think the motherboard is shot, i go with the majority and say its most probably the IDE's are fooked, try replacing em and see if that works

[Jacx]

sorry thought i had said, used my own ide's in their pc, made no difference, used their ide in my pc and my pc works fine!

[Dymond]

Then it sounds like you got the bases covered Jacx.. Bad MOBO IDE channel.

[Smokie]

sorry thought i had said, used my own ide's in their pc, made no difference, used their ide in my pc and my pc works fine!

alryt mofo i was tired :hidey: