IDE to SATA converter problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob H
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Bob H

I have just bought the Newlink SATA/IDE converter from this link
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=25492&category_id=848&manufacturer_id=0

I connected the IDE end to the IDE pins on the rear of my Primary HD,
then pushed the switch to HOST and connected the SATA lead to my board
as well as all power leads.
I booted my machine, went into the BIOS, and the drive is not recognised!

I left the jumper on to make it Master, which I though it should be, but
after it wasn't recoginised I tried a few different combinations like:
no jumper, switching the converter to DEVICE, but still no go.
Help please, what have I missed?

Thanks
 
Bob said:
I have just bought the Newlink SATA/IDE converter from this link
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=25492&category_id=848&manufacturer_id=0


I connected the IDE end to the IDE pins on the rear of my Primary HD,
then pushed the switch to HOST and connected the SATA lead to my board
as well as all power leads.
I booted my machine, went into the BIOS, and the drive is not recognised!

I left the jumper on to make it Master, which I though it should be, but
after it wasn't recoginised I tried a few different combinations like:
no jumper, switching the converter to DEVICE, but still no go.
Help please, what have I missed?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Based on this picture, I wouldn't say you've missed anything. I couldn't
find instructions for it.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/cdlmicro/oct07/NL-SATADUALADAPT_WM.gif

The adapter cable (female to female), appears to be used when going from
SATA host to a single IDE hard drive.

The adapter cable would not be used, if the adapter was being plugged into
one of the two connectors on a ribbon cable (IDE host to SATA drive conversion).

Since you're connecting an IDE hard drive, the adapter cable would be installed
on the ribbon cable side. The IDE drive could be jumpered as master. The
"switch" gets set to Host, when the adapter is connected to a SATA motherboard.

The adapter does need a source of power. Notice there is a small floppy
connector on the corner of the adapter. That would be a source
of 5V. On the adapter printed circuit board, there'll be linear
regulators to drop that voltage to a level the adapter chip can use.

Paul
 
Paul said:
Based on this picture, I wouldn't say you've missed anything. I couldn't
find instructions for it.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/cdlmicro/oct07/NL-SATADUALADAPT_WM.gif


The adapter cable (female to female), appears to be used when going from
SATA host to a single IDE hard drive.

The adapter cable would not be used, if the adapter was being plugged into
one of the two connectors on a ribbon cable (IDE host to SATA drive
conversion).

Since you're connecting an IDE hard drive, the adapter cable would be
installed
on the ribbon cable side. The IDE drive could be jumpered as master. The
"switch" gets set to Host, when the adapter is connected to a SATA
motherboard.

The adapter does need a source of power. Notice there is a small floppy
connector on the corner of the adapter. That would be a source
of 5V. On the adapter printed circuit board, there'll be linear
regulators to drop that voltage to a level the adapter chip can use.

Paul
Click to expand...

Ok, regarding the source of power, the actual power lead which came with
the converter, is a male molex to female molex with a small floppy
connector.
I connected the small floppy connector to the socket on the 'converter'
side of the ribbon, then male molex to the power pins on the HD, then
the female molex to a male molex from the PSU.
And why the HD is not recognised beats me at the moment.

Thanks
 
Bob said:
Ok, regarding the source of power, the actual power lead which came with
the converter, is a male molex to female molex with a small floppy
connector.
I connected the small floppy connector to the socket on the 'converter'
side of the ribbon, then male molex to the power pins on the HD, then
the female molex to a male molex from the PSU.
And why the HD is not recognised beats me at the moment.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Normally, I'd consult the Newegg reviews, to get some comments on
the converter. Some of those little designs, seem to leave
the factory broken.

I don't know if there is an easy way to debug a device like that,
because it doesn't have the normal Windows enumeration (Plug and Play)
interface. If the adapter decided not to respond, until it did some
initialization with the drive, there is no reason it might respond at
all to probing from the host computer.

A JM20330 is one choice for a bidirectional adapter design. There are a
few "GPIO" (general purpose I/O) pins, and in a second diagram they're
labeled as "UART" pins. There are also some pins used for
configuration, not shown in the diagram (that is where the jumpers
connect to select the direction of conversion). So while there is
a tiny PDF document on the page here, it isn't enough to figure out
if there is a way to query the device or not.

http://www.jmicron.com/Product_JM20330.htm

If that "UART" interface was for real, you'd still need an
RS-232 level converter, if you wanted to connect it to the
serial port interface on a PC. And without a datasheet to go
by, there is no way of knowing what info comes from that
interface.

It's all a game of adapter roulette.

Paul
 
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