How to configure a second slave on a Dell dimmension L866R

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SaturnX20

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I am having a hard time configuring a secondary Slave on a Dell dimension L866R which it would not take secondary slave on Cable select or designating Secondary Master and Secondary Slave.

I have a second hard drive that I would like to use as a storage device and CD-ROM unit.

I have tried every possible scenario but I do not get the BIOS taking it. Either will take Secondary Master or Secondary Slave.

So if I have Hard drive setup as Secondary master and no CD-Drive setup , BIOS will detect the hard drive. But if I try to plug both hard drive and CD ROM ( hard drive as master and CD as slave). The CD ROM is the only unit detected.

Any suggestion, ideas??

Thanks in advance.
 
do you have more than one IDE channel, if so put the two hard drives on one (newer one on master, very end of cable. and older one closest to the board, slave.). Then put the CD-ROM drive on the master of the second channel.
 
I always thought that if you were setting up Master/Slave on one channel they had to be the same type of drive.

Like he said try the master/slave of the HD's on one channel and put the optical on the other channel.

I wouldn't be surprised if the MB that came with that dell had only one channel. In that case you can buy an IDE PCI adapter which would add a couple more IDE channels.
 
Thanks The51 for your quick response, I have a Dell dimension L866R which has the hard drive on vertical position right next to the front Panel, as opposed to horizontal.

There is no room for a second bay or primary slave in that area, I do have a bay for Floppy and 2 CD's. Floppy is already used and Secondary Master is assigned to one CD the other one is free.

Reason I need to have two hard drives is, First I have bought a new Maxtor HD and loaded the OS and application on it. Secondly, my old HD still has all my document and all other files and folder I would like to have access to.

So I am placing my old HD as secondary Master and CD as secondary slave, only Cd is detected, but if I try without the CD then secondary Master is detected.

Thanks again for your replay.
 
Ok, that IDE cable that runs to you drives... find out where it connects to your motherboard. Now, is there another connector that has the exact same size and look as that connection elsewhere on your motherboard?

If so, get another dual device IDE cable and connect the secondary channel with your optical drives and the primary HD's on the primary or 1st channel.

If you need the drive only hooked up for a limited amount of time while you copy files from the old HD to the new one, simply disconnect the IDE cable from your optical drives (CD) and connect the cable to your HD's with your new drive as master and old as slave. **Be sure that your master and slave drives are connected to the right connections on the IDE cable as there is only one right way to connect a master and slave **AND** make sure you have set the jumpers on your drives to reflect "master" and "slave" as appropriate.

Boot up the cpu - of course you won't be able to access any CD drives during this, but that's fine. Wait for Windows to recognize the drive/install the drivers and then begin copying your old files onto the new drive.
 
Thanks Smiley for your input, this Dell dimension only has ATA cable connector for just one connection that is the Primary connector, also there is not room in this area for another HD, this is one of those tiny PC where there is no much room and HD is standing up againt front Panel and it has a floppy bay and 2 CD spot as Secondary Master and Secondary Slave.

Now as you mention I can get either HD or CD working, I would like to be able to have both connected, so I can access both HD and CD anytime.

Any idea, thanks again for your help.
 
I thought your intent was to connect the old drive to take off the old files and put them on your new drive, no?

Otherwise, if you just want the old drive for storage reasons, you can buy an external drive enclosure and connect that drive via USB just for storing stuff. It would need to be formatted for whatever operating system you are using.. I assume you're using Windows xp.

Another option is to ditch one of the CD Roms to open up the use of a 5.25" bay - you can buy a cheap adapter to fit a 3.5 HD into a 5.25" bay. And then to buy a PCI IDE ATA adapter - assuming you have an open PCI slot - and use that to connect your alternate drive.
 
The answer to this problem is "Do you have 1 IDE channel or 2 IDE channels?" If only 1 then you can only use HD Master - CD-ROM SLave Or HD 0 Master - HD 1 Slave.

Buy a PCI IDE Controller Card if you have a free PCI Slot.

If you have 2 IDE Channels then - HD 0 Master - HD 1 Slave on primary channel and CD-ROM Master on Secondary Channel.

EDIT:
Good luck trying to mount another HDD in that case. You might be able to call "DELL" and talk to india for 6 hours and find out that they no longer sell those mounting brackets. I did that for a client once for a Mounting bracket for a Dell Dimension 2350.
 
HAVOC2k5 said:
The answer to this problem is "Do you have 1 IDE channel or 2 IDE channels?" If only 1 then you can only use HD Master - CD-ROM SLave Or HD 0 Master - HD 1 Slave.

Buy a PCI IDE Controller Card if you have a free PCI Slot.

If you have 2 IDE Channels then - HD 0 Master - HD 1 Slave on primary channel and CD-ROM Master on Secondary Channel.

EDIT:
Good luck trying to mount another HDD in that case. You might be able to call "DELL" and talk to india for 6 hours and find out that they no longer sell those mounting brackets. I did that for a client once for a Mounting bracket for a Dell Dimension 2350.

He already said he only has one controller on his MB....
 
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