[haige]

Hi!
I'm new to this forum and looking for your help.
I changed 2 dvd drives(dvd rom,dvd rw)after they stopped reading disks after 4 years use.Now I'm stuck with problem as neighter windows or bios cant see second dvd rw.They see one dvd rw on secondary master IDE, no more.Its seen on secondary slave IDE too or how ever I connect jumpers there is only 1 dvd rw drive in bios and allways shown in secondary master IDE.
There was 2 drives before only 1.was dvd rom and 2.dvd rw is that something to do about?
MOBO - AL845GE , DVD RW - Optiarc AD 5200A(Sony I suppose)
P4 . Win XP SP2
Thank you in advance!

 

[justpassingby]

Hi haige and welcome to TSF !

All drives are IDE right ? Double check the jumper settings :

System drive should be set as master and hooked on the end connector of the IDE cable that's hooked on the primary IDE controller. If a slave drive is attached on the middle connector of the same IDE cable you may need to set the system drive's jumper as master with slave present (or SP) if there's such a position.

Hook the first CD drive as slave on the same cable as the system drive.

Second CD drive will be hooked as master on the end connector of the cable that's hooked on the secondary IDE controller.

You can't hook a slave drive without a master drive on the same cable, the slave drive must be hooked on the middle connector and the master on the end connector. If a drive is alone on an IDE cable it needs to be set as master and hooked on the end of the cable.

If that didn't work check that your drives are recognieed properly in another computer.

Make sure you use 80 wires IDE cables. Check this article to know the difference between 40 and 80 wires models.

I'll move your thread to removable media drives support.

 

[haige]

Thank you,that was very helpfull!

I got two HD-s on primary IDE and they were recognized in BIOS right after installation.
And two DVD RW-s on secondary IDE. I changed jumper in second i.e. midle
DVD RW to slave and its seen now in Windows but still not in BIOS!?
I can't mix IDE cables so they have to stay like it is.
Am I still missing something?
Thank you again!

 

[justpassingby]

Do you know which of your 2 hard drives is the system drive (the one with the windows files) ? If it's the one that's currently set as master on the end of the cable that's hooked on the primary IDE controller then all is fine. If it's the one that's set as slave then you may need to modify the boot.ini file. Read below.

You should be able to swap drives and cables if needed. You could also buy a longer IDE cable at your local computer shop.

Try this layout :

Primary IDE controller : system drive as master at the end of the cable and DVD drive as slave on the middle connector.

Secondary IDE controller : other hard drive as master on the end of the cable and DVD drive as slave on the middle connector.

Check on the sticker that's on the hard drives whether there's a "SP" or "master with slave present" setting for the jumper, is so you'll have to use that setting instead of the single master setting.

Don't try to boot in Windows, just make sure all drives are recognized in the BIOS.

Once all drives are recognized properly try to boot in Windows. If you get a system driver error you'll need to edit the boot.ini file. Just grab a retail XP CD (you can borrow one for this purpose if you don't have one) and follow these instructions.

If for some reason you can't get the 2 DVD drives to work then why don't you use the computer with only one ?

 

[haige]

Thank you for good advise!


The system HD is on primary IDE as master and second HD as slave.
I will try it out another way when I get longer IDE cables.
I'll let you know about results.
Thanks!

 

[justpassingby]

Ok, try the layout in post #4 when you can. I don't see why that one wouldn't work.

There are also round IDE cables, some being longer than others :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...17&Description=ide+cables&name=Cables+-+Round

If you need one with a longer than usual distance between the slave and master plugs then this one seems to have the longer distance :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200109

 

[haige]

Hi again!

I got two drives in BIOS after setting jumpers on both dvd drives on CS.
Is that good set up? Why I'm asking ? It looks like computer freezes after
some time on,screen goes black,the HD light lights up like being very busy
and I can't bring it out. Only forced restart helps.
Has it something to do with new set up? I forgot ,installed SP3 too.?
Thank you!

 

[justpassingby]

CS means cable select, meaning the drive will act as a slave if it's on the middle connector and as a master if it's on the end connector. When possible I prefer to set the drives manually to master and slave, it's more reliable.

Could you explain your current drive's layout with as many informations as you can ? For each drive please give us the :
drive brand and model | current jumper setting | which connector on the IDE cable | which connector on the motherboard | how the drive is labelled in the BIOS

What are your complete system specs ? Check the link in my sig and don't forget to add the brand, model and wattage of the power supply (on the sticker that's on the side of the power supply block).

If removing the 2 CD drives solves the problem then there's still a problem with your drives' layout (or the PSU is unsufficient for your rig). Else it could be something else. Btw why do you need 2 CD/DVD drives ?

Go to start => run and type devmgmt.msc. Go to view and tick show hidden devices. Are there any devices with a yellow exclamation mark or a red cross in the list ?

Go to start => run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the different sections and tell us about the errors you'll see there. Double-click the error, click on the third button on the right (this copies the information in the memory) then right-click paste that information here.

Browse to the c:\windows\minidump folder and tell us if there are any recent .dmp files in there.

 

[haige]

Hello and sorry for late answer!

My both computers keep crashing and stoping so I wasn't able to connect.
Now about news. I changed jumpers on dvd rw to master and cs and they both are in BIOS and dev.manager.
About layoutrimary IDE Master-system HD ST3160022A(Seagate)
jumper on CS
-Primary IDE Slave-second(new) HD ST3500630A(Seagate)
jumper on CS
-Secondary IDE Master-first DVDRW Optiarc AD5200A
jumper on master
-Secondary IDE Slave -second DVDRW Optiarc AD5200A
jumper on CS
Thats how they appear in BIOS too so no problem I suppose.
Only thing is the computer keeps shutting down when ever it thinks.I disconnected new 500gb HD and second DVDRW ,thinking there maybe power supply problem(mind you it had 2 dvd drives from new) but no help.
I had case opened when it shut down so it looked like CPU shut down(anyways fan stopped), HD-s were still spinning and PSU ofcourse kept going.I have that old machine for 4 years and never had to open case til now?!Why it does so?
Computer:- E-Machines 8220 , 2,8 GHz , 2x512MB ,128 MB ATI Radeon 9200SE , 250W PSU .
Computer has been up for 2 hour without shut down now but I had 3 shut downs during this morning .
Thank you!
PS. i have lot questions about my another comp. Q6600,4Gb,320MB NVidia8800GTS,2X500GB HD-s,Vista HP ,but i better start new thread .
thanks!

 

[dai]

eiither both drives must be set to cable select or master and slave
master and slave is the prefered option
and dvd's require an 80 wire ide cable with the blue,grey and black plugs
if the drives are seen in windows they must be being seen by the bios
it something is not being seen by the bios they will not be seen by windows
you may see a ghost entry in the device manager from the previous setup to get rid of it uninstall it and reboot

 

[justpassingby]

Do the 4 drives appear correctly in the BIOS now ? Else follow dai's suggestions.

About your constant crashes, do you get some blue error screen ? If there are any .dmp files in the c:\windows\minidump\ folder then zip them together and attach them to your next post (click on post reply or go advanced and use the manage attachments button). Also go to start => run and type eventvwr.msc. Search the different sections there for errors happening at the time of the crashes. If there are no error messages then the crashes are probably hardware related : faulty ram, power supply or overheating.

Enter the BIOS and see if there's some hardware monitor or PC health screen. If so report your temps, fan speeds and voltages.

Test the computer with another power supply and see how it goes.

Download memtest's precompiled bootable iso (.zip), unzip it and burn the .iso file by choosing the burn from image option in your burning software (you don't need to unpack the iso and you can't just drag and drop it on a CD). With the CD in a working drive restart then computer, enter the BIOS to set the boot order priority to that CD drive and leave memtest running on your memory for a whole night. Report if there are any errors.

Also right click the system drive in windows => properties => tools => check now under error checking and tick both boxes. You'll be prompted to restart the computer. Report the scan's results. If you skipped them you'll find them in the event viewer (run => eventvwr.msc) under the application section in the last winlogon event next time you boot into Windows.

 

[haige]

Hello justpassingby!

Thank you for your help and patience! I was away for a few days .
I ran the mem.test over night and nothing game up.There is no dmp.files
in windows and nothing in event viewer .Actually there is no BSOD-s on that older XP machine. It just turns off when ever.Sometimes it up for hours and sometimes it happens after 10 mins.As I told CPU turns off or fan anyways(MOBO?) screen goes black ,everything is off but HD-s and PSU.HD light is on.To turn it off I have to press and hold button down(forced).
I don't know what do think about?
Thanks!

 

[dai]

what
video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
wattage
are you running
any error message
check your tempretures and voltages in the bios and post them

 

[haige]

Hi!
Sorry!
I didn't have time o get my hands on machine.
Video card 126 Mb ATI Radeon 9200SE
P4 2,8 GHz
MOBO Trigem Alaska 3 (E-Machines)
2x512Mb
250W PSU
I cant see any temps or voltages ,there is no options in BIOS.
No errors in event viewer . That strange but it looks like when I keep it busy
like registry or virus scanning it never turns off.When I leave it idle,actually
I use it for downloading because of lower power consumption ,it turns off.
I turned off all sleep,hibernation,power off options so it cant be there.
Thanks!

 

[dai]

can you borrow a larger psu to try in it