dells only start with h.d. unplugged

[maryunger3]

Ive been given 4 newer dells over the past year and they all have the same problem they wont start unless the hd is unplugged as soon as you plug one in the comp quites running. Tryed new cords and they are in the right spots and the right way. Any ideas

 

[Nodsu]

Triple-check the master/slave setting and cable orientation if you have IDE.
Try the HD in another computer.
Make sure the PSU isn't overloaded.

 

[maryunger3]

didnt overlook master/slave and cable is in right the drive is working on other machine could it be mem, video cards like I said its on all 4 machines and once you push the power if you unplug the hd it will sound like its starting up but if you plug hd back in its stops

 

[maryunger3]

whats psu? the prossesor? its the original one

 

[Nodsu]

PSU is the power supply.
By cable orientation I meant that it does matter which plug goes where, Blue - motherboard, black - master, grey -slave. Also, with Dells and ATA33 you may have "cable select" cables, that work properly only when the drives are set to cable select too.

Hard drives are not hot pluggable! Unplugging or connecting the drive while the machine is powered on may fry the drive and/or the controller!

 

[korrupt]

Hard drives are not hot pluggable! Unplugging or connecting the drive while the machine is powered on may fry the drive and/or the controller!

Just thought I'd tell you that portable harddrives are hot swappable.

Korrupt

 

[Nodsu]

Some internal hard drives are hot-swappable too, but we are talking about IDE drives here.