IDE HELL

ECHO

Senior member
Sep 18, 2000
266
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I can't figure this out. I've got 3 IDE devices (one HDD, one CD and one CDR) that I have been using in my machine for about a year. I reformatted my HD last week and now I can't hook two devices to the same IDE slot. I can hook up the HDD to one slot and the CD to the other and everything works fine. I can swap them and everything still works fine. I also do the same thing with the CDR. However, when I try to master/slave two devices on one IDE port it won't work, no matter which combination that I use. I've tried 2 sets of new ribbon cables, checked and rechecked my jumper settings, set the HDD as the master, set the HDD as the slave but can't find a combination that will allow me to hook two devices to one slot. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks
 

Shudder

Platinum Member
May 5, 2000
2,256
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Hmm... did a lot of troubleshooting :)

Are the devices set in bios already, or are they on autodetect? I know I"ve had some problems when my CDRom was set to something different before.
 

NicColt

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2000
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>set the HDD as the master, set the HDD

check to make sure that your master is on top of the ribbon and the slave in the middle.
 

ECHO

Senior member
Sep 18, 2000
266
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Nic,
That's exactly what I did. Then, in my desperation I tried it the other way as well. I think that I've been through every combination possible. :Q
 

zephyrprime

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,512
2
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Actually, it doesn't matter whether the master is on the end connector or the middle connector. But that's not your problem anyhow. Hmmm...are you sure that all your ide channels and ports are set to autodetect in your bios? All four? If your rig use to work but now doesn't & each device works individually, the solution must be something simple but I'm not sure what it is. You can't even hook up the two cdroms together? You're not plugging in one of the devices upside down are you? (I'm sorry question was too dumb of a suggestion.)
 

ECHO

Senior member
Sep 18, 2000
266
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are you sure that all your ide channels and ports are set to autodetect in your bios? All four?
YES

You can't even hook up the two cdroms together?
NOPE

...might have a bad cable
I've tried 3 sets of new cables and have ruled bad cables out

If your rig use to work but now doesn't & each device works individually, the solution must be something simple...
After all I have gone through trouble shooting, if it is simple, then perhaps I don't deserve to own a computer :|
 

Topochicho

Senior member
Mar 31, 2000
338
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shouldn't make diff but are you setting the drive thats alone to single (not master) and the pared drives to master/slave (not single/slave).

Some devices and brands can be pretty picky about single vs master and other don't care or use master and single as the same setting.


My Maxtor and WD won't work if they are masters without a slave on the same cable; you have to completely remove the master/slave jumper to set them to single... Yours may be working as master with no slave, but it might be confusing the bios.
 

Sundog

Lifer
Nov 20, 2000
12,342
1
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Man that is a tough one. I can tell you what my knee jerk reaction would be to do. I would first see if there was a BIOS update, if there was I would update it. Then if the problem still persisted I would replace the CMOS battery.

That is what I would start with at this point, and it shouldn't cost too much ($3.50 or so).
 

Shooters

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2000
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76
Try clearing and resetting the CMOS. On most motherboards, this is done by shorting out two contacts on the board either with a jumper or something else conductive like a pair of tweezers or a screwdriver. Your motherboard's manual should tell you where on the board you should look for the contacts.

As someone else has already mentioned, try setting the two drives that share an IDE channel to cable select rather than master/slave and see what happens.
 

Transistor

Senior member
Dec 18, 2000
224
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Is it the BIOS that does not see the drives or is it just the OS that doesn't see the drives?

What controller do you have these devices hooked up to? Is it a VIA 686B south bridge?
 

ECHO

Senior member
Sep 18, 2000
266
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Transistor
It's the bios that can not detect the drives.

As far as what controller I have the devices hooked up to, I'm afraid I don't really know. I'm at work so I can't look it up but if it helps the mobo is an Abit BH6
 

ECHO

Senior member
Sep 18, 2000
266
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Nic,
Yes, 1 HDD works fine as long as it is the only device on the IDE port. I can also have one device on the other IDE port (HDD, CD, CDR) and it works fine as well. However, when I add one more device to either one of the ports, the BIOS will not recognize anything on that port.