Hello,

Dell Dimension 8300, 3.0 Ghz. Windows XP, 2.5 GB RAM, GeForce 256 RAM, Samsung DVD Rom

I reformatted my hard drive so I could create partitions and clean up 3 years of stuff. I also was adding RAM and a new graphics cards.

DVD Rom worked fine before.
After reformat and installation of Windows XP (it was an older version that came with the Dell in 03) I placed a DVD in the drive and it spun but did nothing. So, I downloaded Dell's driver for the Samsung (something I had to put on a floppy). Rebooted with the floppy but the process kept hanging - after that, the DVD Rom is not being recognized.

Now when I boot, I get the error:

Secondary Drive Not Found 0
Secondary Drive Not Found 1

So, I press F1 and everything loads normal.

In the BIOS (updated to latest version) in the boot device sequence section, the CD Rom states its not installed but its working fine

I have updated XP to SP2 and downloaded all the new drivers I can think of. It still wont see it.

Please advise
Thank you in advance!

..bump, please help

When you say you press F1 and everything loads as normal, do you mean the DVD drive works also?

What is the Model Number of your DVD_ROM drive, the Dell website lists several Samsung models for the Dimension 8300?

Have you flashed the BIOS with the latest version? If so, was it successful?

Have you reset the BIOS settings to default?

Sorry for not clarifying...

When I hit F1, XP loads normally and the hard drive and CD Rom are working fine...the DVD is not found and does not open when I press the eject button. I tried using that little hole (with a paper clip) to open it and that did not work either.

The DVD Rom is the Samsung SD-616T

It ran when after I did the clean install but it was not reading the Data DVD I placed in the tray. After I took it out and tried to update the drivers, it would no longer work.

I dont know if its worth mentioning, but the DVD Rom had NO problems for the past 3 years and has worked great...in fact, I have had NO hardware problems luckily...knock on wood, etc

Thanks again

curious, is it showing in diskmgmt.msc, are there any yellow blobs in devmgmt.cpl, how did you install XP if the drive didn't work? I probably can not help but please answer.

I dont know what "diskmgmt.msc, are there any yellow blobs in devmgmt.cpl" means...not sure how to access those (maybe through the run console)?

I installed XP using the CD Rom drive that is still working. My system just cant see the DVD Rom and I get the above mentioned error

You said that when you press the button on the drive, it didn't open. Have you checked the power connector? Just pull it out, give it a blow or two with some canned air and securly return it to the socket.

Could be all you woes are the result of a loose or dusty power connector.

As for using the little hole to eject the disk tray, on some drives you really have to push, on others you need to go pretty deep into the hole, and still on others you need to jimmy it a little to find the release mechanism.