Dell Dimension 8300 doesn't detect hdd

[Jeffwo]

I installed a new (20GB) Hard Drive in this desktop. I know the drive is good because I hooked it up in another (Dell) machine and installed XP on it. I set the jumper to Cable Select but the 8300 doesen't detect the HDD.

I did also try the jumper setting to Master and I did try a new IDE cable to no avail.

 

[Paperlantern]

Try resetting the BIOS/CMOS settings to default. Or pulling the battery and putting it back in again.

 

[Lanyap]

If it's a new second drive then you need to go into the BIOS and set the drive from OFF to AUTO. Change the jumper back to Cable Select before you do this.

In older systems Dell turns OFF drives in the BIOS that do not exist. If you add a new HD or optical you have to manually turn them on by changing it to AUTO. If you change it to AUTO without a drive on that channel it will hang for 30 seconds while the BIOS searches for the non-existant drive. I don't know why Dell chose to do this when most other BIOSes are set to automatic by default. I guess they were trying to speed up the boot process in the BIOS.