Dell Dimension 2400 HDD problems

letsgopens · 08-24-2007, 03:42 PM

I bought a used dimension 2400, it will not see any HDD connected to it. I have three different HDD's, two with WIn XP installed and one has no OS installed. The BIOS sees any one of these drives, it know what the manufacture and the size of the drive but when i power on the PC it says Primary drive 1 not found.

I have tried to jumper it as a master and tried to use cable select, the IDE cable is know good and so are all three drives.

Any ideas?

**PanamaGal** · 08-24-2007, 07:02 PM

Do you have it listed as one of your boot device choices in the BIOS?

letsgopens · 08-25-2007, 03:36 AM

Yes, the BIOS is set to boot from HDD after it looks to the cd drive.

BTW the drives are spinning, I can hear them.

ceri sheeran · 08-25-2007, 09:57 AM

Hi,

New BIOS battery and new IDE ribbon cable.

Buy an 80 wire cable to allow for any future upgrades.

Ensure the hard drive is jumpered as master and connected to the end connector on the primary IDE ribbon cable.

Check the cable position on the board to ensure you are using the correct IDE connector. I seem to recall the D2400 had two IDE channels, it was not SATA

hth

Ceri

08-24-2007, 03:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
letsgopens Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Dell Dimension 2400 HDD problems I bought a used dimension 2400, it will not see any HDD connected to it. I have three different HDD's, two with WIn XP installed and one has no OS installed. The BIOS sees any one of these drives, it know what the manufacture and the size of the drive but when i power on the PC it says Primary drive 1 not found. I have tried to jumper it as a master and tried to use cable select, the IDE cable is know good and so are all three drives. Any ideas? Last edited by letsgopens; 08-24-2007 at 03:46 PM.

08-24-2007, 07:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
PanamaGal Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Panama Posts: 1,240 OS: WinXP Pro SP2; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista Ultimate; Vista Business	Re: Dell Dimension 2400 HDD problems Do you have it listed as one of your boot device choices in the BIOS? __________________ It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

08-25-2007, 03:36 AM	#3 (permalink)
letsgopens Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: Dell Dimension 2400 HDD problems Yes, the BIOS is set to boot from HDD after it looks to the cd drive. BTW the drives are spinning, I can hear them. Last edited by letsgopens; 08-25-2007 at 03:38 AM.

08-25-2007, 09:57 AM	#4 (permalink)
ceri sheeran Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 285 OS: WINXP	Re: Dell Dimension 2400 HDD problems Hi, New BIOS battery and new IDE ribbon cable. Buy an 80 wire cable to allow for any future upgrades. Ensure the hard drive is jumpered as master and connected to the end connector on the primary IDE ribbon cable. Check the cable position on the board to ensure you are using the correct IDE connector. I seem to recall the D2400 had two IDE channels, it was not SATA hth Ceri