Dell GX 520 Question

I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW

On Thu, 18 May 2017 10:02:17 -0400, wrote:

I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the SATA HDD, the other to a DVDRW. There are an unused PATA data and power connector.
There is an second containing a second 40GB SATA HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. The drive is just sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second SATA HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second SATA HDD to the
mobo however. I would like to.
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW

On 5/18/2017 10:02 AM, wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW


Quite a museum piece you have there! A quick glance at the manual tells me
that there are two SATA connectors and an IDE connector that Dell calls out
as the CD/DVD drive connector. This connector is right next to and parallel
with the main power supply connection to the motherboard. From what you say
you have a DVD using up one of the SATA connectors so the shortest path I
can see around this is to install an IDE optical drive if you can even find
one at this late date. A slightly longer way around the problem would be to
install a cheap PCI card with one or more SATA ports on it to use for
another HD, assuming that you have a slot free. The fly in the ointment
there might be that drivers for XP are pretty scarce so you'd have to be
sure to buy an old-school adapter card with suitable drivers available.

Of course the main premise is that your computer is even one which matches
the online manual -- I understand that Dell sometimes has multiple
variations on a given model.

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW

Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul

On 5/18/2017 11:35 AM, John McGaw wrote:
On 5/18/2017 10:02 AM, wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW


Quite a museum piece you have there! A quick glance at the manual tells me
that there are two SATA connectors and an IDE connector that Dell calls out
as the CD/DVD drive connector. This connector is right next to and parallel
with the main power supply connection to the motherboard. From what you say
you have a DVD using up one of the SATA connectors so the shortest path I
can see around this is to install an IDE optical drive if you can even find
one at this late date. A slightly longer way around the problem would be to
install a cheap PCI card with one or more SATA ports on it to use for
another HD, assuming that you have a slot free. The fly in the ointment
there might be that drivers for XP are pretty scarce so you'd have to be
sure to buy an old-school adapter card with suitable drivers available.

Of course the main premise is that your computer is even one which matches
the online manual -- I understand that Dell sometimes has multiple
variations on a given model.

Maybe I wrote too soon -- it appears that one can still by a new IDE DVD
drive. I looked on Amazon and found a "NIXSYS DW-010 IDE DVD+/-RW Internal
Drive with Software (Black)" for about $30.

On Thu, 18 May 2017 12:32:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW

Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul

Hi Paul.
The mobo appears pristine. Looks untouched. Amazing.
I see no bad caps, or any other bad signs. I have a W7 now on a 120GB
SATA HDD, and it runs pretty well. The 2GB RAM I added probably helps
there. Maybe I can find a PATA DVDRW in my closet. Gotta look.
I do think it is amazing that there was a second SATA HDD (40GB)
therein not connected tho. The box appeared unopened, but someone
must have.
Thanks
JW

On Thu, 18 May 2017 16:52:08 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 May 2017 12:32:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW

Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul

Hi Paul.
The mobo appears pristine. Looks untouched. Amazing.
I see no bad caps, or any other bad signs. I have a W7 now on a 120GB
SATA HDD, and it runs pretty well. The 2GB RAM I added probably helps
there. Maybe I can find a PATA DVDRW in my closet. Gotta look.
I do think it is amazing that there was a second SATA HDD (40GB)
therein not connected tho. The box appeared unopened, but someone
must have.
Thanks
JW

I found two PATA DVDRWs in my closet. But my glee was soon dispatched
because I cannot make the 520 boot from a OS install disk therein.
Apparently the thing won't boot from a PATA drive?
JW

wrote:
On Thu, 18 May 2017 16:52:08 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 May 2017 12:32:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW
Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul
Hi Paul.
The mobo appears pristine. Looks untouched. Amazing.
I see no bad caps, or any other bad signs. I have a W7 now on a 120GB
SATA HDD, and it runs pretty well. The 2GB RAM I added probably helps
there. Maybe I can find a PATA DVDRW in my closet. Gotta look.
I do think it is amazing that there was a second SATA HDD (40GB)
therein not connected tho. The box appeared unopened, but someone
must have.
Thanks
JW

I found two PATA DVDRWs in my closet. But my glee was soon dispatched
because I cannot make the 520 boot from a OS install disk therein.
Apparently the thing won't boot from a PATA drive?
JW

I can see an example of something strange here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19486825

It almost sounds like a combo Southbridge with SATA and IDE interfaces,
which is running in "Compatible IDE" mode. That should work like
gangbusters. There's no excuse for that to be broken. Yet, the
users cannot seem to make any progress.

The specs I can find:

Celeron D 326 2.53GHz
LGA775
DDR2-400 RAM (512MB)

And another info says
945G chipset

There's a picture of the "Drives group" here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19536619

If your installer disc is WinXP, I'd set the
SATA Operation to ATA(IDE) and not AHCI, then
try again after saving the setting. While you can
get AHCI to work (by offering a floppy with txteetup.oem
AHCI drivers, and pressing F6), it's just easier to
change the disk port mode instead. Try IDE and not
AHCI, for WinXP. Later OSes like Win7, shouldn't
be as much of a problem.

There's something weird about the pictures of
those BIOS screens. Is that really a BIOS screen ?
I'm confused. It almost looks like something Compaq
would do, but that can't be it.

Paul

On Thu, 18 May 2017 19:58:17 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 18 May 2017 16:52:08 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 May 2017 12:32:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW
Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul
Hi Paul.
The mobo appears pristine. Looks untouched. Amazing.
I see no bad caps, or any other bad signs. I have a W7 now on a 120GB
SATA HDD, and it runs pretty well. The 2GB RAM I added probably helps
there. Maybe I can find a PATA DVDRW in my closet. Gotta look.
I do think it is amazing that there was a second SATA HDD (40GB)
therein not connected tho. The box appeared unopened, but someone
must have.
Thanks
JW

I found two PATA DVDRWs in my closet. But my glee was soon dispatched
because I cannot make the 520 boot from a OS install disk therein.
Apparently the thing won't boot from a PATA drive?
JW

I can see an example of something strange here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19486825

It almost sounds like a combo Southbridge with SATA and IDE interfaces,
which is running in "Compatible IDE" mode. That should work like
gangbusters. There's no excuse for that to be broken. Yet, the
users cannot seem to make any progress.

The specs I can find:

Celeron D 326 2.53GHz
LGA775
DDR2-400 RAM (512MB)

And another info says
945G chipset

There's a picture of the "Drives group" here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19536619

If your installer disc is WinXP, I'd set the
SATA Operation to ATA(IDE) and not AHCI, then
try again after saving the setting. While you can
get AHCI to work (by offering a floppy with txteetup.oem
AHCI drivers, and pressing F6), it's just easier to
change the disk port mode instead. Try IDE and not
AHCI, for WinXP. Later OSes like Win7, shouldn't
be as much of a problem.

There's something weird about the pictures of
those BIOS screens. Is that really a BIOS screen ?
I'm confused. It almost looks like something Compaq
would do, but that can't be it.

Paul

Interesting reads. Thanks. Since I have W7 successfully installed on
this GX520, I wanted not to return to XP, altho I could. I think I
should give up on mounting a second HDD, even there is space for it.
I need to see what drivers are missing that I can fix. Device Manager
shows the multimedia audio controller to be missing. Gotta find that.
Also the PCI Modem (for which there is a PCI modem card which I should
remove). It shows a Broadcom NetXtreme Network Adapter too - but I
haven't found the any CAT5 mount yet.
Thanks
JW

On Fri, 19 May 2017 05:29:29 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 May 2017 19:58:17 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 18 May 2017 16:52:08 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 May 2017 12:32:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I was given this Dell GX520 tower with good XP installation on it.
I thought to install W7 on it for my nephew.
I increased its RAM to 2GB, and replaced the HDD with an old 150GB I
have.
W7 seemed to install fine.
I notice that the mobo has two SATA headers, one of which is connected
to the HDD, the other to a DVDRW. I see no PATA header.
There is an second slot for a second 40GB HDD that is unconnected
adjacent to the existing HDD. It is sitting there, unused. The
wirings have a power extension which can easily power the second HDD.
I see no way to connect to the second HDD SATA connection from the
mobo however. Should I be able to?
I have to ask.
Thanks

JW
Check the GX520 for bad caps. Don't waste a lot
of time on it, if visually it's a mess inside.
There are certain Dell models you should *not* buy
second hand. While the motherboard can be "re-capped",
there aren't really a lot of people willing to do the
work.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41511

And without opening the case, you can use Ebay to
spot "interesting" connectors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiple...-/122357201251

There is a black ribbon cable connector next
to the power supply connector.

There is a white ribbon cable connector near
the piezo buzzer (circular black plastic disc).

One might be floppy (34-pin?).

The other might be IDE (40 pin).

IDE uses either a 40 wire or 80 wire cable.
On the 80 wire cable, every second wire is
grounded and doesn't carry data. The 80 wire
cable allows faster transfers on hard drives, but
isn't absolutely necessary if you just have
a single DVD drive on a 40 wire cable. The 80 wire
cable (likely in the product box), would support
"Cable Select" as well as master/slave, and Dell
prefers Cable Select for fast factory assembly work.
So if Dell includes the cable, and it's just
hanging there, it should be an 80-wire one.

*******

Where do you find IDE DVD writers these days ?
Probably not Newegg. They've stopped making them
as near as I can determine.

I went to my favorite surplus supplier. It appears
some radio station locally, went out of business. And
the radio station was well-stocked with brand-new
replacement computer parts. I got a GSA-H22N
for $20, so now I have a spare kicking around
when I need one.

It's listed here as "Works With Vista", which tells you
how old it is :-) Mine didn't even have dust on it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/lg-gsa...-series/specs/

Really old computers cannot boot from a DVD drive,
and it doesn't seem to be an El Torito issue either.
An old BIOS does "hard drive emulation" when it sees
a CD drive. But what happens then, I haven't a clue.
It just didn't work. The drive was OK on my P4.

It's unclear how my surplus place, stays in business.
Many computer stores selling new goods, have gone
bankrupt here. The store isn't exactly crowded.
The last nice thing I got there, was computer
speakers for $20. I'm still using those.

The place is not meant for "bargains", but you
do find Smithsonian-class hardware for sale :-)
When I bought Ethernet cables there one night,
I was paying "full price".

Paul
Hi Paul.
The mobo appears pristine. Looks untouched. Amazing.
I see no bad caps, or any other bad signs. I have a W7 now on a 120GB
SATA HDD, and it runs pretty well. The 2GB RAM I added probably helps
there. Maybe I can find a PATA DVDRW in my closet. Gotta look.
I do think it is amazing that there was a second SATA HDD (40GB)
therein not connected tho. The box appeared unopened, but someone
must have.
Thanks
JW

I found two PATA DVDRWs in my closet. But my glee was soon dispatched
because I cannot make the 520 boot from a OS install disk therein.
Apparently the thing won't boot from a PATA drive?
JW

I can see an example of something strange here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19486825

It almost sounds like a combo Southbridge with SATA and IDE interfaces,
which is running in "Compatible IDE" mode. That should work like
gangbusters. There's no excuse for that to be broken. Yet, the
users cannot seem to make any progress.

The specs I can find:

Celeron D 326 2.53GHz
LGA775
DDR2-400 RAM (512MB)

And another info says
945G chipset

There's a picture of the "Drives group" here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support...514/t/19536619

If your installer disc is WinXP, I'd set the
SATA Operation to ATA(IDE) and not AHCI, then
try again after saving the setting. While you can
get AHCI to work (by offering a floppy with txteetup.oem
AHCI drivers, and pressing F6), it's just easier to
change the disk port mode instead. Try IDE and not
AHCI, for WinXP. Later OSes like Win7, shouldn't
be as much of a problem.

There's something weird about the pictures of
those BIOS screens. Is that really a BIOS screen ?
I'm confused. It almost looks like something Compaq
would do, but that can't be it.

Paul

Interesting reads. Thanks. Since I have W7 successfully installed on
this GX520, I wanted not to return to XP, altho I could. I think I
should give up on mounting a second HDD, even there is space for it.
I need to see what drivers are missing that I can fix. Device Manager
shows the multimedia audio controller to be missing. Gotta find that.
Also the PCI Modem (for which there is a PCI modem card which I should
remove). It shows a Broadcom NetXtreme Network Adapter too - but I
haven't found the any CAT5 mount yet.

How dumb can I be? The CAT5 mobo mount is right where it should be.
Howsomever, I now am having trouble connecting to the web. I have
forgotten how to tell W7 what it needs. Oh well, my feeble mind shud
remember soon.

Thanks
JW