New build - CD problems - SOLVED

[imported_ryanr]

I've just finished my first PC build in a long time. The last PC I built rather than bought complete was a 486/66, so it's been a while... I'm having a very frustrating problem with the CD-RW and DVD drives in the new machine and am hoping someone here has some ideas...

Specs:
Shuttle AN35N/Ultra Motherboard
Athlon 2800+ processor
1GB OCZ PC3200 RAM (2x512)
Hard drives: 80G and 120GB Western Digital Special Editions
Optical drives: Toshiba DVD-ROM, Memorex 48X CD-RW

Everything's working great, except either of the optical drives. I've currently got the 80GB HD as master and 120GB HD as slave on primary IDE channel. On the secondary IDE channel, the Toshiba DVD is master and the Memorex is slave. Neither of the optical drives are working correctly. Neither will boot from CD if they're on the secondary IDE, though they will if moved to primary. Also, once in Windows XP, both drives are recognized, and appear correct in device manager, but trying to access either of them results in errors. When I click on the Toshiba drive, autorun pops up (with any autorun-containing CD) and shows a 'Program too big to fit in memory' error. Running any app from that drive results in the same behavior. Accessing the Memorex drive simply gives a 'F:\ is not a valid Win32 application.' dialog box.

Have tried just about everything I can think of. Even swapped the Shuttle MB for another brand new one this morning and the exact same thing is happening. Does anyone have any ideas at all? I'm at my wit's end and if I can't get it fixed by tomorrow, will probably just go buy a PCI ATA card tomorrow to run the optical drives (hopefully)...

Thanks.
Ryan😀

 

[moonsite]

I had never seen this problem. But I had similiar problem before with my Optical drives. I had a DVD writer and a DVD rom that is in conflict. When I have them both in, one of them would not work. I couldn't figure out why. Nobody had any idea. I finally end up getting rid of my DVDRom and just have a DVD writer and a CDwriter instead.

 

[imported_ryanr]

Thanks for the tip. I had thought about that and tried both separately, as masters on the secondary, still no luck. Both of them work flawlessly when plugged into the primary channel, too...

 

[Nohr]

First thing I'd try is a different IDE cable if you haven't already.

 

[imported_ryanr]

I just solved my problem, with help to a message found on another forum from someone having the exact same problem. Thought I'd post it here, in case anyone else ever has this problem and searches here for help....

The problem ended up being a mounting post that was left on the case and not attached to the motherboard. It was apparently causing a ground that caused the secondary IDE to fail. This explains why I saw the same problem with 2 separate motherboards. Stupid mistake, but glad it's fixed and I can take this PCI ATA card back and spend that $30 on something else. 🙂