Shoutbox

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 desktop PC. It only has the main OS hard drive installed. Occasionally I add a 2nd internal drive to clone the main drive for backup purposes. It has been performing perfectly for many years. Since a month ago, whenever I add the 2nd internal drive the PC is unable to power on, it's dead. So I have to remove the 2nd drive, wait for at least one hour (who knows why) with the power cord unplugged and after that it will power on normally and function perfectly.
I checked the 2nd hard drive and it is in good condition, in fact this happens with ANY 2nd hard drive that I add. I also tried another IDE cable unsuccessfully. So I have no idea what can be causing this. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Have you tried another power cable?  Or plugging the second hard drive into a different power cable (if there's any fre in there)

If they are PATA/IDE drives with a wide ribbon cable, you will need to change the jumper on the back of the drive to specify a master and slave drive. If its SATA, not sure.
Have you tried connecting just the new drive?
Have you tried powering the drive and leaving the data cable unplugged?
What is the wattage on the power supply? Many budget systems have a power supply only large enough for what comes standard and nothing else.

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Originally posted by MeEtc

What is the wattage on the power supply? Many budget systems have a power supply only large enough for what comes standard and nothing else.

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Originally posted by alegator
Occasionally I add a 2nd internal drive to clone the main drive for backup purposes. It has been performing perfectly for many years

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If he has been doing that for many years, I doubt the PSU wattage would be the problem

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Originally posted by Th3rmal

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Originally posted by MeEtc

What is the wattage on the power supply? Many budget systems have a power supply only large enough for what comes standard and nothing else.

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quote:

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Originally posted by alegator
Occasionally I add a 2nd internal drive to clone the main drive for backup purposes. It has been performing perfectly for many years

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If he has been doing that for many years, I doubt the PSU wattage would be the problem

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If the power usage was near the limit and stressed for many years, it could be a sign of a 'dying' PSU though...

That he has to wait for an hour to be able to power up again sounds strange too (almost sounds like something overheating or a n elco/collector/whatever not properly releasing stored power or something). I would first try to replace the PSU if something like that happens.

Thanks everyone for their replies.
Let me say that:
1) The power supply is the original that came with my system, it has the specs necessary to support a 2nd internal drive.
2) The "open,install,close" cycles should only affect two things: the IDE cable (that's why I tried with a new one) or the power connector. The power connector is supplying the right voltage since I tested it with the main drive and works fine.
3) My system does not support cloning over USB, and even if I were able to do it it would take ages to transfer 160Gb of data.
4) Both hard drives are set to CS, but jumper settings have nothing to do with this issue, the system should still be able to power on.
I tried a Y-splitter to the known good connector and no luck, still same problem. What I mean by not powering is that when I push the power button the PC does not turn on at all, as if it were unplugged from the power outlet. This happens only when two internal hard drives are installed. When only one main drive is installed (no 2nd drive) the PC starts normally.
I'm more and more convinced that it's the power supply.

I found a workaround to this issue without having to replace the PSU. I unplugged the DVD drive power plug and used it to power the 2nd internal hard drive, and I was able to clone the main drive.