[Ham-Computers] Can I Connect an IDE Drive and CD Drive to the Same Cable?

[Philip (KO6BB)]

It sounds to me like the secondary IDE channel (CD ROM) on the 
motherboard is bad.  But since it works on the primary slave position 
I'd suggest that you purchase a longer IDE cable, one that will reach 
both the HD and the CD drive and use that.  Failing that, your other 
choices are to replace either or both the HD and the CD ROM with SATA 
types and use the SATA connectors.

NOTE:  You 'should' be able to use both the SATA and the IDE connectors 
at the same time if you set it up that way in your bios.  My 'built to 
order' machine (Intel Motherboard) has 4 SATA connectors and two IDE 
channels and will handle a total of 6 hard drives and 2 CD ROMs 
simultaneously.    If you can't find a suitable IDE cable perhaps your 
most cost effective fix would be to buy a SATA CD Rom and use that.  
When my primary CD burner failed (this machine has two) I replaced it 
with a SATA type while the secondary CD ROM is still IDE.

There are all sorts of possibilities open to you.

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/   (Web Page)
http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (My OTR Blog)
http://cbsmysterytheater.multiply.com/ (My CBS
Radio Mystery Theater Blog)

RADIOS:
Yaesu FT-2000 Xceiver for "hamming" and LF Beacons.
National NC-183 16 Tube Receiver (circa 1949)
Zenith "American" Royal-7000 Transoceanic. (circa 1970)
Realistic DX-380 Digital Portable.

Central California


On 6/1/2011 6:38 AM, Jim Hill wrote:
> Thanks for the help.  Guess I wasn't clear about my problem.  The
> motherboard has two connectors, one for IDE hard drives and the other
> for CD drives.  The CD drive part stopped working recently.  I need
> to use the CD drive occasionally, both to boot from a CD and to read
> a CD once the computer has started, and asked for any suggestions
>
> I connected the CD drive to the center connector of the data cable
> used for hard drives, and went to setup.  The Primary Slave Drive was
> set to off, and I changed it to auto.  I saved the change and
> restarted the computer.  In setup, the Primary Slave drive now says
> CD-ROM device, and the boot sequence has CD-ROM device as the first
> choice.  I can boot to the CD device, and use it normally after the
> computer has started.  Both drives are set to Cable Select.
>
> It's a temporary fix, as the data cables are too short to install the
> drives normally,  The hard drive cable is much too short, but the CD
> cable was long enough for the drives to be connected with the drives
> positioned near the motherboard connector.
>
> Jim
>
>
> At 09:43 AM 5/31/2011, you wrote:
>> Hi:
>> I have an old Dell 4600 running Win XP.  It runs ok except the CD
>> drive doesn't work...... snip
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Ham-Computers mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ham-computers
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> Ham-Computers mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ham-computers
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net
>
> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>