To add, it is a 40 PIN DOM. The little 2 pin connector on it is being supplied the 5v required via a usb adapter.

How is the DOM powered, from a separate cable of through pin 20? Also how did you connect it to the middle IDE cable connector, DOMS are usually (if not always) female.
If I'm not mistaken the XPS 90 has a secondary IDE connector, you can always connect it there.

Edit: ok I saw you are powering it externally. So the question now is how you are able to connect it to the cable.

Hi. Thanks for the quick response. I am using a simple ide coupler to connect the female DOM to the female IDE cable.

I thought so, the bare header won't work on the cable. I suggest connecting the DOM directly (no cable or gender changer) to the secondary IDE port as master.

1. Does the DOM work when directly connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

2. Does the DOM work when connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device using the simple ide coupler ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

3. Does the DOM work when connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device using the ide cable and the simple ide coupler ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

...

konc wrote on 2022-04-29, 09:37:

I thought so, the bare header won't work on the cable. I suggest connecting the DOM directly (no cable or gender changer) to the secondary IDE port as master.

I have just done that and the machine doesnt even display anything on screen. The CRT just has a flashing power light like there is no signal. Remove the DOM and then it boots fine.

weedeewee wrote on 2022-04-29, 09:39:

1. Does the DOM work when directly connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device ? ie can you acces […]
Show full quote

1. Does the DOM work when directly connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

2. Does the DOM work when connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device using the simple ide coupler ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

3. Does the DOM work when connected to the mainboard of the DELL Dimension XPS 90 as the only device using the ide cable and the simple ide coupler ? ie can you access it, read/write to it.

...

1) when connected direct ot the main board with no cables and no other hdd connected the screen comes on but after detecting the floppy a and b drives it says "insert bootable media in appropriate drive". When I go in to the bios, disk 0 is set to auto, but no information such s HDD size is shown.
2) no
3) no

Have you tried the DOM on another system? Has that DOM been used in the past and known to be working?

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:37:

Have you tried the DOM on another system? Has that DOM been used in the past and known to be working?

I have tried connecting via a simple coupler to a IDE>USB adapter but windows does not see anything. I bought the DOM quite some time ago for an arcade machine HDD replacement. I can't remember, but it may well have been written to with files/formatting for that purpose. I was hoping to see it on windows 10 and do a simple format to try and make it visible on the DOS pc, however currently I can not see it on Windows and as explained above, it causes the DOS machine to freak out when plugged in in the variety of ways explained. Thanks.

I've had issues in the past with those USB to ide interfaces. Do you have any other systems to try it on natively not via USB?

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:25:

1) when connected direct ot the main board with no cables and no other hdd connected the screen comes on but after detecting the floppy a and b drives it says "insert bootable media in appropriate drive". When I go in to the bios, disk 0 is set to auto, but no information such s HDD size is shown.

- With the drive connected like this and not showing any info in the bios, can you boot into dos and does fdisk show any info? (i doubt it will)
- With the drive connected like, can you boot into a linux dist and see any info about the DOM ?

possibilities, DOM is faulty or incompatible with your mainboard.
for the incompatible part, if possible, try disabling UDMA in bios and/or setting PIO0 for the DOM drive

and test the dom on another machine as single drive

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:45:

I've had issues in the past with those USB to ide interfaces. Do you have any other systems to try it on natively not via USB?

unfortunately not

weedeewee wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:03:

- With the drive connected like this and not showing any info in the bios, can you boot into dos and does fdisk show any info? ( […]
Show full quote

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:25:

1) when connected direct ot the main board with no cables and no other hdd connected the screen comes on but after detecting the floppy a and b drives it says "insert bootable media in appropriate drive". When I go in to the bios, disk 0 is set to auto, but no information such s HDD size is shown.

- With the drive connected like this and not showing any info in the bios, can you boot into dos and does fdisk show any info? (i doubt it will)
- With the drive connected like, can you boot into a linux dist and see any info about the DOM ?

possibilities, DOM is faulty or incompatible with your mainboard.
for the incompatible part, if possible, try disabling UDMA in bios and/or setting PIO0 for the DOM drive

and test the dom on another machine as single drive

unfortunately it wont boot to dos/ms-dos prompt. It see's the floppy disks on the boot sequence then says about inserting bootable media.

I dont know where to begin regarding linux dist or how to find that info. Linux is not something I have ever used.

i will try the bios changes shortly and report back

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:18:

unfortunately it wont boot to dos/ms-dos prompt. It see's the floppy disks on the boot sequence then says about inserting bootable media.

Have you tried booting from floppy ?

weedeewee wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:03:

- With the drive connected like this and not showing any info in the bios, can you boot into dos and does fdisk show any info? ( […]
Show full quote

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:25:

1) when connected direct ot the main board with no cables and no other hdd connected the screen comes on but after detecting the floppy a and b drives it says "insert bootable media in appropriate drive". When I go in to the bios, disk 0 is set to auto, but no information such s HDD size is shown.

- With the drive connected like this and not showing any info in the bios, can you boot into dos and does fdisk show any info? (i doubt it will)
- With the drive connected like, can you boot into a linux dist and see any info about the DOM ?

possibilities, DOM is faulty or incompatible with your mainboard.
for the incompatible part, if possible, try disabling UDMA in bios and/or setting PIO0 for the DOM drive

and test the dom on another machine as single drive

I couldn't see in the bios settings anything regarding UDMA or PIOo.

weedeewee wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:24:

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:18:

unfortunately it wont boot to dos/ms-dos prompt. It see's the floppy disks on the boot sequence then says about inserting bootable media.

Have you tried booting from floppy ?

No I haven't actually. I will work out how to make a bootable floppy and try that.

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:17:

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:45:

I've had issues in the past with those USB to ide interfaces. Do you have any other systems to try it on natively not via USB?

unfortunately not

I use a cheap "Sharkoon" USB to HDD bridge that's being identified as "JMicron" and that's rather picky with what drives work or don't. SATAs are fine, but many IDE (P-ATA) won't work and no CD-ROMs.

So, I'd say if you want to mess around with weird old shit - yes, you'll need a more modern fall back option for drives like that, but without extra steps.

- Late system with IDE controller, like, mid 2000s? I have an ASUS P5LD2 S775 with 3 GHz core2duo. Anyone should have an ASUS p5LD2 anyway.
- Random 10 bucks IDE controller for PCIe?

Or, I assume the Pentium machine does not boot from CD-ROM? Because that would be the next step - use a gparted live CD or the ultimate Boot Disk.
Maybe there's a good disk tool for floppy or fdisk will suffice?

weedeewee wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:24:

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:18:

unfortunately it wont boot to dos/ms-dos prompt. It see's the floppy disks on the boot sequence then says about inserting bootable media.

Have you tried booting from floppy ?

So I made a 6.22 boot disk, with the DOM as the master directly connected to IDE input 1 on the motherboard with no cables or couplers, with no other hdd's or cdrom etc attached. After running fdisk it simply says 'no fixed disks present'

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-04-29, 20:39:

I use a cheap "Sharkoon" USB to HDD bridge that's being identified as "JMicron" and that's rather picky with what drives work or […]
Show full quote

handbaked wrote on 2022-04-29, 14:17:

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-04-29, 13:45:

I've had issues in the past with those USB to ide interfaces. Do you have any other systems to try it on natively not via USB?

unfortunately not

I use a cheap "Sharkoon" USB to HDD bridge that's being identified as "JMicron" and that's rather picky with what drives work or don't. SATAs are fine, but many IDE (P-ATA) won't work and no CD-ROMs.

So, I'd say if you want to mess around with weird old shit - yes, you'll need a more modern fall back option for drives like that, but without extra steps.

- Late system with IDE controller, like, mid 2000s? I have an ASUS P5LD2 S775 with 3 GHz core2duo. Anyone should have an ASUS p5LD2 anyway.
- Random 10 bucks IDE controller for PCIe?

Or, I assume the Pentium machine does not boot from CD-ROM? Because that would be the next step - use a gparted live CD or the ultimate Boot Disk.
Maybe there's a good disk tool for floppy or fdisk will suffice?

I think an IDE PCIe card may be the solution for reading the DOM on my modern Windows desktop. Though getting it working on the DOS machine is the first stage I guess.