Computer wont boot

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Really strange problem here.

My computer has two hard drives on the primary cable and I had my cd burner on the secondary cable (slave). I got my dvd burner back from my dad (it worked yesterday). I unplugged the cd burner because I dont need it. Plugged the dvd burner in as a slave, and the computer wont boot up. It turns on but doesnt even get to the loading memory and bios stage (actually, the monitor never even turns on). I unplug the dvd burner and plug back in the cd burner, same thing. Unplug everything from that cable, computer boots up fine.

I havent even gotten to the stage of going into the bios and auto detecting anything. I have made no changes other than unplugging one drive and plugging in another.

Whazzup wit' 'dat? Could it be the cable? Or is it both drives are messed up?

Any thoughts would help.

Thanks,

LG

[Tommyknocker]

Nope. Looks like Pops changed the dip switches for you to get it to work on his system.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Nope. Looks like Pops changed the dip switches for you to get it to work on his system.

Ok, fair enough. But when the old cd burner is put back on the same cable that it was on before, would it not continue to work as before?

[gitreel]

You might try to reset the bios jumper on your motherboard, and see if that works. The jumper on the dvd drive may have been changed as well.

[DVD_Ripper]

Really strange problem here.

My computer has two hard drives on the primary cable and I had my cd burner on the secondary cable (slave).

Something sounds wierd here.... You should have the DVD Burner plugged into the end of the cable (primary not slave) off the secondary controller. Check the jumpers on the DVD (as others have mentioned... end of cable, set to master)

It is not recommended that your DVD be set to CS (cable select)

Also, check cables on MD to make sure they did not partially come loose.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Something sounds wierd here.... You should have the DVD Burner plugged into the end of the cable (primary not slave) off the secondary controller. Check the jumpers on the DVD (as others have mentioned... end of cable, set to master)

Ok, I think its painfully obvious that my setup is wrong.

As I have it now, I have both my hard drives on the primary cable setup as a master and a slave. Then I would have my dvd burner and cd burner setup on the secondary cable as a master and slave. I am going to assume that is wrong.

What is the optimal setup?

LG

[DVD_Ripper]

Something sounds wierd here.... You should have the DVD Burner plugged into the end of the cable (primary not slave) off the secondary controller. Check the jumpers on the DVD (as others have mentioned... end of cable, set to master)

Ok, I think its painfully obvious that my setup is wrong.

As I have it now, I have both my hard drives on the primary cable setup as a master and a slave.

Then I would have my dvd burner and cd burner setup on the secondary cable as a master and slave. I am going to assume that is wrong.

What is the optimal setup?

LG

The above sounds right.
Your original comment threw me for a loop.

and I had my cd burner on the secondary cable (slave).

You should have your Optical Drive (if its only one) set up as master and plugged in at end of cable. (The machine would normally boot even if you have drive secondary cable / jumpers are all messed up... and it may even read just fine... thruput could be an issue.

Also, regarding the 'not booting' issue... make sure you did not accidentally remove any connectors or that they did not come loose.

I would start from square one:
1. remove all opticals
2. get machine booting again
3. add desired drive to end of secondary controller cable - make sure drive is set to master.
4. try to boot again.

let us know.

[energy80s]

It may be worth checking that you didn't accidently unplug your floppy drive. This has happened to me in the past, and the PC wouldn't boot up either.

[gitreel]

You could also try to reset the bios jumper on the motherboard like I suggested earlier. This would reset the bios. Also if the jumper is in the wrong position, the computer will not boot.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

OMG .. I hate computers :P

Ok, something has gone awry.

I finally got it to work with my dvd burner. I had plugged the dvd burner in outside the tower so I could still access jumpers and stuff. It booted up. Installed the drivers. Yee hawwwww! Unplug the drive, slide it into the bay, plug it in again IN THE SAME FREAKING connection, computer dont boot up. Take the drive out, plug it back in, computer boots up. Put the drive back in, computer doesnt boot up. Try the drive in another bay, doesnt boot up. Take the drive out again, doesnt boot up anymore. TAke out cd burner, doesnt boot up. Take out primary slave HD, doesnt boot up.

What the ****? lol

I dont know if this will help anyone, but I have an MSI MB. Its a few years old now (not sure the model). Anywho, it has 4 led lights on the board and I was once told that if the computer doesnt boot up, pay attention to the led lights as that will tell you what the error is. The led light to the farthest left stays red, next one over turns green, last two stay red.

The power of the pc comes on, the HD starts crunching then stops. The monitor doesnt come on. This is what it was doing when I was installing the burner, but now the burner isnt even in anymore *sigh*

Help me please?

[DVD_Ripper]

Replace all the cables... possibly when you are stuffing them in the box they are breaking a connection and when pulled out they are ok.... if you have some extra cables give it a shot.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

I dont understand. I just dont understand.

After not touching the computer for two days as I didnt have time, I walked up to it last night, hit power, and it booted up just fine. Turned it off, plugged in the dvd burner, booted up fine. Turned it off. Plugged in the cd burner, booted up fine!

What the fu*k? It wouldnt do anything just the other day.

Is it possible that after so many times of trying to boot up and failure, that the memory or bios or whatever will just "quit" and say "no more for rebooting today"?

Just curious ...

Thank you for all the help and suggestions people. I really appreciate it.

[gitreel]

Computers are psychotic. You can do the same thing over and over and you can get different results.

[DVD_Ripper]

Computers and Murphy go together like peanut butter and jelly

[gitreel]

Murphy's Law

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

[handyguy]

"Ok, fair enough. But when the old cd burner is put back on the same cable that it was on before, would it not continue to work as before?"

Not always, because the bios has nvram, it remembers what was in the computer, if you don't clear it. So, lets say you change something, the computer thinks the old stuff is still in the computer. Dunno if you computer has that but one time mine did.

& get a decent cable. Some dvd writers use an 80 pin cable. Not that 40 pin you have in there.