What does this error mean?

[Jza]

Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed
Me and my bro have this error message during POST. It does not seem to be affecting us, we have had no problems yet. But what causes this message and how can I rid of it?

 

[osage]

Are you using a 80 conductor cable ? ?

 

[Jza]

I don't even know what that is...

 

[AndyHui]

ATA66 cable.

 

[Amused]

You're using an old IDE (HDD) cable with 40 wires. You need to go get an 80 wire/40 pin cable for ATA66/100 HDDs. You can find it at Best Buy if you need it in a hurry.

 

[Jza]

Is there a way that I can tell if the ribbon is ATA66/100? I found some extra ribbons but dunno if they're the older ATA33 or newer ATA66/100...

Am I doing anything bad to my components by not using an ATA-66/100?

 

[bozo1]

The wires on an ATA66/100 cable are much smaller. The old type cable has the individual wires the same size as a floppy cable. On the ATA66/100 cable, they are noticeably thinner. Also, most ATA66/100 cables have one connector that is blue.

 

[DN]

Yes, you'll see 80 "lines" in the ribbon as opposed to 40.. Are you damaging anything by using 40..? No, but there's no reason NOT to use the one that was purposely made for your ATA-66/100/133 hard drive -- ie. an ATA-66/100/133 80 wire/conduction cable.. Your looking at a whopping $2-3-4.00 purchase..

 

[flexy]

you don't do bad....but it's wasted money since you have an ATA100/133 capable HD and dont use it (faster!) because you use an ATA33 cable instead

ATA100 cables have thinner and more (80, not 40) wires, and most of them have one connector blue. (I think the blue connector is supposed to be on the motherboard/controller...the oher side on the HD)

 

[Jza]

I am using an EPoX 8K7A mobo with an IBM 60GXP HD...both which purchased from newegg

I don't believe I recieved an ATA-66/100 cable at the time. Looking back on the 60GXP info on newegg, it didn't sell with ATA-66 ribbons...so does it even support ATA66?

So is it a setting in my bios where it thinks i'm using ATA66/100 or what?

 

[John]

8K7A supports ATA33/66/100 and should have come with an 80 wire/40 pin cable + floppy cable.

 

[Budman]

Use the wire that has a blue & grey & black connector on it.

Blue goes to motherboard,grey goes to slave HD, black goes to master HD.