Cable Select - don't use

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S

seemebreakthis

Personal experience here... I just purchased a new Maxtor 160GB
drive, I was struggling with problems regarding MaxBlast the DDO that
it installed (I thought it forced the installation although someone
replied otherwise, anyway I had a fun time trying to find ways to
uninstall DDO at the end, see my other post in one of the Win98
newsgroups). When all seemed to be fine and dandy another problem
started to become apparent. The system would just freeze from time to
time, the mouse pointer would stop responding for a few seconds and
things would then be back to normal.

It took days of trial and error to pinpoint the source of the problem
- when i change the jumper from Cable Select to Master, my machine was
finally back to normal.

Some posts mention you need to have proper cable and chipset that
would recognize CS. If you ask me, I'd say avoid CS altogether. Why
bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave yourself and prevent
the problems that may creep up?
 
Previously seemebreakthis said:
Personal experience here... I just purchased a new Maxtor 160GB
drive, I was struggling with problems regarding MaxBlast the DDO that
it installed (I thought it forced the installation although someone
replied otherwise, anyway I had a fun time trying to find ways to
uninstall DDO at the end, see my other post in one of the Win98
newsgroups). When all seemed to be fine and dandy another problem
started to become apparent. The system would just freeze from time to
time, the mouse pointer would stop responding for a few seconds and
things would then be back to normal.
Click to expand...
It took days of trial and error to pinpoint the source of the problem
- when i change the jumper from Cable Select to Master, my machine was
finally back to normal.
Click to expand...
Some posts mention you need to have proper cable and chipset that
would recognize CS. If you ask me, I'd say avoid CS altogether. Why
bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave yourself and prevent
the problems that may creep up?
Click to expand...

My feelings exactly. I have never used CS. It is puerly an "idiot
option" for people not competent to set jumpers IMO.

Arno
 
Arno said:
My feelings exactly. I have never used CS. It is puerly an "idiot
option" for people not competent to set jumpers IMO.

Arno
Click to expand...

Nonsense. I use nothing but CS, have for years, and have never
had a problem with it. CS makes moving drives around (e.g. when
a machine fails and you want to move its files) trivial.

But you do have to have a clue.
 
Some posts mention you need to have proper cable and chipset that
would recognize CS. If you ask me, I'd say avoid CS altogether. Why
bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave yourself and prevent
the problems that may creep up?
Click to expand...

Because if you change the hard drie at later date, you'd need to
change the jumper setting. With CS, you don't need to pull out the
hard drive to change it.

I haven't had any problem with CS. WHat you need is mobo or IDE card
that properly supports it, cable with a section of wire missing near
the mobo connector, and BIOS that can handle it. Also when using
multip drives, make sure both are set to CS. If one is set to CS and
other is set to Slave or Master, strange problem like the one you
described will happen.

Or maybe it's something else on your part. I know for sure all ATA
hard drives made in the past few years supports CS.
 
seemebreakthis said:
Personal experience here... I just purchased a new Maxtor 160GB
drive, I was struggling with problems regarding MaxBlast the DDO that
it installed (I thought it forced the installation although someone
replied otherwise, anyway I had a fun time trying to find ways to
uninstall DDO at the end, see my other post in one of the Win98
newsgroups). When all seemed to be fine and dandy another problem
started to become apparent. The system would just freeze from time to
time, the mouse pointer would stop responding for a few seconds and
things would then be back to normal.

It took days of trial and error to pinpoint the source of the problem
- when i change the jumper from Cable Select to Master, my machine was
finally back to normal.

Some posts mention you need to have proper cable and chipset that
would recognize CS. If you ask me, I'd say avoid CS altogether. Why
bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave yourself and prevent
the problems that may creep up?
Click to expand...

Have had similar bad luck with CS on WD drives. Went back to strict
Master/Slave jumper settings with master at end of cable, and maintain the
18" length requirement. Can be painful when the hard drive's mounting is
bit far from the ide port.
 
| > Why bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave
A slave cannot work if master is absent / undetectable / dead.

www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/ says any 80 wire IDE cable supports
CS, I find this true with my Seagate ata33 & 66 hdd`s : saves chking /
changing jumpers, 1 can connect hdd`s in any order to minimise clutter
& maximise fans' air flow ( nForce2 400* south bridge.gets hot &
slower ).

| had similar bad luck with CS on WD drives.
In 12-03 I fitted a WD 400JB ata100 hdd onto a *, no problem using CS,
@ all so far.
 
TE said:
| > Why bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave
A slave cannot work if master is absent / undetectable / dead.
Click to expand...

I think that depends on the particular devices involved. Some don't
seem to mind, and will proceed perfectly happily as slave without a
master present. But I find it's best to use CS and just hook to the
master (end) connector first when populating a system with drives.
www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/ says any 80 wire IDE cable supports
CS, I find this true with my Seagate ata33 & 66 hdd`s : saves chking /
changing jumpers, 1 can connect hdd`s in any order to minimise clutter
& maximise fans' air flow ( nForce2 400* south bridge.gets hot &
slower ).

| had similar bad luck with CS on WD drives.
In 12-03 I fitted a WD 400JB ata100 hdd onto a *, no problem using CS,
@ all so far.
Click to expand...

I've use CS with WD drives, too -- no problem.
 
It appears that at least it's safe to say that when there are
two drives on an ATA cable, it doesn't matter which is
jumpered Master and which is jumpered Slave. That is,
the drive on the far end can be "Slave" and the drive at
the intermediate position can be "Master". The only
important thing is that there is a drive connected the far
end to absorb the signal.

*TimDaniels*
 
Hi,
A slave cannot work if master is absent / undetectable / dead.
Click to expand...

That's not always the truth. It depends of the motherboard and controller. I
know a few examples where all hard drives have been installed in Mobile
Racks and the system was workable in any combination, like Master/Slave,
Slave, Master...

Same thing about CD drive as Slave at the second controller. Sometimes you
can't boot from this CD but it works fine if the system is up and running.

Dmitri.
 
| > Why bother with it when you can set the Master/Slave
A slave cannot work if master is absent / undetectable / dead.
Click to expand...

IBM, Maxtor and Seagate drive can be slave with no master present.
 
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