smcbryde

Trying to add a working (taken from another computer) cd-rw as slave with a dvd master. Jumpers and cable position are as described above. On boot Windows(xp) starts to load, then just sits there, with the progress bars barely moving every minute or so. Tried to boot with cd-rw alone as master and it did the same thing. Boots fine with just the dvd. Need help!

rwc1969

Re-check the jumpers and conection. If everything is as you said then that's where the fault lies.

smcbryde

Checked and re-checked. Not the jumpers or connections. Like I said, I also tried it with just the cd-rw as master and it does the same thing, but using just the dvd as master works. Everything I've found online has mentioned jumpers and connections, but no other troubleshoot. This is baffling to me since it should be so straight forward.

zerofire

How long did you wait for it to boot before you gave up?
Does the drive show up in BIOS?

smcbryde

Waited several minutes (read a couple pages in a book while waiting).

Never attempted anything in CMOS.

What should I look for and when found, what do I do with it?

smcbryde

Sorry, I meant BIOS - not CMOS.

smcbryde

OK, BIOS shows: IDE Secondary Slave [ATAPI CD-RW 16/1], and Access Mode as: [AUTO]

So, I would guess that means that everything should be good. But, windows still won't load (waited 16 minutes), it just hangs there.

Any ideas?

zerofire

What about the DVD? Does it show up as Secondary Master?
BIOS and CMOS are commonly mistaken. CMOS is a technology and BIOS is the actual Basic Input Output System.

smcbryde

Yep, IDE Secondary Master: [DVDROM 10x], Access Mode: [Auto]

zerofire

Does the CD-RW work when placed back in the old unit?

smcbryde

Yep, it's fully literate. Can both read and write! (just finished erasing and burning a disc)

I got a response on another forum saying that this had happened to the poster, as well. And that it turned out to be an issue of a dedicated driver for HP. They had taken a cd-rw out of an HP machine and put it in another non-HP machine.

Mine came out of an older Compaq Presario. Could that be the problem? I've used it in yet another reeeally old Compaq and it worked there, but when installed in this non-Compaq machine it causes XP to hang on startup.

Tyree

Do you have an 80 or 40 pin IDE cable? 80 pin will have the connectors color coded: Blue to Mobo-Black on the far end from the Blue-Gray in the Middle. If it is an 80 pin cable, set both optical drives to CS (Cable Select). The device on the end (Black Connector) will be the Primary (Master) and the device on the Gray connector will be Secondary (Slave).
Optical devices do not need independent drivers to be functional.

smcbryde

Sure enough, it's an 80 pin (never noticed that). However, setting both drives to Cable Select didn't work. Windows still hangs on startup when the cd-rw is installed.

I've tried:

Testing in the original Compaq machine as slave (2k): WORKS
Testing in another Compaq machine as slave (XP): WORKS
Just the dvd alone as master in this non-Compaq machine (XP): WORKS
As slave in this machine, with dvd as master: HANGS
Alone as master in this machine: HANGS
As cable select, with dvd as cable select: HANGS

The damn thing just doesn't play nice outside of a Compaq machine.

Specs: XP Home SP3 (fully updated), 1400MHz Athlon, 512mb RAM, 2 video cards (ATi RADEON 9200 and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200) with dual monitors, 2 40gb HDs. (tried with only 1 HD, but made no difference)

smcbryde

Tried starting in safe mode: got a list of drivers, including atapi.sys, then it just sat there.

Scratching my head and just about ready to call it quits, unless someone has an actual solution to this puzzle.

zerofire

The only option I can think of is with the CD-RW removed visit HP's site and look up the model of the Compaq. Then see if there is a optical drive driver and install it on the computer. After that install the CD-RW back in. If there is no driver then you probably can't install the drive in anything except a Compaq or HP machine (Compaq is a subdivision of HP).

smcbryde

Will do. If that don't work, then I'm done with it.

Thanks, zerofire and Tiree for your suggestions. I appreciate your help.

rwc1969

You learn something new everyday, I guess. Although, I have an old HP cd writer that I installed in a very new pcchips mobo and it works fine as slave, alone or as master.

Have you tried setting them both as master on the 80 pin cable and let the cable decide? my one cd-rw doesn't work on cable select, only if both are set to master.

zerofire

rwc1969 having both set to Master would cause a access conflict and the result would be no drive detected or only one if you are lucky. Cables can't decide anything, they are just wire.