comments on ide config: trying to run 3 cds and 2 hds UPDATEd

[ArkAoss]

I have a soyo 6ba +4 mobo, having probs detecting drives in bios and windows

hpt366 controller
controller device status
prim mast 20 gb maxtor 5400 rpm udma66 fine
prim slav empty
secn mast 20 gb big foot fine
secn slav empty

udma 33 controller
prim mast acer 32x cdrom detected in device manager and bios not accessible thru program manager
prim slav dvd fine
secn mast 6x4x32 burner not seen in bios not seen in windows, drive tray does open with button
secn slav empty


any ideas as to why the cdrom isn't being seen?? I'm pretty sure the cable to the burner is faulty no chance to try it with another, due to not having long enough cable.

Have tried forcing the drive letters around, no help


UPDATE actually forcing the drive letters around did fix the problem

 

[ArkAoss]

bump

 

[ArkAoss]

hey comeon

 

[superbaby]

You can only have 4 IDE devices in any given system.
Regardless of how many controllers you have.

 

[Noriaki]

Superbaby I've seen you post this before in threads like this, and I'm not sure where you got the idea, but it is simply not true.

I have had 5, and I have seen people with 7.

You can have as many IDE devices as you have controllers for.


Sorry ArkAoss I don't know what you problem is, but it's not that.

 

[Technonut]

<< You can only have 4 IDE devices in any given system. >>



How do you come up with that? I have my primary hard drive on a Promise Ultra66 controller, a CDROM, DVD, Plextor burner, and 2nd hard drive on the motherboard IDE ports. Works well. I even had another hard drive connected to the Promise card before for data transfer, for a total of 6 IDE devices installed.

 

[Windogg]

Why have 3 optical devices? My DVD does just fine for ripping stuff that I want to burn.

As of the comment on the 4 IDE limit. Sorry, as long as you have another controller you can add as many devices as you wish

At one point I had 5 IDE devices on my BE6 (on board Highpoint 366)

1 x 22.5GB IBM 372250
1 x 20.5GB IBM 372050
1 x 4x/4x/16x CD-RW
1 x 6X Toshiba DVD
1 x 10/20GB Seagate TapeStor

 

[Technonut]

Well, I like using my DVD just for playing DVD's. It is less expensive to replace a CDROM than a DVD player. Besides, I get a much higher transfer rate from the CDROM that I use over the Pioneer DVD.

 

[Sinner]

I've had problems with my CD burner wanting to be the primary IDE device on its channel.
It wouldn't be seen at all as the secondary device.

I've had a similar problem with my Kenwood TrueX drive wanting to be the primary device.

Try re-arranging devices in your config. Took me awhile but I hit on the following set up for my IDE devices.

Currently I have my IDE setup like this:

IDE0 (onboard IDE channel)
Primary: IBM 13.5gig GXP
Secondary: Acer 36x
IDE1: (onboard IDE)
Primary: Acer CDRW
Secondary 45gig Western Digital
IDE2 (PCI IDE Card)
Primary Kenwood TrueX 40x CDRom
Secondary: Iomega ZIP internal

 

[Linh]

There should be a list of ppl who routinely give wrong advice.

 

[ArkAoss]

why 3? y not? I like it cause i could rip from 2 cd's in one burn, say im making a mix from 2 mix's instead of copying stuff from each to the hd's i can have it rip a few from one cd, then some from the dvd, then some mp3s from the hard drives,

BUT MAINLY i want 3 BECAUSE I HAD 3 RUNNING ONCE, AND SHOULD BE ABLE TO RUN 3 AGAIN!!!
wish i could go scsi. . i had once running a system with a 6x 4 cd changer and it ripps better than the dvd. it was nice watching peoples jaw drop when you could feed 7 cd's into the pc at once. . . not that i could read em, but it was cool

 

[jtshaw]

4 IDE device max no matter how many contollers?!?

That is completely and totally incorrect.

Anyway, I would make sure you don't have any cables reversed or anything like that. It is pretty standard that pin1 on an ide cable is closest to the drives power connector (pin one on the cable is the one that has the red on it) incase the cables you have aren't notched so they will only go in one way. Also make sure the cables are going to the correct places, ie. the blue connector on an ATA66 cable goes to the mainboard, gray and black to do to drives. Make sure you aren't trying to use an ATA66/100 cable on a ATA33 only controller, things like that. Check out the bios and make sure none of the channels are set to off also.. usually setting them to AUTO will work.

 

[Mule]

The rule of thumb for me is that if you have more then 4 devices then you should switch to SCSI. Makes things much simpler that way.

 

[superbaby]

Forgive me, I was thinking old IDE (Pentium era, I thought the IDE spec hadn't changed since then)

I haven't looked at the specs for a long time.
Although I DO remember reading that somewhere.

My standpoint is from a SCSI one, all my drives are SCSI and I haven't messed with EIDE in a long time The last time someone asked me about adding the 5th drive to the system I told him you couldn't do it because there were only 2 IDE connectors on the motherboard, and 2 channels each.

Guess technology has changed for the better

 

[networkman]

Several previous posters are correct, 4 IDE drives..ie, 2 channels is NOT the limit in a PC. Granted, most systems only have 2 channels by default, but additional addresses and IRQs can be used to expand on that.

See the following for more info:
http://thef-nym.sci.kun.nl/cgi-pieterh/atazip/atafq.html sub-section 4.12

Some of the older Creative Labs sound cards supported Tertiary(3rd) and Quaternary(4th) IDE channels for CDRom drives, but generally you won't see more than 2 channels on most motherboards due to resouce needs and general industry standards.

For more than 4 devices, I'd look at some flavor of SCSI.

 

[ArkAoss]

fixed it windows found all the drive in control pannel then it was just an issue of getting them to assign the right lettering, thanx any ways