SATA HDDs--IDE CD-RW, compatability?

BlinkRA182 · 03-16-2007, 10:15 PM

Hi guys. Im a complete noob so forgive the noobishness of the question lol.

Ive built systems in the past, but not for the last 2 years. So i have basic knowledge, but im not up on the latest tech.

Anyway, I recently built a system for my fiance. I had never used SATA hard drives before, but thet're supposed to be fast, so i got a couple for her system. an 80g for windows and a 250g for everything else. I also got her an IDE DVD-ROM CD-RW combo drive. Installed Windows XP Pro with SP2, everything is great for a day or 2. Then problems start. It works sometimes but sometimes it doesnt boot and says some file is missing. cant even boot from the windows CD. After poking around in the boot sequence i realise that it's not showing one of the SATA hard drives...the one that windows is on. So, in the boot sequence it defaults to the other HDD, and so wont boot.

When i unplugged the DVD CD-RW drive, it seems to fix the problem.

So, finally to my question. Is it ok to use SATA HDD's with an IDE CD/DVD rom drive? or should i have gotten an SATA combo drive as well? I can get one on newegg for $25, but if its not going to fix the problem, then that wont get me anywhere. Here are the system specs...

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

EPoX EP-MF4ULTRA-3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply

WINTEC AMPO 2GB (4 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725025VLA380 (0A33423) 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

SONY Black IDE Model CRX320EE/B2S W/O SW Combo Drive

LINKSYS WMP54GR PCI 2.3 Wireless-G Adapter with RangeBooster

Hanns•G JW-199DPB Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor

When it works, it works great...unfortunately thats only 50% of the time. Any help you guys can give is greatly appreciated. Im tired of my fiance yelling at me lol.

**manic** · 03-17-2007, 06:09 AM

Shouldnt be a problem. I suspect there is a bios setting that was
overlooked. Did you install mobo drivers.

BlinkRA182 · 03-17-2007, 11:41 AM

yup, i installed every driver on the disk it came with. I will reinstall them just to be save, and ill also comb through the BIOS to see if i missed something.

03-16-2007, 10:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
BlinkRA182 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 4 OS: XP Professional SP2	SATA HDDs--IDE CD-RW, compatability? Hi guys. Im a complete noob so forgive the noobishness of the question lol. Ive built systems in the past, but not for the last 2 years. So i have basic knowledge, but im not up on the latest tech. Anyway, I recently built a system for my fiance. I had never used SATA hard drives before, but thet're supposed to be fast, so i got a couple for her system. an 80g for windows and a 250g for everything else. I also got her an IDE DVD-ROM CD-RW combo drive. Installed Windows XP Pro with SP2, everything is great for a day or 2. Then problems start. It works sometimes but sometimes it doesnt boot and says some file is missing. cant even boot from the windows CD. After poking around in the boot sequence i realise that it's not showing one of the SATA hard drives...the one that windows is on. So, in the boot sequence it defaults to the other HDD, and so wont boot. When i unplugged the DVD CD-RW drive, it seems to fix the problem. So, finally to my question. Is it ok to use SATA HDD's with an IDE CD/DVD rom drive? or should i have gotten an SATA combo drive as well? I can get one on newegg for $25, but if its not going to fix the problem, then that wont get me anywhere. Here are the system specs... APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case EPoX EP-MF4ULTRA-3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply WINTEC AMPO 2GB (4 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725025VLA380 (0A33423) 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive SONY Black IDE Model CRX320EE/B2S W/O SW Combo Drive LINKSYS WMP54GR PCI 2.3 Wireless-G Adapter with RangeBooster Hanns•G JW-199DPB Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor When it works, it works great...unfortunately thats only 50% of the time. Any help you guys can give is greatly appreciated. Im tired of my fiance yelling at me lol. Last edited by BlinkRA182; 03-16-2007 at 10:20 PM.

03-17-2007, 06:09 AM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 4,859 OS: xp	Re: SATA HDDs--IDE CD-RW, compatability? Shouldnt be a problem. I suspect there is a bios setting that was overlooked. Did you install mobo drivers. __________________

03-17-2007, 11:41 AM	#3 (permalink)
BlinkRA182 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 4 OS: XP Professional SP2	Re: SATA HDDs--IDE CD-RW, compatability? yup, i installed every driver on the disk it came with. I will reinstall them just to be save, and ill also comb through the BIOS to see if i missed something.