Try setting the jumper to cable select.

If we don't know the answer does that make us crack-smoking losers?

Did you load the SATA drivers?

Should be on a disk that came with you puter.

Doh!

Nevermind, you would already have them loaded in.

also look in your bios setting for the hard drives and pci boot device, i have sata on board and had to enable the device for the machine to see the drive.

As far as the cable and master/slave thing.

If the drive is at the end of the cable. It is considerd master.
If it is connected the middle of the cable it should be slave.

Personally I never put them on cable select. Take the guesswork out.

Seriously, you don't personally know ANY computer geeks?

Frank;

I like the preemptive approach for you. Since you're superior at satire, cartoons and "T-Shirtmanship," and we suck at those, KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF COMPUTER GUTS!

For my part, I promise to not try to compete with you and SCRAPPLEFACE (at which I wold suck). Deal?

MUWHAHAHAHA!

(Going back to fixing computers)

They don't seem to recognize each other. Have you tried introducing them? Sometimes it helps them to break the ice if they have something in common. What about a joke? Maybe if you had a joke that would relax them and all would be good eventually.

Computers are very complicated. Sometimes it takes years to work through those issues.

I'm sorry. All this talk has stirred up bad memories. I have to go see my therapist.

good luck.

My advice would be to talk to Pixy Misa. That blogger knows all about fixing HDD problems.

I figured I'd go to their tutorial page to see if I could find out how for y'all. It was really helpful and explained a lot. Here are the directions:

HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found

If I give you the magic answer do I get a free t-shirt babe, er, uh, I mean a t-shirt?

Frank - Make sure your ATA card is NOT in the first PCI slot (usually beige) adjacent to the AGP (usually dark brown) slot. Depending on your motherboard, chipset, BIOS, etc., there may be a conflict (by design) caused by a shared interrupt between these two slots. There are ways around it if necessary, but the easiest and BEST solution is to NOT use the first PCI slot, especially for any drive controller hardware (SCSI, ATA and SATA). This isn't necessarily true of all motherboards, but I have resolved a lot of similar headaches by simply changing PCI slots.

Of course if it doesn't work, just consider what I tell my more...um.. "challenged" clients: "Oooh, that's bad! Did you really open the case? Were you wearing a static strap? How about a jock strap? Did you see any tiny wisps of magic smoke? Oh, dear... I'm afraid all I can recommend at this point is to buy a new one - only this time leave it in its box under your bed or keep it in a dark closet!"

When the hard drive jumpers are ready, the master appears.

OK, I can fix the problem.

Tools you will need:

soldering iron
a sledgehammer
marmalade

Directions:
First, smash the soldering iron with the hammer. Good, I've always hated those things. I could never never get those neat solders like you're supposed to. Next, liberally smash your disk drive with the hammer. Don't be shy! Sometimes it's OK to be liberal. Now, make me a sandwich with the marmalade.

Problem solved. I now have a sandwich.

OK, after actually looking at the apapter card..

The HD should be set to master.

You will need another SATA cable to plug into the adapter. One end goes to the adapter, the other goes onto the motherboard.

Plug the power connector into the adpater board.

Button up.
Boot up.

After all that you should see it.

N.B., That thing you link to doesn't look like it's a PCI card. It just sorta plugs into the back of your drive, no?

Did the thing come with a manual?

How did you determine the computer didn't recognize the drive (i.e., it didn't appear during the hardware detection phase of start up [hit "TAB" at the Dell splash screen or enter the BIOS], it just didn't show up in Windows, the computer locked up during hardware detection phase, etc.).

Some random things you might try/check:

Double check that all the connections are seated properly.

How is the jumper set on your other drive? Make sure only one is set to master, the other slave.

Make sure a second hard drive isn't disabled in the BIOS. Check the BIOS for other potentially relevant settings (but don't change anything unless you know what you're doing).

Check to see if your BIOS needs to be upgraded.

And just so you'll have an excuse for calling your readers crack heads (or just me :)... Run a Linux live CD and execute the following command:

dmesg | grep hd

...and post the output.

Frank, I thought you were a brilliant engineer.

The device you linked to doesn't appear to address the issue you raised in your original post. As I recall, you have a motherboard with NO SATA channels, only IDE (40-pin) channels with flat ribbon cables, either 40-pin, 40-wire or 40=pin, 80-wire.

If so, what you need is a PCI/SATA device, not the device you linked to.

This $25 PCI/SATA card looks like it would fit your bill:

http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/2-port-sata-pci-card-external.htm

don't know if this will help, but when i installed a second hard drive (yes, to install Linux on, but that doesn't matter) there were two "master" jumper settings, one just "master",as in a solo hard drive setup, the other "master, slave present" don't know if it was just a thing on this brand (maxtor), but you never know.

I know the answer but, My pay gets docked when I think.
However, 2 rounds from a .45 cal could solve the problem.

Don't know if I can help, but here's my best guess.

Like Spetiam said, check you BIOS. You didn't say if you did, and a LOT of computers that come from brand name OEMs have the setting set at the most optimal by default.

So check your BIOS. It could be that the SATA channel for the drive wasn't configured to look for a drive. This makes the computer boot faster (since it doesn't have to check for a drive present), but makes it impossible to add drives to that channel.

Best bet would be to set everything on all the channels that say something like DISABLED to AUTO. This will make it boot longer, but the computer should be able to recognice the drive.

Besides that (also like spetiam said), make sure you've connected all the cables you need to, both for the controller and the hard drive (since these are seperate, at least in the pictures).

One or the other should do it (really, I'm assuming it's the BIOS that's giving you trouble).

If you want more help, tell us what it says in the BIOS when looking at the drives.

If this helped you, get me a job in the States so that I can get away from this hellhole I call home (CANADA). Or at least in Alberta. I could manage living in Alberta, cold as the place does get.

Moehawk, your dating yourself (or saying you bought an old drive). In modern drives, Master and Master, Slave Present are synonymous.

David, Frank J specifically said, in his first post, that he had 4 SATA channels on his mobo, but NO IDE channels. The drive he's connecting is his old IDE drive from his old computer.

And you know what's funny? SATA was introduced to make things easier to install and maintain the drives :)

A part of that above should read:

"but makes it impossible to add drives to that channel, without changing the setting in the BIOS."

Rereading the first few comments, listen to CLS1. Brief and to the point. Man knows what he's saying, and expects you to understand him.

Paul: thanks for showing up and helping the funnyman fix his computer and therefore be happy enough(when he's not busy playing video games) to bring us the happy. btw..i'm not dating myself, regardless of what you might have heard. yes, i have an old computer. but it works. oh yeah....thanks again for helping the funnyman.

i'm looking for a new system myself. this piddly little emachines computer i have had for 4 years now just isn't cutting the mustard anymore. do you have any recommendations of brands or outlets?

moehawk,

Look at ibuypower.com if you like desktops that are fast, you feel comfortable with non-major brands, and don't need much in the way of support. I don't have one (yet) but I've heard good things about them, and I'm seriously considering one of their Athlon-64 systems when I squeeze the last little bits of worth out of the POS Dell I currently have.

If you are looking for a laptop, I highly recommend the IBM G40 line. For laptops they are massive and heavy (they are desktop replacements, not ultra-mobile) and have crappy battery life, but with 768MB of RAM, it has a good-sized keyboard, a good screen, the " pencil eraser" mouse that is far superior to those little etch-a-sketch pads you see on so many other laptops, and is a great lapwarmer if you don't have a t-shirt babe of your own. Also, you get IBM support, and for a laptop, they are pretty cheap (mine came in at around $1K with the 512 MB aftermarket Crucial RAM upgrade).

As we all know, laptops are great for getting your IMAO while watching Fox & Friends.

Anyhoo, that's my $0.02...

Paul: thx for the correction. Searching ALL the way back to December 4 (a century ago in my teeny brained years), I see you have it spot on. Thx. And you and CLS1 have it right, given the facts as you correctly recalled the original post: BIOS settings most likely to blame _IF_ all the connections were made correctly (Pournelle's Law: 80% of computer problems are cable/power related. My corrollary: the other 20% are user related... :-).

So, addressing connectors, the power connection on the adapter shown at the linked page _looks_ like it accepts a Berg connector, not the typical SATA power cable. Checking that might be a good thing, cos although Berg connectors are keyed, it's still _possible_ to insert them backwards, unlike the Molex connector it is "Y"-ed from (with the supplied adapter). Seen it done with floppies' Berg connectors.

And again, the connection of the "Y" adapter itself is a possible failure point, since it's common for folks to just not push the Molex connectors together firmly.

Question: I have not personally kludged a parallell (IDE) drive to an SATA connector, so I don;t have a clue about this one: since master/slave designations are moot on SATA channels, ought the drive setting (jumpers) on the IDE drive be set to cable select or simply to Master? Absent any documentation on the IDE-to-SATA interface, that's a connection possibility that might need addressing.

Or might not, depending on how "smart" the interface is.

Thx again, Paul, for the gentle smack upside the head. I needed that. Most people just use a handy brick bat.

Paul: thx for the correction. Searching ALL the way back to December 4 (a century ago in my teeny brained years), I see you have it spot on. Thx. And you and CLS1 have it right, given the facts as you correctly recalled the original post: BIOS settings most likely to blame _IF_ all the connections were made correctly (Pournelle's Law: 80% of computer problems are cable/power related. My corrollary: the other 20% are user related... :-).

So, addressing connectors, the power connection on the adapter shown at the linked page _looks_ like it accepts a Berg connector, not the typical SATA power cable. Checking that might be a good thing, cos although Berg connectors are keyed, it's still _possible_ to insert them backwards, unlike the Molex connector it is "Y"-ed from (with the supplied adapter). Seen it done with floppies' Berg connectors.

And again, the connection of the "Y" adapter itself is a possible failure point, since it's common for folks to just not push the Molex connectors together firmly.

Question: I have not personally kludged a parallell (IDE) drive to an SATA connector, so I don;t have a clue about this one: since master/slave designations are moot on SATA channels, ought the drive setting (jumpers) on the IDE drive be set to cable select or simply to Master? Absent any documentation on the IDE-to-SATA interface, that's a connection possibility that might need addressing.

Or might not, depending on how "smart" the interface is.

Thx again, Paul, for the gentle smack upside the head. I needed that. Most people just use a handy brick bat.

TallDave,

That was freakin' hilarious.

Frank, I will not attempt to answer your question for fear of being branded a crackhead, but while you're in the kitchen for TallDave, make me one too. Ham, turkey, and Provolone on rye. Thanks.

Shoot it! With the Gun! That's what the bullets are for, you twit!

Cable select rarely works.

If the HD is on the "top" of the cord, it's master. If it's in the middle its slave.

Enter your bios and try to check for the HD also.

Tried to stay out of this thread, since I know nothing of SATA, but Greg: position on the cord has nothing to do with master or slave.

Positioning the drives like that is good practice though, since it helps avoid confusion.

Tried to stay out of this thread, since I know nothing of SATA, but Greg: position on the cord has nothing to do with master or slave.

Positioning the drives like that is good practice though, since it helps avoid confusion.

Unplug and replug all connectors, if you haven't tried already. Also, you might want to call the company and see if it could be fried (I spent hours trying to troubleshoot an external Firewire case, only to send it back and get a new one that worked).

The Alliance is spreading filthy Christmas lies. Don't you have one?

Did the converter come with a toll free tech support number? If so,can you speak Hindi? Would an indentured servant roundup work as well as a slave drive?

To: some otherwise helpful individuals... SATA cables do NOT have an end-of-cable-or-middle-of-cable drive position. One SATA connection, one drive. Here's a pic of a cable. Sorry for the wierd quality, just took it with my phone. In the original bleg, I answered that the best bet would be an Adaptec or a Promise Ultra ATA adapter card (depending on the age/bus speed of the drive) as they are nicely backward compatible to almost any IDE drive on the market, without having to deal with non-recognition, IRQ interrupts and ease of setup. The SATA-to-IDE cable converters are quite touchy and notnecessarily compatible to ATA-66 and IDE-100 drive formats (it assumes you have a fairly modern, quick ATA-133 drive). I am running a hybrid SATA-IDE multidrive system myself on a Dell workstation, so I've been fighting these battles myself on occasion.

Confederate Yankee: thanks for the info. checked out the site, and am definitely interested.

I second Bryan's comment. Get a PCI adapter card.

Frank, this might be VERY dumb question, but did you connect the power cable to the SATA hard drive?

I usually recommended to my customers that they peroidically straighten their cables and gently work out any kinks. Since the data is digital- 1s and 0s the 0s flow smoothly but the 1s tend to logjam in the kinks.

I still get calls from people asking me to perform this maintenence for them...

I'm working in my spare moment on self cleaning cables for these people.

I'd beg to differ blackbird :P

I had mucho trouble with those settings until I got them set up right. I got scars on my hands working on it ;)

Dumb.

Unless all 4 IDE slots are taken, you should not be using SATA. It is NOT FASTER. The hard drive doesn't reach 1/3 speed capacity on ATA 133.

And if you have all 4 IDE connections taken up, you should use USB 2.0 or/and Firewire.

SATA 1.0 is NOT hot swappable. It is jumperless and pkug and play- but you can't just pop it in whenever you fell like it.

Getting an external SATA case with converter makes no sense. Internal, do native SATA or native IDE. External, go USB 2.0 or Firewire. That's all the options you get unless you like pain and have an extra grand for SCSI 320 hardware.

Have you tried the unhappy dance?

It is not hard to learn. Put on your rigid ice climbing boots, mount crampons carefully, place hardware on dancing surface, start music, mash PCB bits into tiny bits. Don't forget to save the barcode label for the mail-in rebate.

Holy hell, Frank. JUST CALL THE GEEK SQUAD!
*la de da da la de da da GEEK SQUAD!*

I had this problem with a new hard drive before. All I had to do was to perform a low level format using fdisk and then the O/S would "see" the drive. Hope this helps.