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Can't get Dell Dimension XPS P166s to recognize a second hard drive

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First post, by s0s

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This is a computer from around 1996. It has an AMI BIOS version AO4.

I have a 4 GB Seagate hd with Windows 98 SE installed on it, which is the master drive. I put in a known-good, working and freshly formatted Samsung 1.2 GB hard drive as the slave drive. I pre-formatted it as FAT32, and then when that didn't work, I took it out and formatted it as FAT16. I tried both drives configured specifically as master and slave, respectively, and then when that didn't work, I tried them configured as cable select. None of these configurations have worked.

Before trying the Samsung drive, I had tried other hard drives as the slave drive. No matter what I've tried, the AMI BIOS won't even recognize that a second hard drive is installed.

I remember having this problem back in the day with other computers, but was never able to fix it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Reply 1 of 5, by BitWrangler

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Have you left an IDE interface on a soundcard enabled with the same address and interrupt as the motherboard controller? That would cause problems.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 2 of 5, by s0s

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Good idea. I remember seeing long row headers on a ton of soundcards. I'll check, thanks!

Reply 3 of 5, by s0s

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No, the only card is the video card. Also, I looked in the BIOS to see if there was an option to customize the IRQ number, addresses, etc., but there isn't.

Reply 4 of 5, by s0s

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Well, this is strange. When I booted up the computer the next time, the BIOS recognized the second hard drive. Quirky thing.

Reply 5 of 5, by BitWrangler

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Heh, one of those hardware Schroedingbugs, as long as you are unsure everything is set right it doesn't work, as soon as you make sure it is, even if you don't change anything, it works great.

Though I sometimes suspect that the CMOS nvram gets a bad value or half charged memory cell from various random events like power spikes, cosmic rays or environmental radiation, and accesses or unrelated changes cause it to refresh and fix.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

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