[Pictures] Just upgraded my Alienware X51, now it doesn't even detect my Hard Drive. Help please! :(

[Chris83]

Hey everyone, I recently bought an Alienware X51 with the following specs:

Intel Core i3 3.3GHz processor, NVIDIA GT 545 and 4GBs of RAM.

Since it's my birthday, I wanted to upgrade it to get more FPS and a better gaming experience. So I went to the computer shop and bought myself a nice 'Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB GDDR5'.

The shop owner told me I was going to need a better power supply so he offered to buy his new 'Thermaltake TR2 600W (TR2-600NL2NC)'
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002032

Today I started the process, I opened the X51 box, switched my NVIDIA GT545 for my 7770 and everything went fine. But when I started to switch the ports from my PC to those of the power supply, I couldn't find all of the ports so I tested a couple of combinations to make the pc run (the white light was open but no fan spinning) and I finally found a way to make it run smooth. The only problem I had is that the X51 boot up for 5 secs (Alienware splash screen A06 BIOS) and says he not detected any hard drive.

When I ran the ePSA Preboot System Assessement, it passed all the tests but the one with the Hard Drive. I'm stuck there for more than 6 hours and I wanted to get help here since all the stores are closed by now. I think that the X51 can't get to recognize any sata ports because in the BIOS settings, the 3 sata ports are 'not detected' even tho they are plugged in. I can add pictures if you need and any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks alot,

Chris.

 

[vmem]

first of all, the shop owner lied to you, the 7770 does not use significantly more power than your old card, and you didn't need to change the PSU. the Unit he recommended you, while it has a decent wattage (600W), is not a quality unit at all, and he's probably just trying to off-load his inventory since no one was buying them

do you have all the sata cables, AND the sata POWER cables plugged into the harddrives? if they're not powered, you won't detect anything

 

[Chris83]

I removed the Hard Drive from the X51 box and removed the DVD writer and used the little sata cable from the DVD writer to plug it into the HDD and also plugged a power supply SATA cable into the HDD. I noticed my HDD use 2 sata cables, a small one, and a big one. I will take a picture and reply to give you an idea of what it looks like right now.

By the way, sorry if I don't seem clear to some, I'm new to changing hardware in a computer.

 

[Chris83]

I took pictures of the Sata cables I was talking about. Also, @vmem, I'm using the stock power supply I think. 240W if I'm right. The only thing I know from that is that I don't use the 330W one. Would I be able to use my computer with the Sapphire 7770 in it? Or it wouldn't open? Or maybe I would brick my computer... Lemme know asap, thanks again.

 

[nostall]

I took pictures of the Sata cables I was talking about. Also, @vmem, I'm using the stock power supply I think. 240W if I'm right. The only thing I know from that is that I don't use the 330W one. Would I be able to use my computer with the Sapphire 7770 in it? Or it wouldn't open? Or maybe I would brick my computer... Lemme know asap, thanks again.

Vmem, I'm not trying to hijack this. Please jump back in and help with his upgrade.
Chris, In your 1st picture the little flat black SATA cable attaches to the small SATA port on the hard drive and the other end to a identical port on the motherboard. The "large sata from power supply" attaches to the large port on the HDD
You will NOT be attaching any of the connectors in the second picture to anything on the HDD
In the second picture you have a white Molex connector labeled as going to the X51 motherboard. I am not certain, but was just working on my friends Alienware and I believe you are referring to a smaller 'daughterboard' to which you connect that molex connecter. Yes? His Alienware has that 'daughterboard' attached to the far side (side furthest away from the side you open) and that little board distributes power to almost all the accessories (fans, lights, etc.). Am I correct?

 

[vmem]

I took pictures of the Sata cables I was talking about. Also, @vmem, I'm using the stock power supply I think. 240W if I'm right. The only thing I know from that is that I don't use the 330W one. Would I be able to use my computer with the Sapphire 7770 in it? Or it wouldn't open? Or maybe I would brick my computer... Lemme know asap, thanks again.

Vmem, I'm not trying to hijack this. Please jump back in and help with his upgrade.
Chris, In your 1st picture the little flat black SATA cable attaches to the small SATA port on the hard drive and the other end to a identical port on the motherboard. The "large sata from power supply" attaches to the large port on the HDD
You will NOT be attaching any of the connectors in the second picture to anything on the HDD
In the second picture you have a white Molex connector labeled as going to the X51 motherboard. I am not certain, but was just working on my friends Alienware and I believe you are referring to a smaller 'daughterboard' to which you connect that molex connecter. Yes? His Alienware has that 'daughterboard' attached to the far side (side furthest away from the side you open) and that little board distributes power to almost all the accessories (fans, lights, etc.). Am I correct?

no worries Nostall... weekend heatwave, I pretty much tore my build apart to clean and make sure things are running properly since temps got on the high side (in 30+C ambient, so I guess that's expected)

anyways I am sorry about the late reply, but Nostall is on the right track above. please answer his questions, and we'll see if between the three of us we can figure this out. Oh, and yeah, 240W would have been a bit too low to run your build with the new 7770. but that's really low, I thought a normal alienware x51 had at least a 350W power supply