small form factor help needed

[gwlogue]

I purchased a used Compaq Deskpro small form factor system which came without a CD drive. I have an extra CD drive which I want to install but I've run into a few problems.

The drive is physically larger than the drive bay will accomodate. I figure I can get around that by grounding the drive to the chassis manually and connecting it externally. That should let me install Windows.

I'm unsure of whether I can use the connectors on the motherboard. The labelling shows a 'P32 CDROM Connector' and a 'P21 LS-120 Connector'. The ribbon cable for the CD will not fit into the P32, (for obvious reasons), but will it work on the P21 connector?

Thanks ...george

[Rocketmech]

Compaq ? best bet, its proprietary. As to the LS-120 ? thats a tape drive.

[gwlogue]

I was counting pins to see if I could figure it out that way when I noticed that the MOBO is stamped 'secondary IDE' beside the larger slot. I'm going to assume the MOBO stamp is more accurate than the diagram on the case and proceed with installing my CD on it.

Next problem is BIOS password protection. Looks like KillCMOS is my best bet.

The smaller connector has 50 pins which I am told is probably a SCSI connector. I'll know more once I get an O/S up and running.

Thanks ...george

[gwlogue]

Killcmos doesn't work. Password is still prompted for. Date needs to be reset, and I am able to do that, however I cannot modify any other BIOS parameters. I will open another thread to see if anyone knows what might be wrong with Killcmos.

[gwlogue]

Sometimes it pays to be impatient. Kept digging and found that there is a SW1 switch on the MOBO. Setting switch 1 to ON disables passwords.

I still can't get it to see the CD drive, (Now where did I put that shovel?)

[gwlogue]

Got it. Took some experimenting to determine the proper location of PIN1 on the IDE connector but I got it up and am installing Windows.

Thanks ...george