IDE Cable Oddities & CDROM

  • Thread starter Thread starter William J.
  • Start date Start date
W

William J.

Been having lots of buffer underrun problems. Both my cd reader and cd
writer are on the same IDE channel. So I decided to move my cd reader
to the same channel as the hard drive so the cd writer would be on its
own IDE channel.

I bought a 24" cable last week but returned it because I could not
reach from the cd reader to the hard drive. Than I bought a 36" ide
cable. Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing
special but its teflon.

Anyway the hard disk is not recognized when I boot the machine up. Its
like its not there. So I put in another shorter IDE cable and the
machine recognized it. There is something about the cable the PC does
not like. I have heard that with a 36" cable I am play with fire and
could have unpredictable results. The only differences I can see is
the ide cable that works has one pin blocked off, the one that does
not work has all the pins open. I though it would not make a
difference.

Any ideas? Othewise I am going to have to put in another IDE
controller because CD to CD just does not work.

Thanks in advance.
 
William said:
Been having lots of buffer underrun problems. Both my cd reader and cd
writer are on the same IDE channel. So I decided to move my cd reader
to the same channel as the hard drive so the cd writer would be on its
own IDE channel.

I bought a 24" cable last week but returned it because I could not
reach from the cd reader to the hard drive. Than I bought a 36" ide
cable. Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing
special but its teflon.

Anyway the hard disk is not recognized when I boot the machine up. Its
like its not there. So I put in another shorter IDE cable and the
machine recognized it. There is something about the cable the PC does
not like. I have heard that with a 36" cable I am play with fire and
could have unpredictable results. The only differences I can see is
the ide cable that works has one pin blocked off, the one that does
not work has all the pins open. I though it would not make a
difference.

Any ideas? Othewise I am going to have to put in another IDE
controller because CD to CD just does not work.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

There's a maximum length allowed for IDE cables. 36" exceeds it.
 
William J. said:
Been having lots of buffer underrun problems. Both my cd reader and cd
writer are on the same IDE channel. So I decided to move my cd reader
to the same channel as the hard drive so the cd writer would be on its
own IDE channel.

I bought a 24" cable last week but returned it because I could not
reach from the cd reader to the hard drive. Than I bought a 36" ide
cable.
Click to expand...
Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing special but its teflon.
Click to expand...

So, it is not an 80-wire i.e. cable-select cable?
Anyway the hard disk is not recognized when I boot the machine up. Its
like its not there. So I put in another shorter IDE cable and the
machine recognized it. There is something about the cable the PC does
not like.
Click to expand...

It can have that effect when that is not a cable-select cable and your
drives are on cable select.
 
William said:
Been having lots of buffer underrun problems. Both my cd reader and cd
writer are on the same IDE channel. So I decided to move my cd reader
to the same channel as the hard drive so the cd writer would be on its
own IDE channel.

I bought a 24" cable last week but returned it because I could not
reach from the cd reader to the hard drive. Than I bought a 36" ide
cable. Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing
special but its teflon.

Anyway the hard disk is not recognized when I boot the machine up. Its
like its not there. So I put in another shorter IDE cable and the
machine recognized it. There is something about the cable the PC does
not like. I have heard that with a 36" cable I am play with fire and
could have unpredictable results. The only differences I can see is
the ide cable that works has one pin blocked off, the one that does
not work has all the pins open. I though it would not make a
difference.

Any ideas? Othewise I am going to have to put in another IDE
controller because CD to CD just does not work.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Here's a work-around that does not involve using non-standard or
40-wire IDE cables: leave your hardware alone, with the CDROM and
the burner on the same channel, then copy from CDROM to HD, then
copy from HD to burner.
 
William J. said:
Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing
special but its teflon.
Click to expand...

Could it be the Master/Slave/Cable Detect jumper options? I think it's
possible to have jumper settings that work on a 80 way but not on a 40 way.
Rod Speed will probably know if you drop him a line.

You need a short 80 way drive to get the max speed out of your HD though.
 
Could it be the Master/Slave/Cable Detect jumper
options? I think it's possible to have jumper settings
that work on a 80 way but not on a 40 way.
Click to expand...

Yes, if the drives are jumpered for cable select
and the 40 wire cable isnt a cable select cable.
 
William said:
Been having lots of buffer underrun problems. Both my cd reader and cd
writer are on the same IDE channel. So I decided to move my cd reader
to the same channel as the hard drive so the cd writer would be on its
own IDE channel.

I bought a 24" cable last week but returned it because I could not
reach from the cd reader to the hard drive. Than I bought a 36" ide
cable. Its a standard 40 pin ide cable for hard drives - nothing
special but its teflon.

Anyway the hard disk is not recognized when I boot the machine up. Its
like its not there. So I put in another shorter IDE cable and the
machine recognized it. There is something about the cable the PC does
not like. I have heard that with a 36" cable I am play with fire and
could have unpredictable results. The only differences I can see is
the ide cable that works has one pin blocked off, the one that does
not work has all the pins open. I though it would not make a
difference.

Any ideas? Othewise I am going to have to put in another IDE
controller because CD to CD just does not work.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

The standard allows 18 inches. The blocked pin is for cable select--if you
have your drives set for cable select and have a cable that doesn't have
that provision, then they're not going to work--try setting master and
slave instead. But don't bet on a 36" cable, especially a 40-wire 36"
cable, working.
 
J. Clarke said:
The standard allows 18 inches.
Click to expand...
The blocked pin is for cable select--if you
have your drives set for cable select and have a cable that doesn't have
that provision, then they're not going to work
Click to expand...

ROTFLOL. The school of hardknocks at its best. Geez, wotan idiot!!!
 
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