Problem fitting Samsung Spinpoint Hard drive to Dimension 3000

imsi

I've previously fitted a Seagate 40GB slave drive to my Dimension 3000 without problems.
I'm trying to install a Samsung Spinpoint P120 200GB Hard drive (SP2014N) as slave instead and having problems.
At the Set up stage on powering up neither original nor new hard drive is found. Nor is the detect option available, just OFF or AUTO.

On the Samsung installation notes it mentions:
NOTE: A system hang condition occurs when the installation of a hard disk drive larger than 32GB is attempted into a PC that incorporates certain older Basic Input-Output Systems (BIOS).
Does this apply to Dimension 3000?

Just noticed (oops) this is a PATA drive not a SATA like the Seagate.Can I still fit it?
(EDIT: Seagate is Ultra ATA ignore SATA references)

Any help welcome

Little_John

I think you could have a problem
The Dimension 3000 has an ATA100 hard drive controler in it from what I have been able to find online which will only support up to 136GB hard drives the drive should work but you will only get 136GB of space. the easiest way would be to buy a controler card for hard drives with an ATA133 controler.

all that aside, how to get what you have working

You say this one is a PATA/IDE have you tried to fit it? you can have a mix of both types of drive as long as you have the correct posrt on the motherboard to plug it in it can be used. also if your existing drive is sata then all the stuff below means jack as there is no conflict between sata and IDEmaster/slave

Unplug the new drive and boot your pc on the screen get the POST/bios info up use the pause key onthe keyboard to stop the screen flying past I think you need to hit the f2 key for it to display maybe tab im not sure and find out how the pc is seeing the current 40GB drive it may see it as a slave. if it does then change the jumper on the drive to master. and set the new drive to slave never use CS/cable select as it can be a pain if you want things to work how you want them and upgrades difficult like this.

Are you plugging the drive in to its own cable or one that it shares with another drive maybe the cd drive? if it is on its own cable then it should be fine.

Another test is to plug the new drive in on its own and see how it is reconised in the bios slave or master if it is comming up as the same as your other drive then you know where the problem lies and can set the jumpers correctly.

let us know the resuls and we can guide you through the rest

imsi

Little_John wrote:

I think you could have a problem

You say this one is a PATA/IDE have you tried to fit it? you can have a mix of both types of drive as long as you have the correct posrt on the motherboard to plug it in it can be used. also if your existing drive is sata then all the stuff below means jack as there is no conflict between sata and IDEmaster/slave

Yes, I tried to fit it in same position as the previous slave drive, not realising it wasn't SATA like the 2 I have working already.
I have 2 CD/DVD drives. can I put the Samsung in position instead of one of these? (i.e. is this where PATA drives go)
The correct "postr" on motherboard is post, right? can you explain,sorry

Little_John

SATA is a competly diferent connection to PATA/IDE you cant plug them in to the same place, also slave and master doesnt make any diference with sata as only 1 device can be connected to 1 port and cable.

You board will have either 2 or 4 sata ports
2 PATA/IDE ports and a floppy port
IDE which I expect as you have 2 cd drives proberly 1 port is used and the drives are slave and master. you should be able to connect your new drive in to the spare IDE port and configure it as you want slave and master can be how you want even cable select as there is no possibility it conflicting with anything else.

The physical place int he pc where you put the drive doesnt matter all that matters is you get power and the data cable to it. I have a drive just loose in one of my pc's not screwed in anywhere, if you have the ports available then you may aswell leave all the drives in the pc.

imsi

Sorry for misinformation, I have no SATA drives, Dimension 3000 doesn't support SATA, I believe. The seagate is an Ultra ATA Drive, the original 40 gig supplied with the Dell I'm not sure.
I think I'm fitting it correctly but can't get it recognised.


Each time I fit the old 40 gig Seagate whether jumpers set as slave or cable select the bios will recognise it if set to Auto.
As soon as I fit the new 200gig Samsung(not partioned or formatted)whether jumpers set to slave or cable select the BIOS will not recognise my Primary Master or Primary Slave.
After I press esc twice I get this message:

Primary Drive 0 Not Found
Primary Drive 1 Not Found
Strike f1 to Retry Boot
Strike f2 for setup utility

Doesn't let me boot so I return to set up turn off computer, remove Samsung, reset bios get online for answers. I don't think it's faulty drive cos I have 3 of these Samsung drives ( I bought a couple for my daughters )and they perform the same.

I'm getting frustrated and wonder if buying a caddy to make an external usb hard drive may be an alternative, but I'd really like to get this to work as a slave now I've invested so much time trying.

Little_John

Ok for your info we will refer to ATA Ultra ATA and PATA as IDE from now they are basicly all the same type of connection.
Lets see if your system will take the 200GB drive as this could be the reason it isnt working. set the jumper as slave, unplug any other hard drives from the IDE ribbon cables and connect the 200GB drive on its own leave the cd drives s they are. make sure you are connecting the drive correctly there is no need to fit the drive in to the case to save time and set the bios to auto it should detect the drive if it doesnt then I suspect the PC doesnt support the drive.
ATA100 controlers didnt have a problem with 160GB drives you just lost 27GB of space but a 200GB may not work at all I have never tried a drive so large on an ATA100 controler.
Let me know the results of the test if it detecst then we have a problem with the jumpers which is easy to fix if it doesnt then you have 3 options,
1: change the drive for a 120GB
2: buy an addon card with an ATA133 controler like this or this or if you want more drives up to 4 this
3: buy an external USB enclosure for it, kind or easy but not the ideal way of doing it.

weemee

Make sure your cables are correctly set. The master drive always goes at the end of the cable (some are not marked primary, slave and mobo). The end of the cable is defined as C1;
C1 C2 C3
|---|

---

|

Where 'C' is a connector.

c1 = Master
c2 = Slave
c3 = Motherboard

Little_John

The locations on the cable dont matter if you manually set the jumpers it is only used if you set them to cable select

imsi

Little_John wrote:

Ok for your info we will refer to ATA Ultra ATA and PATA as IDE from now they are basicly all the same type of connection.
Lets see if your system will take the 200GB drive as this could be the reason it isnt working. set the jumper as slave, unplug any other hard drives from the IDE ribbon cables and connect the 200GB drive on its own leave the cd drives s they are. make sure you are connecting the drive correctly there is no need to fit the drive in to the case to save time and set the bios to auto it should detect the drive if it doesnt then I suspect the PC doesnt support the drive.
ATA100 controlers didnt have a problem with 160GB drives you just lost 27GB of space but a 200GB may not work at all I have never tried a drive so large on an ATA100 controler.
Let me know the results of the test if it detecst then we have a problem with the jumpers which is easy to fix if it doesnt then you have 3 options,
1: change the drive for a 120GB
2: buy an addon card with an ATA133 controler like this or this or if you want more drives up to 4 this
3: buy an external USB enclosure for it, kind or easy but not the ideal way of doing it.

Firstly, thanks for staying with me on this thread Little John.
No it didn't recognise the 200 gig drive as master or slave with jumper set to slave and the only hard drive attached.
If I buy an addon card as you mention, will my 40 gig drives stilll work painlessly when I add and remove them, or will I have to back them up and format etc.?
One of the main reasons I'm fitting this drive as slave is to save me lots of backing up to DVD.

Do you think the Note from Samsung in post #1 is relevant?

Little_John

the note from Samsung is why it isnt working your PC doesnt support larger drives.

If you buy one of the cards I mention you will be able to leave your existing 2 drive in the pc and add the new drive as a 3rd drive. the problem you may have is physical space in the case for a 3rd hard drive I have a few drives just hanging loose in one of my PC's.

1 of the cards has a Bios on it this allows the drives attached to the card to be bootable so you couls install windows to the 200 GB drive I dont think you need that option so go for one of those without bios you will be fine.

imsi

Update for others possible reference. New 200 gig Drive was was recognised only when jumpers set to master. Seems the old 40 gig drive cannot support a slave drive this big on a Dimension 3000, so I must have new drive as master and old drive as slave. I can press F12 and choose the boot from slave drive option but this is far from ideal. I'm having other problems but will pursue this on another thread.