IDE Cable Channel Problem

Forum Storage : CD/DVD Drives IDE Cable Channel Problem

Sup guys!, new here so this is my first post on a particular annoying problem.

Alright, basically I used to have 1 Hard Drive (MAXTOR) & 1 DVD+RW Disc Drive & a Floppy Disk Drive (Which I never use ) One day my friend decided to give me his computer because it was broke down and he didn't want it (He's getting a new one). His pc had components that would very usefull for mine and so I took out alot of stuff such as RAM, Graphics Card.etc He had 2 DVD/CD Drives at the front of the computer which looked promising so I took them out too and see if they worked on my computer. :sarcastic: They were a SAMSUNG Drive and a LITE-ON Drive. I was happy because both of them I really needed because I burn alot of stuff.

After I removed the 2 Drives I placed them into my computer, screwed and plugged up (I watched a tutorial just to make sure). I've done everything right so far. I got a bit confused where I should put my string cables (Tape cables or whatever.. :pfff: ) I put them both correctly on the back of the CD/DVD Drive with Master on top and Slave with the center connector. Then I plugged in the end to a IDE Secondary Channel (I think?) I have 3 IDE Channels:

Blue (My Hard Drive and DVD Drive)
Black (My floppy disk drive which I don't use)
White (Left empty the whole time until Im now going to plug them in with the 2 new dvd/cd drives)

Ok, so the technical part done correctly so I put my computer back together and what do I see? My 2 Drives are not detected?! :sweat:
when I start up my computer I have a screen showing what IDE Channels are being used, It shows:

Primary Master: MAXTOR HARD DRIVE
Primary Slave: DVDRW
Secondary Master: None
Secondary Slave: None

I've tryed everything! Switching the white with the blue the hard drive and dvd drive will not pickup and the 2 DVD/CD Drives will!
I tryed to use bios but I have no Idea how to use it.
I tryed the registry fix and that won't work.

???? What am I doing wrong, they eject and all but wont pick up?
I need help! :cry:

Reply to Darkydude

Have you tried setting both drives CS (Cable Select)?

Reply to cmichael138

People say that wouldn't work but okay i'll give it a try see if it works, doubt it though.

Thanks for the answer!

EDIT: Nope, that made no difference.

Message edited by Darkydude on 07-04-2011 at 04:07:11 PM

Reply to Darkydude

If you are connecting each of the DVD drives to the Primary Slave, with the same jumper settins on all 3 drives, I would suspect one of the drives is defective. The only other thing I could think of is if you are using a 40 ribbon IDE connector and one of the drives requres an 80 ribbon?????

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to cmichael138

cmichael138 wrote :

The Primary Channel is connected to my hard drive which is set as master AND is connected to the 1st DVD Drive which is set as slave I started off with just this and it still works.

The Secondary Channel is connected to my 2nd DVD Drive which is set as Master and is at the end of the ribbon cable,
and it is also connected to my 3rd CD Drive which is set as Slave and at the center of the ribbon cable.

(The 1st reply said I should switch the two Drives to cable select and thats what they are currently.)

None of the Drives are defective as they worked on my friends computer beforehand, also the ribbon IDE connectors are correct because all I did was take them out from my friends computer and stick them in the secondary channel on my computer so basically all I did was take the neccesary components from my friends computer and put them in mine so It all should work but there not being picked up on my computer.

I heard people mentioning PCI IDE Add-on Cables should work, I might purchase one and see if it works, but at the moment I have to not buy anything because I'm broke at the moment! :whistle:

Reply to Darkydude

Apologies if I missed it in an earlier post....did you try connecting your Maxtor HD and the working DVD Rom to the secondary IDE connector? If so and it doesn't recognize them, then it's definitely the Secondary IDE Connector.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to cmichael138

cmichael138 wrote :

Yes i've tryed that and they were not being picked up, although the 2 DVD drives were.

Strange, this morning I plugged out the ribbon cable and noticed the pointy gold things jutting out at the side of the channel were a bit bent , so I bent and adjusted them to a straight angle . I turned on my pc and it randomly said:

Secondary Master: Y
Secondary Slave: Z

WTF? I went on to my computer and It was still not recongized, when I rebooted my computer to see if it was the same, it switched back to "None"

Now I really believe my IDE Channel is really busted.
On the other hand, I'm going to buy a PCI IDE Adapter and that should work!

I will make a post as soon as I get the PCI IDE Adapter and then see if this problem is solved...

Reply to Darkydude

Is your secondary IDE controller enabled in the BIOS?

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to Jim_L9

Jim_L9 wrote :

Is your secondary IDE controller enabled in the BIOS?

Thats the problem, I have no idea what to do or where to go in the bios.
Shouldn't not be enabled by default?
Anyways, I understand a bit of bios but not fully experienced with it. :??:
Thats where you should help me.

PS: My bios is PhoenixBios D686 BIOS, if this information is anyway useful to you.

Thanks for the reply btw.

Reply to Darkydude

Nevermind this post, my post replied twice.

Message edited by Darkydude on 07-05-2011 at 09:21:26 PM

Reply to Darkydude

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