My system will not recognize my optical and hard drives. Please help!

[tec699]

Hey all...

I just put together a new system for the first time (YEA!) and for the most part everything went off without any problems. The computer booted and I was able to get into bios. Then I wen into Cmos (I think) and checked on my drives. These are the drives that I have installed:

Samsung 16x48x dvd player
Tdk 48x24x48 cdrw player
W.Digital 100 gig hd
W.Digital 40 gig hd
Gigabyte KT400 7VAX mobo

I set the W.Digital 100 gig and 40 gig as masters. Both of these Hard drives are connected to the Primary IDE slot.
I set the Samsung dvd player and Tdk cdrw as slaves. Both of these optical drives are connectes to the secondary IDE slot.

When I'm in the bios, the Tdk player is recognized as the primary slave drive and the W. Digital 40 gig hard drive is recognized as the master drive. Both are recognized wrongly. My other two devices (100 gig hd and dvd player aren't recognized)

The 100 gig hd should be my main master drive, but it's not recognized.

I have my system setup like this: (Hard Drives)

I'm using rounded cables, and I have one cable (blue part) that is connected to the primary IDE channel. From there the cable is connected to the 100 gig hd while the other connector wraps around and is connected to the 40 gig hd. The cable has two connectors, not one. So I can connect two items at once.

I have my system setup like this: (Optical Drives)

Again I'm using rounded cables, and i have the one cable (blue part) that is connected to the secondary IDE channel. From there the cable is first connected to the dvd player and then I take the other connector and connect it to the cdrw. Again the cable has two connection ports, not one.

I'd appreciate the help, as this is driving me nuts.

thanks all....

 

[dionx]

with western digital harddrives, they have a special IDE cable that has its own jumper setting. since you are using round cables which is not the special IDE cable, make sure you have the jumper set so that two drives can be connected at once as oppossed to setting the jumper which only allows for one drive to be hooked up to the cable. with 10 pins on western digital harddrives, sometimes its easy to overlook which jumper to set.

 

[Harvey]

I set the W.Digital 100 gig and 40 gig as masters. Both of these Hard drives are connected to the Primary IDE slot.
I set the Samsung dvd player and Tdk cdrw as slaves. Both of these optical drives are connectes to the secondary IDE slot.

There's your problem. Each IDE connector can handle one master and one slave. You'll have to decide which you want to be which.

Since you want the 100 GB drive to be your "main drive," make it the master on IDE chan. 1 and the 40 GB drive the slave. I suggest making your CDRW the master on IDE chan. 2 and the DVD the slave. That should give you the fastest transfer from your hard drive to your CDRW when burning image files.

Hope that gets you up and running.

 

[tec699]

Hey thanks guys...

Hey Harvey I bet that's it. I was thinking about whether or not I should change it, but left it the way it was. Oh well I guess i'll have to tear everything out of the computer tomorrow and set it up correctly.

 

[Harvey]

If you aren't doing it, right now, you'll have to turn in your geek card.

Almost forgot -- The cable with the blue end is probably an ATA-100/133 cable. Use that one on your hard drives with the blue end connected to the blue IDE connector.

 

[kursplat]

with western digital harddrives, they have a special IDE cable that has its own jumper setting

??????????????????????

 

[dionx]

Originally posted by: chuck340

with western digital harddrives, they have a special IDE cable that has its own jumper setting

??????????????????????

ok maybe on just my 60GB WD harddrive that i bought for someone, it has a 10 pin arrangement as shown

:::::


anyways, they give 4 ways to set the jumper.

1. Cable Select
- requires special IDE cable that comes bundled with the HD, which automatically detects master / slave heirarchy
2. Non Cable Select (can use any IDE)
A. Single drive only on IDE
B. Two Devices, Harddrive as Master on IDE
C. Two Devices, Harddrive as Slave on IDE

you would think that by setting 2B, you could just have the western digital drive as master, and not attach any further drives, therefore leaving the slave setting open for future upgrade on the IDE cable. but no, the computer won't recognize the harddrive if you set the jumper for two yet only one is physically connected. i prefer the way IBM harddrives (and i'm sure others do) in which there are basically only two ways to set the drive, as either master or slave, and being independent of other drives on the same IDE cable.

 

[kursplat]

WD drive jumpers
for WD drives , if your using 1 drive only on a cable you don't need ANY jumpers. 2 drives you need to set 1 device master and the other slave on a cable . it does not matter which is which (end of the cable \ middle of cable ) as far as the bios is concerned.

with western digital harddrives, they have a special IDE cable that has its own jumper setting

the IDE cable is just like any other . the HD has the jumpers not the cable.
with current BIOS's on most if not all MB's made in the last 2 years it doesn't matter which plug you use on the cable.