Dell OptiPlex GX1

[adams901]

I'm having some issues with the above computer.

The computer will not detect the CD drive, I have tried 2 Drives and 2 Cables on Secondary Master, neither are detected.

I thought that the Secondary Master Socket must have been broken so I then plugged the HDD into Secondary Master and it was detected with no problems, just to be double sure I then tried plugging the CD drive into Primary Master using the IDE cable from the HDD, again it was not detected.

I am now at a loss, I have 2 CD-ROM drives and 2 IDE Cables which are in perfect working order, I also have both Primary and Secondary Master sockets that are working fine.

The CD-ROM drives are also not detected in BIOS

Any suggestions?

Cheers

 

[Testin da Cable]

you have master/slave/select jumpers set correctly and stuff?

 

[adams901]

yup the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM (tried both Master and Slave), Bios just refuses to see a CDROM drive which is kinda annoying because I wanna install an OS

 

[vofflujarnid]

Don't misunderstand me when I say this, cause I don't mean to offend you but have you made sure that you are plugging the IDE cables correctly? Maybe you accidentally inserted them wrong side or some Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Will]

Do some Dell's not insist on Cable Select mode? Might be work trying.

 

[adams901]

Cables can only be plugged in one way...

Will, what do you mean by Cable Select mode?, I have never really used a Dell before.

 

[Will]

The jumpers on devices have the modes Master, Master with Slave, Slave, and Cable Select (CS). CS mode means that the master is (fuzzy memory) on the end of the IDE cable, and the slave is on the middle connector, hence the position on the IDE cable selects the device mode.

But I see you have a HDD detected without hiccup, so I don't think that is the problem.

I know you've probably checked this already, but is the BIOS set to auto?

 

[adams901]

yup, BIOS was set to auto, and upon boot it would say

Primary Master 0: HDD Detected
Secondary Master 0: No HDD Detected

Secondary Master should have have been the CDROM

 

[vofflujarnid]

Could it be the power supply? Have you checked whether you have a adaquate power supply?

 

[adams901]

The CD drive powers up and spins when the Computer is powered on, that is whats strange about this.

 

[xane]

Try pluggin in the CD drive on its own, i.e. unplug all the other drives.

 

[xane]

Another thing is to try a "normal" IDE cable if you have one, i.e. not an ATA66/ATA100.

 

[Ch3tan]

If all else fails contact dell, their tech support is fairly good.