*** HDD Light & New ATA controller. Help ***

[CoasterGuy]

Ok guys, I just installed a new Promise Ultra 100 Tx2 IDE controller (PCI Card) and attached a new Maxtor 40 GB drive to it and the drive works fine, partitioned and formatted, works in windows, etc..... But the light on my case will not show drive activity. It comes on when I turn on my system and it always worked when I used the onboard IDE controller but it it will not work with this card.

I guess I could put my to HD's back on the MB controller and my two CD's on the card, but I don't really want to.

Any suggestions?

 

[Elledan]

The LED doesn't show drive activity because the IDE controller has no connection to it. It solely works with on-board IDE controllers.

When I build this PC I'm using right now I accidentally forgot to plug in the drive-LED but I don't miss it either. I can easily hear it when the drive is being accessed

 

[SemperFi]

If you took the ide led from the M/B and put it on the Promise card, try switching the polarities. unplug and turn the connector 180 degrees.

 

[Slikkster]

The LED light is a hard disk activity light, not a drive controller activity light. Check the specs on your motherboard and see which wire/connector/position has the hard disk activity LED cable attached. Remove it from the motherboard connector and hook it up the Promise card (that's what the pins are for, probably on the end of the card, vs. the bottom where the ide cable connectors are).

If you connect it to the Promise card and it still isn't working correctly, do as the previous poster said and turn the connector over and plug it in upside-down from your previous orientation.

 

[Mday]

<< The LED light is a hard disk activity light >>



the LED is a controller activity LED. any drive activity from the controller it is connected to will set it off. CD-ROM drives, et al.

 

[Slikkster]

I take the point that the LED actually reflects controller activity. However, the statement made by the previous poster explicity said that it would only work with onboard controllers:



<< The LED doesn't show drive activity because the IDE controller has no connection to it. It solely works with on-board IDE controllers >>

...

This was the statement I was disagreeing with, and what I didn't make clear in my last post. This LED is not exclusively an on-board IDE controller light. There's no argument (hopefully, anyway) that the LED will work if attached to the Promise Controller vs. the onboard IDE controllers.

And, of course, the acronym most frequently used on these LED wires/connectors is &quot;HDD&quot;, not &quot;IDE&quot;, heheh.

The LED and wiring is a function of the case itself, not the motherboard. Hence, it can either be attached to the appropriate pins on the motherboard OR an add-on controller card itself, such as the Promise card.