Secondary IDE isn't visible

[james636]

OK, The manual spoke of cable select, where is it? I see the illistration example, but what do I switch. Also this is a very big issue, After installing my new drive, It doesn't show up in "My Computer." Actually neither of my drives can be located. I checked in device manager and the secondary drive is not there! Only the master IDE and the primary IDE is there. I have both drives ( Sony DRU-500A and Optorite DD1203) connected to the secondary IDE. When I installed the new drive, I noticed that the end of the IDE cable that had the two connector option was connected to the secondary IDE. So I switched ends so the the two connector end was connecting to the dvd drives and the single connector end was connected to the IDE channel. The manual stated that the end of the cable would be the master and the middle would be the slave. I have the optorite as master and the sony as slave, only thing wrong is that the secondary IDE isn't showing up. Any HELP Please!

[Bodyslide]

Check your bios to see if the 2nd ide drive is set to auto.

Cable Select is a jumper setting on the drives themselves. If both drives are set for cable select, then the PC should select one as master, then the second as slave. You can also set the jumpers on the drive, so that 1 is the master and the 2 is slave. Hopefully I haven't confused you.

Info on cable select:
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/ata_install_tshoot.html

Or for burners..
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6603_7-5118840-4.html

[phuocle]

James,

The master/slave/cable select (CS) options are set via jumpers on the drive itself. Aside from having the drives at the correct location on the cable, you need to make sure that the jumpers are set correctly on the drive as well.

On the back of your Sony or Optorite, you should see some jumpers. On the drive itself, either on a label or near/right above the jumpers, there should be a legend to show you what the settings are. Usually it's abbreviated:

MA = Master
SL = Slave
CS = Cable Select

or it may be written out. If you can't find the settings on the drive, refer to your manual.

Check the jumpers on the drive, check position of the drives on the IDE cable, reseat all cable connection to the drive and motherboard as well as the power cable connection and see if it shows up in Windows - it should.

Last thing is to check your BIOS to make sure that the secondary IDE channel is enabled, but it sounds like you've used it before, so I doubt that it would be disable now.

Good luck!

[james636]

How do you get to BIOS. I saw the IDE dialog on both drives, How do I set them

[Capmaster]

How do you get to BIOS. I saw the IDE dialog on both drives, How do I set them

During the first part of boot up as soon as you get an image on the screen, start hitting "DEL" or "F2" depending on the MB. That should get you into BIOS setup. Then you can check to see if both of your IDE channels are enabled.

[DVD_Ripper]

Keep in mind that many optical drives, especially DVD Rom Drives, do not 'like' the cable select option. The may even have the CS noted on the jumper connectors but that is probably due to using a generic jumper block for all their drives. Check your specific docs.

My personal recommendation is to set the drives to master / slave and have them mounted at the end / middle of the cable respectively.