Manuals

EIDE Subsystem: Dell™ Dimension™ XPS Dxxx Systems

The EIDE subsystem includes 2 EIDE interfaces (primary and secondary), each of which can support up to 2 EIDE devices such as high-capacity EIDE hard-disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and tape drives.

When 2 EIDE drives are connected to a single EIDE interface cable, a master/slave relationship must be defined between the 2 drives so that they will operate correctly while cabled together. All EIDE devices should be configured for the Cable Select jumper position, which assigns master and slave status to devices by their position on the interface cable.

When 2 EIDE drives are connected to a single EIDE interface cable and are configured for the Cable Select jumper position, the drive attached to the last connector on the interface cable is the master or boot drive (drive 0) and the drive attached to the middle connector on the interface cable is the slave drive (drive 1).

For earlier systems, assigning the master and slave designations usually involves resetting jumpers on the circuit card on the underside of each drive. The master/slave relationship is defined in different ways for different types of drives. For details about your specific drive, refer to the drive documentation included with the drive. When you replace a drive, look at the jumpers on the drive that is being replaced to set the jumpers on the replacement drive.