Dell Help

[rallyman]

Hi there, great site guys!
Looking for some help.....;D HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Thanks for looking at this and even more so if you help!
I am studying my A+ and decided to get a broken PC to help me with it rather than trashing the normal PC ::) ...Oh dear and I'm asking for help already........ I have not got off to a good start!
I have bought a spares/repair Dell SFF GX280(dodgey HD) ......:argh: I dont think I have made things easy! :wacko:

Ok...The hard disk supplied isn't working, so after I checked bios/setup and nothing is found on SATA0 and SATA2. So I went and bought a new HD (MAXTOR diamondMax 21). Upon fitting this the Bios still finds nothing...
However I found an old IDE HD that when plugged into the CD drive port (PATA0) it booted from, it runs ok-ish.... well it is on W98!
I have a IDE to SATA converter that when connected to the HD SATA 0 still does not produce any results.

My question are: Is the Motherboard toast? How can I tell - is there a test. I do not have another SATA drive. :wacko:
Is the new Hard disk faulty, I will check the "new" one on a friends PC soon.
Or do I need to correct some settings in BIOS?

BOIS version A04 02-09-05

After reading many threads and checking there are no toasted or bulging capacitors and I have tried new SATA leads

Many Thanks

Michael

[wtsinnc]

Hello rallyman.

Problems such as this can sometimes be traced to a bad, incorrect, or missing driver.
Go to device manager, click on disc drives, and run the troubleshooter.

-Also-

If you see the yellow icon next to any category, that should be investigated and the problem corrected regardless of the category.

Here is the manual for the GX-280 SFF.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx280/en/ug/index.htm

[rallyman]

Hi there,
Thanks for the reply...I am going to start reading the manual now, however the driver you say that might be missing...is it in Windows or the bios files? I have no software on the HD at the moment ... I cannot get WXP to load as it wont get past a certain stage of install as it cannot find a HD >:(
Cheers
Michael

[rallyman]

Oh...P.s. dont know if this makes any difference the clamshell has a "tell tale" switch....
Michael

[wtsinnc]

The device manager is in Windows and cannot be accessed unless you can load the operating system.

Have you tried booting in safe mode ?
(Press the F8 key when you see the Dell boot screen).

If you are able to boot in safe mode, select "safe mode", then the operating system you want to boot into (if you are prompted to make an OS choice).
If successful to this point, you should then be able to access your desktop and start menu, etc.

The Dell manual will provide the instructions necessary for booting, accessing the device manager, and troubleshooting.

Good luck !

[rallyman]

There's nothing on the HD :'( either the new or the old one's, so I'm not able to access any of the Windows diagnostic stuff :'(
The manual is a great help, I'm chewing on it at the moment, looks like I'll have to search for a utilities/resource cd once I have checked the new HD.
Oh managed to crack open the PSU, its all ok in there apart from the very lazy fan, looks like another job! 8) Its a 70mm slim line fan 11mm thick

[rallyman]

OK, New HD works and is found on a mates PC, so that means that the MOBO is missing drivers or toast... time to find a utilities disk......