If the motherboard is dead, you will not see any display. It slipped my mind for a minute, but I think on OEM systems like Dell, part of the bios code is on the hard drive. So that's a problem. You can only access the bios when you have your Dell hard drive connected. (edit) Correction, I should have said 'You 'might not' be able to access the bios with your Dell drive disconnected'.

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I suggest connecting your Dell hard drive to the first IDE port and see if that works. All other drives disconnected. If it's plugged as cable select, it should be on the end connector.

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aegis; just tried that, didn't work. Switched Primary to secondary, didn't work. Also tried booting with nothing at all connected, same exact results. Leaning towards motherboard in my opinion.

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I find it hard to believe that it's a motherboard problem, mpb218. Is it possible that you bent some pins in both IDE ports? I guess it's possible that your Dell hard drive has gone belly up. Like I said earlier, you might not be able to enter the bios setup routine if there isn't a functioning Dell hard drive connected. I have no hands on experience with Dell systems. Maybe someone who has will pop in to help.

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I will get a flashlight in there and check out the pins. I appreciate your help alot, though.

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I just installed a Seagate 500 Gig HD in my computer and it did not see the new drive at all until After I Installed the Disk Wizard and Ran It. Subsequently, it has worked fine. It may be that your new HD needs to be formated or proprietary software run. Also, most new drives want their jumpers at "Cable-Select." Check the instructions or the manufacturer's site.

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Mike, There's a big difference between Windows Explorer not seeing a drive, and BIOS not detecting a drive. If the BIOS does not detect the drive there is nothing in windows that will make it do so. Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

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Reset the Bios to default values. You sound savvy enough to have NOT connected the HDD with the system Powered up. ? Be sure to switch off the power to the Machine. PSU switch, surge suppressor or at wall plug. There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

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Dumbob; Noooo I always remove power and wait a minute or 2 before messing with anything. I am stumped on this one. Thing is I don't know what indications a bad motherboard would give. I suppose a connection could be broke (solder joint?) with something in common with both primary and secondary IDE ports. What I would now like to try is to plug a SATA drive in (I have the ports), but I don't have one unfortunately. That could help with the troubleshooting.

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"Because I can hit F12 and get to the boot options and select IDE diagnosis, that is how I am confirming it is not detecting any drives on the cable at all, whether it be one or all of them connected. It won't even see the cd drive." It sounds like he is not even using the 'normal' bios that we are used to. I have no idea what this "IDE Diagnosis" is. Maybe some special Dell thing.

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I am assuming when you say "normal" bios you're referring to the setup? If so, I have no problem getting into that one either.

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Oh, well I suggest that you use that to check to see if the drives are being seen. That 'IDE diagnosis' thing (whatever it is) might be lying to you. If the bios setup program doesn't see the drive, you can trust it. (edit) Past my bedtime, I hope someone will pick up the challenge.

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Open the BIOS (set up) Look for the harddrive capabilities area and check that the EIDE controller is even set to enabled. Since you have SATA/RAID capabilities then it is possible that the SATA controller is reset to boot to and the IEDE controller is disabled. If this is true then your EIDE drives will not show up at all including the optics drive. It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats on the belief of personal change--- yet they remain disadvantaged.

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If you have 3 devices (2 HDDs & an optical drive), this is the ideal configuration: primary master = HDD w/OS primary slave = none 2ndary master = optical drive 2ndary slave = 2nd HDD If cabling is a problem, you can reverse the 2ndary setup: 2ndary master = 2nd HDD 2ndary slave = optical drive Double check the jumpers on the drives. WDC HDDs have several jumper settings possibilities...they should be printed on the label. Also, some Dell systems (for whatever reason) prefer to the jumpers set to "cable select". But obviously if you have the BIOS settings wrong, nothing you do to the drives will get them properly detected. "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

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In the setup I set them as "unknown device" because that's the only selection possible. Turns out my friend has a motherboard laying around that he will give me. Assuming that it is compatible I am going to throw that guy in and see if anything changes. I'll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.

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