OT: lost my cd/dvd drives

[Ed Fletcher]

Duncan Lithgow wrote:
>>Primary IDE Master: WDC WD1200JB-00FUA (my ATA 120GB disk)
>>Primary IDE Slave: not installed
>>Secondary IDE Master: not installed
>>Secondary IDE Slave: not installed
>>Third IDE Master: Maxtor 6V300F0 (my SATA 300GB disk)
>>Third IDE Slave: not installed
>>Fourth IDE Master: not installed
>>Fourth IDE Slave: not installed
> 
> Of course it isn't 'not installed' but 'not detected'
> 
> I've tried a whole lot of other things...
> 
> If I swap the IDE 1 and 2 cables over - suddenly my system sees the
> CD/ROM devices fine (now on IDE 1). But now no sign of the ATA HDD (now
> on IDE 2). The S-ATA drive shows up fine too, and is bootable (is has a
> separate connector on the Main Board).
> 
> Does all this mean there is something wrong with my IDE 2 connector on
> the board? (I bloody hope not!)
> 
> I have no objection with reinstalling everything on the S-ATA drive but
> I don't want to lose the use of the 120GB ATA drive.
> 
> I hope this makes sense to someone...
> 
> Duncan
> 
I'm guessing that you switched the motherboard end of the cable, so you
know that the cable itself is good.  And if you're sure that the
secondary IDE port is enabled in the bios, then it does point to a
motherboard problem.  I'd probably try swapping the cables around the
drives just to be sure.  I'd also try the cd/dvd one at a time.

The other thing you could do is reset the bios back to the default
settings.  That's usually an option available in the bios setup screen.
 I'm not too sure that it will help, but it can't hurt.  Also, check for
a bios update from the manufacturers website.

I'm kinda scaping the bottom of the solutions barrel here.  I would try
everything, even the unlikely stuff, before replacing the motherboard.

If your dvd drive is a burner, then you don't really need the cd drive
also.  You could put the hard drive and the dvd drive on the primary IDE
port (making sure to set the master/slave jumpers).  While it's not
really a recommended way to do things (access to the hard drive will be
a lot slower during any reads/writes to the dvd drive), it will work.

One thing I'm curious about.  When you had the cd and the dvd working on
the primary IDE port, did you set them manually or use cable select?  I
ask because I've never used cable select.  I've always set the jumpers
to either master or slave.

Hope this helps,
Ed
-- 
Ed Fletcher
ed at fletcher.ca

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