When the CF card is in your Dell machine, did you already try to install 
Windows XP (or Linux) on it (not entirely, but just to see if the OS 
recognizes the space).
I already tried to install monowall in an USB card reader, which also 
worked fine (the bios had support for booting USB drives).

You also might try the second IDE controller... as already mentioned, 
don't know the setup of a Dell - but I already came accross a system 
sharing the SATA/PATA config (MSI motherboard) that the first IDE 
controller would't boot because it was scanning for SATA devices at the 
same time...

Klaus Ade Johnstad wrote:
> Tirsdag 26 august 2008 18:56, skrev Michel Servaes:
>   
>> How do you connect the CF card ?
>> Do you use a cardreader, or an ATA/CF convertor ? If using a
>> convertor, you might check the voltage on the adaptor itself if it
>> matches the CF card or not... (I have a 3.3V / 5V jumper on my
>> convertor, so I was thinking that you maybe have the same ?)
>>     
>
> I'm conecting using a IDE/CompactFlash adapter from PC Engines. The same 
> adapter with card in a different machine work just fine. 
>
>   
>> Does the CF card get recognized at all, when powering up your Dell (I
>> have no knowledge about Dell computers, but at the end, they are
>> practically all the same).
>>     
>
> Yes, it's recognized in the Dell gx260 BIOS.
>
>