IDE Connection

[Figline]

Wondering if anyone has any input on what the likely result would be if one of the pins on the MoBo's primary IDE controller were to be pulled out. Would the HDD on that controller no longer work? Would the computer even boot up?
i think that this may be a problem i'm having with my system but was wondering if anyone ever encountered this problem. Thanks...

[Fingers]

It might depend on the capabilities of your mobo and which pin is missing. There used to be 4 pins that were unused on a IDE cable, but with the newer ATA & DMA standards, I think pin 20 is the only one that still remains unused.

Actually, the last 2 ATA-100 mobo's I've bought were both missing pin 20 from the IDE connector. I've also been seeing alot of new ATA-100 cables that don't have a slot for pin 20 in the connector; this prevents them from being used on mobos where pin 20 is present.

Here are two links to pages with IDE pinout information.

Technick.net - IDE Internal (http://www.technick.net/pinconhdd_ide_int.htm)

Techadvice.com - IDE Information (http://www.techadvice.com/tech/I/IDE.htm)

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 04-27-2001).]