Welcome to RCF - WHF

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I bought a new hard-drive from a guy and I got a dell DHM computer in the deal. I am trying to get my son's old pc going for andrew so I have some questions on both pcs, the dell doesn't have windows installed and I doubt it runs even though he said it will.

With installation of the new HD I am running into a snag. I can't get into setup. When I use the windows disc it loads files but then doesn't detect a HD. I have the HD jumper set right. When I boot up this is what I get:

non system disk or disk error

can't get into bios pressing f10

with xp disc it loads files but then says no disc is detected

remove battery to reset bios, back to square one

Don't go through a lot of trouble rb and I'm in no hurry, but do you have any ideas?

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

BTW the old HD physically broke, thats what happened to it. There is no floppy in slot. It didn't have a virous or anything. Somehow the broken HD did something to it.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Just to make sure I understand. Your son's old PC has no HDD installed and you hook up the new HDD right? Is it brand new or a used one? What happens when you then turn on the PC, do you get the posting screens?

HDDs can be picky about settings, especially if it came from a another OEM computer. Look on top for jumper settings, there may be a setting for single HDD. In some case if you have only one HDD installed the jumper setting may be different from Master or CS (cable select)

Until the mobo sees the HDD you won't be able to load an OS on it. But of course you know that, I'm just setting all the ducks in a row. LOL

sunny

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I do get some screens when I boot up, but it doesn't respond when I press F10.

The HD is new he said. The jumper is on cable select.

When I boot off the disc, it downloads files for a couple minutes then I get option to enter or R, and I next get a error saying no HD detected no matter which I choose.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

If you have the jumper set to cable select, make sure you have the cable connected correctly. There are usually two connectors on the cable, so you have to be connected to the correct one before the PC will be able to see the HDD...

Also, it may not be the F10 key that gets you into the BIOS. Often times it is the Tab or Del key...

munky2

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I think the cable is right, it is on the black one, the other is grey and the black one is on the end where the other is not. From what I found on the net the black is the main and the other is the slave, and thats how it was originally.

While starting up it says press F10 for setup. I did try some other keys but it doesn't respond to anything until it finishes loading, then if I click on anything after the error it just refreshes the error with every click. I tried f1 and other keys. Cntl alt delete will reboot.

(By the way, on the dell the cables are marked master and slave. I think the guy has the jumpers set wrong. Maybe thats why he had trouble, but I am not working on that one yet anyway. He has 2 HDs in there and both appear wrong.

Thanks for the help.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

When I boot up the first screen says keyboard error. I may have to try a new keyboard and see if that helps.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

ok the key board is bad. I was able to get into setup, I am still having problems getting it to acknowledge the HD but I can go from here and see what I can do. I did enable some HD but not sure if its right and didn't help, the disc still won't load all the way, says no HD detected. I'll play around with it.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I switched the jumper to master and it didn't help. In setup it doesn't show the HD. So I'm stuck there.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

What is the model name/number for this computer. Is it a Dell Dimension, Criterian, etc???

dontknow