interchanging components

[Emmett Freeman]

I bought a Dell 2400,with an upgrade to 256MB,but I did not know it did not have CD burner. My old computer, an emachines has a disc drive burner. Can I transfer the emachines drive into the Dell.

[Xavier]

Yes, you can...

However, it will take some time and patience.

I'm going to search around and see if I can find a good tutorial on swapping CD drives...

[Xavier]

Alrighty... This little tutorial comes from TechTV's show Call for Help... I'm going to add some thoughts as they go along... Xavier is BOLD.

When you're installing any type of new drive inside your computer, you should take several issues into consideration. Let's take a look at how to connect a drive to the IDE chain inside your PC:

1. Unplug your PC and open the case. Should only need (at most) a screwdriver to do this... Your Dell's manual should tell you how to get into the case correctly.

2. While working inside your case, place one hand on your PC's power supply at all times to properly ground yourself. Doing this will lessen the chance of static electricity seriously damaging any of the hardware inside your case. When the unit is disconnected, the power supply is not dangerous.

3. Most motherboards have primary and secondary IDE channels that are capable of supporting up to four IDE devices. Generally, one of these channels is used by the hard drive and an existing CD-ROM drive. If you have more than one hard drive, more than one CD drive (ROM, DVD, or RW), or a Zip or tape drive, you want to make sure that you still have space for the new drive. In other words, make sure you haven't exceeded the four-device capacity, including the new drive you want to install. Here's the short version: Your Dell can only have 4 (four) devices installed on the little ribbons inside at any one time. So you have to make sure that you have enough space to add your device.

Once you've verified that you have room for the new drive, you'll need to determine which devices are "masters" and which are "slaves." Follow these steps:

* When you boot up your computer, it will automatically detect your IDE devices. It will tell you whether the device is a primary or secondary master/slave. Look for your other CD Drive in the listing, if your going to replace it you need to know where to put it. If you want to add it, you need to make the one you add on the same chain (primary/secondary), but different setting (master/slave).

* Most CD devices have a set of six metal pins (two rows of three pins) located on the back of the drive. These pins are often labeled, telling you which two pins to put the jumper on so as to designate master, slave, or "cable select." Cable select means that the master or slave position will be determined by how the IDE cable is connected to the drives. This will be spelled out on the actual CD-ROM drive. Look for the sticker explaining this.

You need to determine which devices are masters and which are slaves because the new device will need to be installed as the one that is not taken. If your hard drive is the primary drive, then the CD device should be set to the secondary.

Follow these directions to finish the job:

4. Once you've set the jumper, it's time to plug your IDE cable and power cable into the drive. IDE Cables are WIDE and FLAT... The Power Cable is the Red, Yellow, White, and Black cable with the funny end. Both are "keyed" meaning you can't put them in the wrong way.

5. If you have a sound card, connect the cable that came with the new drive to the sound card. Ignore this step...

6. Close your tower and start your computer, making sure your computer sees the new drive. Make sure that your new drive appears in the listing where you found out if your drive was Primary/Secondary master/slave.

7. If your computer doesn't see the drive, try swapping the jumper to the opposite of what you originally set it. If you set it as a master, switch it to slave, and vice versa. Windows operating systems should see the drive without any special drivers, but most CD drives come with a driver just in case you're using a non-Windows operating system. If you have to swap them, make sure you do both. You shouldn't harm the system if you don't get it right, but it can be frustrating if you don't catch it right away.

8. The last step is to locate the disk that came with the drive. This disk should contain the burning software you'll use to burn. Most likely it's either Easy CD Creator or Ahead Software's Nero. You should have the burning software from your old PC handy, if not Windows XP burns (from my understanding).

If you have any questions, be sure to post them here... Information is your friend in the computer world.

Yours,
Xavier

[Penguin]

Xavier,
You reckon Emmett Freeman will have any trouble pulling that burner out of the emachine? I've never seen the inside of of one, but I hear it's pretty bad in there.

[Xavier]

Xavier,
You reckon Emmett Freeman will have any trouble pulling that burner out of the emachine? I've never seen the inside of of one, but I hear it's pretty bad in there.

I forgot about the small form-factor issue, but he is just extracting it... So it shouldn't be too bad...

[yxboom]

2. While working inside your case, place one hand on your PC's power supply at all times to properly ground yourself.

[truthman]

boom, you are so bad

[$cirisme]

2. While working inside your case, place one hand on your PC's power supply at all times to properly ground yourself. Doing this will lessen the chance of static electricity seriously damaging any of the hardware inside your case. When the unit is disconnected, the power supply is not dangerous.

I have never heard this before, and have never practiced this myself. In fact you're never supposed to take apart the power supply because even when unplugged it has enough juice to kill you.

[$cirisme]

I don't think you even need a screwdriver to open it up. About two years ago my dad and I were working on a couple Dells, and they just open up. It's an awesome design because you get a ton of space to work in.

[Sheepdog]

i remember that this was a pain with my Compaq. i had to take the face panel off, but it took me forever to realize that.

Dell may be different, but you do move an optical drive in or out from the front. check with the documentation for your machine before you rip anything off the front.

[nomad]

for static: usually just touching the case is fine (it's metal), and if you don't move around too much just touching it once usually does the trick (you drain the static and it shouldn't build up again if you're just sitting there, unless you're wearing a wool sweater or something). it certainly is possible to fry something with an ESD though.

btw, i wish i had my ESD training manual (they make all of us engineers go through training; at some sites they were having problems losing too much equipment :) for the exact numbers, but from the training: you know how sometimes you walk across a room and grab the doorknob and feel a shock? electrostatic discharge.

if you feel it, it's 200 volts or more.
if you hear it, it's 400 volts or more.
if you see it (the spark), that's 1000 volts or more (!).

it won't kill you or even hurt you really, because you won't build up more than a few microwatts (= very small amperage), but you should see what a 1000 volt spark will do to a chip without ESD protection...

[Xavier]

Isn't grounding yourself on the PC kinda worthless since the PC isn't really grounded to begin with....

Unless of course you leave it plugged in like A+ suggests...

[nomad]

nope, you just need something 'big' and conductive. usually the inside of the case is metal, and has more than enough conductive surface to work.

[Em7add11]

i remember that this was a pain with my Compaq. i had to take the face panel off, but it took me forever to realize that.

Dell may be different, but you do move an optical drive in or out from the front. check with the documentation for your machine before you rip anything off the front.

My dad had a Compaq that had this huge assembly inside the case that I had to take apart just get to the RAM! That took me almost an hour to add one memory stick to the machine.

[Emmett Freeman]

Alrighty... This little tutorial comes from TechTV's show Call for Help... I'm going to add some thoughts as they go along... Xavier is BOLD.

When you're installing any type of new drive inside your computer, you should take several issues into consideration. Let's take a look at how to connect a drive to the IDE chain inside your PC:

1. Unplug your PC and open the case. Should only need (at most) a screwdriver to do this... Your Dell's manual should tell you how to get into the case correctly.

2. While working inside your case, place one hand on your PC's power supply at all times to properly ground yourself. Doing this will lessen the chance of static electricity seriously damaging any of the hardware inside your case. When the unit is disconnected, the power supply is not dangerous.

3. Most motherboards have primary and secondary IDE channels that are capable of supporting up to four IDE devices. Generally, one of these channels is used by the hard drive and an existing CD-ROM drive. If you have more than one hard drive, more than one CD drive (ROM, DVD, or RW), or a Zip or tape drive, you want to make sure that you still have space for the new drive. In other words, make sure you haven't exceeded the four-device capacity, including the new drive you want to install. Here's the short version: Your Dell can only have 4 (four) devices installed on the little ribbons inside at any one time. So you have to make sure that you have enough space to add your device.

Once you've verified that you have room for the new drive, you'll need to determine which devices are "masters" and which are "slaves." Follow these steps:

* When you boot up your computer, it will automatically detect your IDE devices. It will tell you whether the device is a primary or secondary master/slave. Look for your other CD Drive in the listing, if your going to replace it you need to know where to put it. If you want to add it, you need to make the one you add on the same chain (primary/secondary), but different setting (master/slave).

* Most CD devices have a set of six metal pins (two rows of three pins) located on the back of the drive. These pins are often labeled, telling you which two pins to put the jumper on so as to designate master, slave, or "cable select." Cable select means that the master or slave position will be determined by how the IDE cable is connected to the drives. This will be spelled out on the actual CD-ROM drive. Look for the sticker explaining this.

You need to determine which devices are masters and which are slaves because the new device will need to be installed as the one that is not taken. If your hard drive is the primary drive, then the CD device should be set to the secondary.

Follow these directions to finish the job:

4. Once you've set the jumper, it's time to plug your IDE cable and power cable into the drive. IDE Cables are WIDE and FLAT... The Power Cable is the Red, Yellow, White, and Black cable with the funny end. Both are "keyed" meaning you can't put them in the wrong way.

5. If you have a sound card, connect the cable that came with the new drive to the sound card. Ignore this step...

6. Close your tower and start your computer, making sure your computer sees the new drive. Make sure that your new drive appears in the listing where you found out if your drive was Primary/Secondary master/slave.

7. If your computer doesn't see the drive, try swapping the jumper to the opposite of what you originally set it. If you set it as a master, switch it to slave, and vice versa. Windows operating systems should see the drive without any special drivers, but most CD drives come with a driver just in case you're using a non-Windows operating system. If you have to swap them, make sure you do both. You shouldn't harm the system if you don't get it right, but it can be frustrating if you don't catch it right away.

8. The last step is to locate the disk that came with the drive. This disk should contain the burning software you'll use to burn. Most likely it's either Easy CD Creator or Ahead Software's Nero. You should have the burning software from your old PC handy, if not Windows XP burns (from my understanding).

If you have any questions, be sure to post them here... Information is your friend in the computer world.

Yours,
Xavier