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| Thread ID: 55527 | 2005-03-12 21:39:00 | A little help for an idiot | rondelum (7577) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 333514 | 2005-03-12 21:39:00 | I'll start by saying I'm not new to pc's, I just don't have any formal training. I have done countless hardware changes to my computers in the past with acceptable results. Today however I needed to install a new CD-RW and to do this I had to remove the "bay box" of my dell. I had to disconnect all of the ide and power supply leads. (I have two HD's and two CD drives). Once I had the new CD in I connected everything back and started up. No video. I changed a couple of cables around blindly and I got video. But it ask me if I wanted to boot to safe mode. I thought that it may have been because I had to power down because of the no video thing. I booted to safe mode and it atomatically restarted and ask me the same question again. it did this three times before I gave up. Now I have tried what I feel is every possible cable combination. I have even tried not connecting CD drives, a hard drive and still no solution. Right now I do not have video again and I can't figure out what is wrong. So I through myself humbly at your mercy. |
rondelum (7577) | ||
| 333515 | 2005-03-12 21:47:00 | Welcome to PressF1 :) What sort of cables were you blindly changing around? Is your video onboard or a AGP card? If it is the later, make sure the card is still firmly seated in the AGP slot as you may of knocked it loose. |
Jen (38) | ||
| 333516 | 2005-03-12 22:07:00 | blindly changing the power leads( should make no difference, right) and the ide cables( should be HD's on one and CD's on the other right?) so pretty much changing the positions on the the cable. Everything is seated I have checked that over and over. Like I say I had video when I had one configuration. But in trying to figure out why the power was cycling off and on( the rebooting and asking about safe mode) I lost it again. |
rondelum (7577) | ||
| 333517 | 2005-03-12 22:13:00 | Yup, just as long as 2 power connections (from the power supply), are going to the 2 hdd's and 2 power connections are going to the 2 cd's. It doesnt matter which go where. Have all the ide devices, got power going to them?? And are the connections in firmly? The videocard doesnt have a slot in it for power does it?? That may have been knocked / come out?? Did u remember to jumper the cd's to master/slave?? |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 333518 | 2005-03-12 22:22:00 | video doesn't have a power cable. I actuall had the CD's set to "cable select". Is that a problem? I have had them set to master/slave at a couple points. I have the HD's set Master/Slave. | rondelum (7577) | ||
| 333519 | 2005-03-12 22:34:00 | video doesn't have a power cable. I actuall had the CD's set to "cable select". Is that a problem? I have had them set to master/slave at a couple points. I have the HD's set Master/Slave. Do you have an old pci video card to try? If you could get it to reliably boot with this card, then maybe the Dell video is on the way out??? |
dolby digital (5073) | ||
| 333520 | 2005-03-12 22:41:00 | can the dell handle an extra cdrw with their small psu? | Prescott (11) | ||
| 333521 | 2005-03-12 22:54:00 | Some boards won't boot if you reverse the IDE cable. | ninja (1671) | ||
| 333522 | 2005-03-13 00:36:00 | If you unplugged the cables from the drives, you might have disturbed the other end too. Make sure they are firmly plugged in at the motherboard end, too. It's amazing how easily things come undone when you don't want them to. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 333523 | 2005-03-13 01:31:00 | Hmmm, right now I would say this... Unplug everything from the motherboard/CPU except the keyboard, video card, monitor and Ram. Make sure all connections are secure. If bootup is successful, add the harddrives (to IDE1), making sure they are jumpered correctly (master and slave, not cable select (unless you are usin cable select cable)) also ensuring power and IDE cable is secure. Bootup, making sure BIOS sees both harddrives then do the same with the cd drives (except make sure CD ROMs are on IDE2). If theres a problem with any of the bootups let us know :) |
Myth (110) | ||
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