Dell - Install Hard Drive

T

THEDENTIST

New Member
I have a Dell OptiPlex GX1 500MBr+ Bios Revision A07


I installed new hard drive it tells me that it cannot detect Primary or Secondary drives. Please Help. Im trying to load XP Pro.
 
Is the HDD cable firmly seated to both the MoBo and Drive itself?
Is this a new replacement HDD or and new additional HDD? If additional, are the jumpers set correctly?
What is not able to detect the HDD - BIOS or XP?
 
imsati said:
Is the HDD cable firmly seated to both the MoBo and Drive itself?
Is this a new replacement HDD or and new additional HDD? If additional, are the jumpers set correctly?
What is not able to detect the HDD - BIOS or XP?
Click to expand...

Cable firmly seated Mobo & Drive. It is replacement.

I have it booting from cd drive.

Now it says: PXE-E61 Media test failure check cable
PXE-E0F Exiting PXE
 
The interior layout of Dell cases are odd sometimes. Are you certain you didn't bump anything else? I'd double check to make sure everything is firmly in place.

When you enter BIOS, can you see the HDD listed? If not, are you able to clear CMOS on your system? then reset BIOS?
 
imsati said:
The interior layout of Dell cases are odd sometimes. Are you certain you didn't bump anything else? I'd double check to make sure everything is firmly in place.

When you enter BIOS, can you see the HDD listed? If not, are you able to clear CMOS on your system? then reset BIOS?
Click to expand...

How do you clear CMOS?
 
I'm willing to bet it's not in any Dell manual that came with the system, but how familiar are you with MoBos? You'll want to look for a stand-alone 3-pin group. Two of the pins will be connected by a jumper, the third will have nothing on it. You'll want to unplug the PSU from the wall first, then remove the jumper from the first and second pins and place it on the second and third pins. Leave it there for about 30 seconds just to be safe, then place it back on the first and second pins. Plug the PSU back in and start the system. You'll get a BIOS error message, so enter Setup and fix the date/time, then save and reboot. If that was the problem, POST should detect the new Drive, and when it goes to load, you'll get another type of error message since there's no OS on it.

If POST cannot find the new Drive, enter BIOS and see if it's listed.
 
If you'd like, i can see if I can find a pic of what the CMOS jumpers look like on a different Board so you at least know approx. what to look for.
 
yeah, that was just a generic pic of what to look for as far as the CMOS jumpers are concerned. Actual location on the Board itself will vary with different brands. Just look for a 3-pin series with a jumper covering two. Typically towards the edge of a Board. Although a few exceptions, it's almost *always* near the battery (less than 3/4 inches away).

Can you take a pic of your Board's battery-area and host it on Imageshack? We can pinpoint it for you.
 
THEDENTIST said:
Help
Click to expand...

yeah, that was just a generic pic of what to look for as far as the CMOS jumpers are concerned. Actual location on the Board itself will vary with different brands. Just look for a 3-pin series with a jumper covering two. Typically towards the edge of a Board. Although a few exceptions, it's almost *always* near the battery (less than 3/4 inches away).

Can you take a pic of your Board's battery-area and host it on Imageshack? We can pinpoint it for you.
Click to expand...

^

I tried looking for some good pics on the internet, but couldn't find any close-up enough to point it out. If you can take one of your battery and surrounding area, though, that would be good.
 
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