Hi guys,
I am trying to install a new hard drive for my Dell Dimension 2400.
It is a 10 year old computer, but it still gets me where I need to go.
The boot screen comes up and identifies my old 500 GB drive and it’s size:
0 WDC WD5000AADS-00598 – 476940 MB
But for the new hard drive, only the model # comes up. Not the size:
1 WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0
Nothing progresses after that, no matter what I do. As soon as I turn the
power on, I press F2 to enter setup, F12 for boot order, and F4 to enter the
raid utility, but nothing happens.
My guess is that the bios has a 500 GB limit, and doesn’t like my 1TB drive.
I don’t think it could be my SATA card, which is only about 5 years old.
I have tried limiting the speed using a jumper, and have formatted and partitioned
the 1TB into three logical drives. (using another PC) But I get the same result.
What do you think? Should I return the 1TB drive to Best Buy, and buy another
500 GB drive? Or is there some workaround for this?
Ichigo
June 13, 2014, 3:42pm
2
Hello, check if you have any BIOS updates available for your PC, I also recommend you to check the Delll web site for more information on what is the largest HDD supported.
One way to determine whether there is a 500GB issue would be to cut the capacity of your drive using a tool such as HDAT2. I would cut the capacity to 120GB, say, to ensure that you are not exceeding the 28-bit LBA limit. If the drive’s capacity is still not properly reported, then this would point to some other problem.
I actualy went and bought a 500 GB drive. The bios recognized it, no problem.
I tried the freeware Acronis clone tool, but it was a little buggy. I downloaded Clonezilla. (freeware)
It worked flawlessly. I was very impressed with it.
As for the 1TB drive, a previous poster on this forum had success with using two jumpers.
He used 5&6 and 7&8, but that did not work for me. I tried every combination with two jumpers,
but with no success. If no one has any other ideas. I guess I’ll return it.
The bios is the latest, BTW. (A05)
