New power supply cable connections

just installed a new power supply, even though it looks just like my original dell power supply, it has sata cables and moler cables, I have hooked up just the hard drive to the first moler 4pin connector from the power supply, I have not hooked up my dvd drive, (sata drive with an ide adaptor) as connecting the hard drive was the only way I could get my computer to boot up, comes up saying the secondary drive is not found, strike f1 or f2, so naturally I hit F1 as I knew that only the primary hard drive was connected.

there are two more moler connectors in line and the last has a little 4pin connector attached, I believe this was for the floppy that was originally installed, (dell dimension 3000 ).

So my question is how do I connect my secondary drive (it is a dvd drive), to the next connector in line?,

did not work when I tried this before, I could only get the dell splash screen, displaying F2 for setup and F12 for boot menu, but the keyboard would not work and the screen stayed there forever.

thanks in advance, I may be okay with software, but sometimes hardware throws me for a loop.

 

You can get SATA to Molex, and Molex to SATA power adaptors, if that is what you need. (eBay)

Cannibalised power connectors from abandoned machines are also easily added to power cable: leave a tail of wire to reconnect reclaimed power connectors, especially SATA type.

 

no I have the adapter, I need the order to place the dvd drive, and the hard drive sequence. does it connect to the first or the last connector? I will try different connections later, but have to leave the connection up until later tonight.

 

Unlike the data connectors, the power connectors are interchangeable, they just supply 12V , 5V and ground, but there is a caveat: "You have to be careful about SATA power cables. Some of them are missing the 3.3 volt wire. People with older power supplies often use adapters which convert from 4 pin peripheral cables to SATA power cables. But since 4 pin peripheral connectors only supply 5 and 12 volts, the SATA connector is missing 3.3 volts (there's no orange wire). There are also a few older power supplies which inexplicably have SATA power cables which are missing the 3.3 volt wire. Currently, SATA drives rarely use 3.3 volts. That may be because there are too many people using adapters so the drive makers don't want the headaches which come with using 3.3 volts. But in the future, 3.3 volt drives may become common so you need to be careful when using SATA power cables which don't implement 3.3 volts."

From here: http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html

 

okay, will try a couple of different connections later tonight, as the sata adapter I have on my dvd drive was working before, I will see how I can connect it in line with the harddrive. will post back on the connections if I can get it to recognize the secondary drive.

 

Update:, I have tried many different connections, from the power supply there is a line with 3 molex connectors, I have tried the dvd in all 3, and it is not seen by the bios, whenever I plug it in I can only get to the dell splash screen and there is no keyboard action, with just the hard drive connected I get secondary drive not found and strike f1 or f2, hitting f1 boots normally, the dvd drive worked fine before the new power supply, I am at a loss,

 

You say your DVD drive is SATA, hitherto powered through an adaptor from a Molex connector.

You also say your new PSU has both Molex and SATA connectors.

Why not power it directly from a SATA connector? If it then does not work check carefully the SATA power connectors on the Drive itself.

Had this happen in past, and traced to a bad connection, I guess it is not the Molex connector, as you have tried all three. Molex side of those adaptors often leave much to be desired in terms of reliability.

 

ps Have you got any other SATA device which you can plug into the adaptor, just to see if it is getting any power?

 

no other sata device, and I did not know I could plug the sata power directly, the pin connection is where the adaption was needed

okay, will pull the dvd, check the connections and try again, will update,, thanks,

 

Try checking the voltages with a voltmeter. You may have a bad power supply. I put alligator clips on my meter and clip on some T-pins and just poke through the insulation on wires to get readings. Or mod a spare mating connector (Ys are sometimes useful for this) with a wire stripper so you can measure.

If it's a proprietary power supply (HP and Dell often are) with non-standard connectors, get an exact replacement, ie. one having the same part number. I had to do that on one of my HPs. Was about $25 on eBay (used but working).

 

Maybe a dumb question, Does the dvdrom door open? It does not need the data cable connected to function, maybe its the culprit, , , ,

 

I will check,