[Jim Espo]

Ok, I've been banging my head against the wall all day with this one....

I have a Sony DVD/ROM on my IDE #2 set as Master. I have tried 2 CD Drives and a CD-R as the slave drive and XP cant see them as well as the Sony during boot up. Unplugging the cable from drive #2 brings back the Sony as the Master. I have tried both the Master and Slave jumpers as well as using the cable select jumper without success. Is there a problem with using a DVD and a CD drive on one cable? I never heard of one but maybe I'm missing something. I have 2 machines with CD drives on one ribbon so I know that works. Putting either the DVD or the CD on the IDE #1 is not really an option as it is a HTPC case (Accent) and I don't quite have the cable to make the stretch.


Suggestions? I have a ASUS PB4 MB, SB audigy2,Radeon 9000 Pro,Maxtor HD on IDE #1. I don't really think this hardware is the issue though. I would like to have this squared away before my cables come Friday....


Thanks!


Espo

 

[MentholMoose]

Are both drives visable in your POST screen? Did you try another IDE cable? Can you use the Sony DVD-ROM to reproduce the problem in another computer?

 

[richardg]

I'd try another cable.

 

[kennyab]

I have a DVD-ROM and CD-R both on IDE2 with no problem, so it shouldn't be anything wrong with that combination of devices. If nothing else, since you have an Audigy2 you have firewire, so you could get a firewire enclosure for one of the drives and make that one external.

 

[Krynos]

I have 2 DVD drives in my HTPC, both work fine from POST onwards.


They are both on the same IDE cable, no problems at all with either of them, they both playback movies smooth as silk.


- Rick

 

[deeambo]

Im having a somewhat similar problem with Panasonic dvd-rom drive. Since I got XP, I have used it but after 2 weeks, it wouldnt even detect on POST and when it does, it gives gibberish. Going to cmos worked a few times and detected/identified it. Since a few days ago, the pc wont start unless the ide cable is unpluged from the drive. I cant seem to get it identified. otherwise I get giberish in characters that are quite rare like russian, or spanish caracters.


Is it possible to get a virus in the firmware? coz i've tried other drives and they work.

 

[Jim Espo]

the drives don't show up during boot, I've tried a few settings on the cmos telling everything that there are two drives on #2, but nothing is there. Usually Auto picks everything up and thats what I use on all my machines.


I am going to change cables, I thought that may have been the problem. I really dont feel like swapping stuff around but if thats necessary guess I have to take the drive out and swap it around. Could the type of cable be a problem? Maybe I should make sure the cable is a ata 100 or 133 and not a 66.

 

[BGane]

I have a Pioneer DVD-115 on my second IDE, as a master, and a HP 9300i CD-RW on the same IDE as a slave. It works fine. I'm using a 40-pin IDE cable since neither device can run in UDMA5 mode.


Two problems that I have encountered in the past: (a) Compatibility problems can occur - I had a Sony CD-RW drive, in one system, that would not work, come hell or high water. I finally got the config working by swapping the Sony for a TEAC; (b) On another system, a problem was caused by Intel Application Accelerator. In this case - a WD hard drive would not work with IAA (2.3). I was getting IDE channel errors, and sometimes gibberish would show up in the BIOS POST log. Once I got rid of IAA, things worked fine.


Suggestion: If you can, try mix/match of another set of drives - it is possible that the particular pairing, or one of the devices simply won't coexist on your IDE channel. Its rare - but my own experience suggests that it CAN happen.

 

[boiler11]

I've had problems getting my BIOS to recognize the IDE devices when connecting two on the same channel. On two different machines, I was able to fix the problem by only connecting one device, then booting and letting the BIOS detect it. Then I disconnected the first device and connected the other one and let the BIOS detect it. I made sure that one was set as master and the other set as slave. It depends on your BIOS, but I think most of them will store the detected type (even if you use auto-detect) once it sees it. After it detected them both separately, I was able to hook them both up and boot fine. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.


Sean.

 

[deeambo]

Surprise, mine started working again. It seems like it likes to be held or cuddled.....LOL Anyway, it works when I remove it from the drive and plug the same cables back in. At one point I got to thinking that there was a break in the cable or I dont know what. One thing I know for sure, is that it will probably not detect tonite after work, or tommorrow.


I am only using that drive on that secondary IDE channel. So mine is just misbehaving. I like it coz its a region free one, and I dont know if I can find another region free one.


Jim: did you get yours to work? Or have you lost all faith and hope like I have?

 

[cpc]

If your IDE is ata-66 or higher, the MASTER drive on that IDE channel MUST be on the end of the IDE cable. The slave drive (UDMA or not) must be on the connector part way along the IDE cable and not on the end.

 

[deeambo]

Mines runing as master and is at the end, where master should be. I dont have anything else running slave on this channel.

 

[Jim Espo]

No luck yet. I swapped cables from a working machine with no luck. Next is to check if the cd is bad, but I don't believe it is. I'm tempted to hook up the drive cable after boot but the whole static charge/surge thing has me apprehensive. I'm at work right now, on my 2nd double in 2 days so I havent had much time to play around. I did see that my vga/bnc breakout cable came (via UPS website, hope its still on the porch when I get home) so guess I can at least hook things up and test it out. Thanks for the replies guys, I'm still plugging away....


Espo

 

[boiler11]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim Espo I'm tempted to hook up the drive cable after boot but the whole static charge/surge thing has me apprehensive. Espo

If you are referring to my suggestion of letting the BIOS detect one, then disconnect and let the BIOS detect the other...


I meant that I let it boot with one device connected so the BIOS would detect it. Then I shut the computer down and disconnected the power and disconnected the first device and connected the other. Then I would reconnect the power and boot up with the other device connected. I didn't mean that I would change connections while the computer was on.


If you already knew what I meant or are referring to somehting else, then never-mind.


Sean.

 

[Jim Espo]

already tried that method...I thought you were actually unplugging and plugging things hot. I've seen it done and its not always pretty!