IDE problem

[Fin]

Hello-
We are trying to add a 2nd hard drive to our computer. The IDE cable only has 2 plug ins (the first was attached to the cdrom, the second was attached to the master). I added the 2nd hard drive by disconnecting the cdrom successfully. I have been trying to get the Secondary IDE cable to work (there are prongs for it on the motherboard), and had no luck. I went into CMOS, and set everything to AUTO - still no luck. Are there jumpers for the ide on the motherboard, if so, where are they usually located? It is an Acer computer, with a mini-sized motherboard. it is frustrating because i want all 3 connected. Please help!!!! Thanks

[This message has been edited by Fin (edited 09-08-99).]

[DHatAVI]

Did you make sure that the CD-rom was reset to master on the secondary?, Was there a setting in the BIOS to enable the secondary IDE?

David

[Fin]

Tried it (thanks for pointing it out), and still no luck. When i am in windows98, when the ribbon is connected to the cdrom, the tray wont open, if i remove the ribbon, it will open. I changed CMOS to AUTO, then tried CD, still no luck. The jumper is now set as master. There are 3 jumper positions: CS, SL, and MA. I currently have the jumper on 'MA'. I know that the ide ribbon is good because it was tested on another computer. Any more suggestions??? Thanks!

[800XL]

Either the connector you are using on the motherboard is not a secondary IDE connector, or the cable is on backwards. If the tray does not open, that leads me to think something is not right with the connections. Make sure you know what the connector on the board is, and that the cable is on right. It usually will not hurt anything to have it on backwards, but I've heard tales of killing hardware that way. Red line on the cable points to pin one at both ends.

[IRED]

Check here.
http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true

[fishboy]

Set up the second HD slave to the first HD. Make sure the jumpers are correct. The red strip on the IDE cable should be facing pin one on the drive. Another way I have done this is to make sure the red strip faces the HD power cable and the white strip on the cable is pointing up. Put the CD on the other IDE channel and set the jumper to master.

[Ed_S]

I once worked on a Packard Bell which absolutely would not address more than 2 IDE's no matter what. Had port on the board & bios entries available, but no matter what combo was tried it was no go. Hope this is not the case on your Acer.

Some bios setup's have option "enable/disable secondary IDE port" Have you looked for this, or something similar? This is usually in bios' advanced setup screen rather than on the same screen as the HD setup parameters.
Possibly a MB jumper? Would need Acer tech. specs if board is not marked.

[Fin]

Is there such a thing as an IDE cable with 4 connectors, or do they just come with 2?

[Rookie]

Shot in the dark here: did you check device mngr for either exclamation marks where your secondary hdd controllers are? OR do you even have secondary hdd controllers installed with add hardware wizard at all?
Also what Ed_s said: check in bios under something like pci/pnp settings (or words to that effect) to see if there is a place to enable the secondary channel.
Lastly, does this have an old S3 video card? My old pent system, if I load win95A on it, the S3 one meg pci video card needs to use the same irq that the secondary ide channel needs- and I cant get it to work- was gonna try changing busmaster drivers but now I have 95B so I've lost interest in it.
Rookie

[Underclocked]

Fin, are you trying to use a floppy connector?

[Fin]

Here is what's going on as of this morning...The device mgr in windows 98, says that the secondary HD controller is working properly, i looked all of its properties over, and it looks great. In CMOS, i cannot find a "enable secondary". There are just four spaces....space 1 and 2 show the HD's. Spaces 3 and 4 are on "AUTO". I changed space 3 several times to "CD", but no luck. The cdrom jumper is on master, and all the connections are good. I am NOT using a floppy cable. What baffles me, is that the cdrom still wont open when the cable is connected. I can unplug it while running, then it can open. Red line on cable is facing the correct way. And no, i do not have a S3 vid card.

[Bleeding Edge]

Let’s check to see if the secondary IDE connection works on the motherboard with the second h-drive.

Disconnect the CD-ROM.
Connect the 2nd h-drive to the secondary IDE connection. Check jumpers and Bios for proper settings and see if the drive works. If it works, we can positively rule out the motherboard connection.

If the controller works, connect the CD-ROM as a slave to the 2nd h-drive on the secondary controller.

Notes:
1. In reference to the Bios settings, if there is a Periphreral Setup section, make certain the settings for the drives there are properly set.


*Before you try any of this, set the jumper on the CD-Rom to CS instead of SL and see if it works with the configuration you have now.



[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 09-09-99).]

[Underclocked]

Sorry Fin, didn't mean to insult your intelligence, but the four connector question threw me off.
You could possibly just have a bad IDE cable, or incompatible cable. Try another.

[philipg]

Here's something that I noticed no one has mentioned yet.

Does the second drive work as the primary master in your Acer Computer?

Try disconnecting all IDE drives from the PC and install the second drive as your Primary Master. Check your BIOS settings and write down the Parameters for the old drive. Next set the Primary to AUTO and see if its detected if it is boot to a floppy and setup as you normally woould.

If the computer sees the drive ok, It maybe a EZ-Drive setup problem that you may have to do to get the computer to see one+ drive(s)