Thread: IDE cable problem

I have only one IDE port on my motherboard, but I have a hard disk and a DVD writer that I need to connect. A typical I DE cable has three connectors, right? I plug in one end into the motherboard, one to the hard disk and the other for the DVD writer. The problem is that the hard disk works if writer isn't plugged in. The writer works if the hard disk isn't plugged in. Both of the devices don't work if I plug them in together. They aren't detected by the BIOS. The jumper pins are left empty with no jumpers set on both the hard drive and the DVD writer. I need to know which one should be set to master and slave.

You did not mention which HOD and DVD-writer models you have. Jumper settings may be different for different models, but this is the way it is on most models.

HOD: Master - Jumper on the two left-most pins, i.e. closest to the IDE connector.

Slave - no Jumper

Cable Select - jumper on the two pins second from the left. Optical drives:

Master - Jumper on the righthand-side pins.

Slave - no jumper or Jumper on the middle two pins.

Cable Select- jumper on the right-hand-side pins.

Your problem - with no jumper at all, the two drives are both set> as slave and this might confuse the BIOS.

There is no hard and fast rule as to which drive must set as master and which one as slave, but it is usual to set the hard disk as master and the optical drive as slave.

If both drives are configured for Cable Select, one drive will be automatically set as master and the other as slave. The drive at the end of the IDE cable automatically becomes master, and the drive in the middle of the cable becomes the slave.

To use Cable Select, you have to use an SO-conductor IDE cable, not the 40-wire type. There's a special type of 40-wire cable that can be used as Cable Select.