IDE Problem.

[SPK]

A PC that I sometimes use, has one 80 conductor cable plugged into the IDE primary port on the mobo (Biostar M7VIZ), which has 1 HDD and 1 DVD-CDRW Combo Drive. I wanted to shift the optical drive to the secondary port, as well as add a second HDD to the primary slave, but whenever I try to plug in a cable into the Secondary IDE port, the system refuses to load.

Irregardless of the type of IDE cable used (40/80 conductor), it refuses to work. Once the cable is plugged in, at the drive detection screen on startup, it takes more than 1 minute to detect the devices (if any) on the secondary port, after which, the system simply locks up. Once the cable is unplugged from the secondary port, however, the system loads up fine.

Any ideas what may be going on, or how to fix it?

[Czar]

If it's a case where no matter what IDE cable you plug into the port, it refuses to boot, then I'm sorry to say, but it sounds like your IDE port could be dead/damaged. The only other thing I would suggest is using the IDE cable from the primary port, along with the primary port devices and see if they work there, if they do, then it's a conflict with the hardware you were hoping to add to the secondary, if they don't work there, then you can be pretty sure that your secondary IDE port is dead...sorry.

[Netizen1]

In addition to trying another IDE cable, you may also want to look at the jumper settings on your IDE devices. Try out the different jumper positions to see if that helps (Master, Slave, Cable Select)

As a final test, try to boot with only the optical drive attached to the system on the primary IDE port to make sure it's really the second IDE port that's problematic...

[SPK]

Trust me, I've done all that you suggested there and more...

If it wasn't the second IDE port that was the problem, it wouldn't be freezing now with the cable plugged in only, with no drives in it.

It might be damaged as Czar said, but not dead, otherwise it wouldn't even detect the drives at all on startup.

[Czar]

You're right, dead is not the correct description...I more meant it along the lines of no longer useful...i.e. dead weight...

[W1nTry]

This is a more far fetched idea, but i've seen varios comps fail to boot when changing IDE devices, did u flash the bios at all? I've had a similar problem before and a simple Bios flash clear it up.

[SPK]

No I haven't flashed it yet, but I was considering that....now to convince the owner's mom that it's safe....

[jose]

Check the drives manufacturer site as to the jumpers. Some Western Digital for example, work without jumpers.

[Computerman]

Being that you'vew gone through all that already.  Disable the onboard controller and test with PCI controller.