secondary ide connector issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter blaze77
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blaze77

I have a very puzzling situation.

Dell Dimension 4400
Running Windows XP


When a CD-Rom drive is connected to the Secondary IDE (either master or
cable-select), Windows XP Home Edition will not boot. When it gets to
the Widnows XP logo screen, the computer just hangs for hours and hours.
The computer will not boot into safe mode either.

When I disconnect the CD-Rom drive, everything works fine. I tried
connecting several other CD-Rom drives that I know work and I get the
same result. I can boot from disk with the drive so I know it's
connected, but Windows will not load. I tried a different IDE cable,
same result. I tried connecting a Zip Disk 250 and that works just
fine. The problem is narrowed down to just the CD-Rom drives. I tried
updating the ide controller and that didn't fix it. I also made sure I
was using the most current Bios on my PC.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? This situation seems odd to me.
 
blaze77 said:
I have a very puzzling situation.

Dell Dimension 4400
Running Windows XP


When a CD-Rom drive is connected to the Secondary IDE (either master or
cable-select), Windows XP Home Edition will not boot. When it gets to
the Widnows XP logo screen, the computer just hangs for hours and hours.
The computer will not boot into safe mode either.

When I disconnect the CD-Rom drive, everything works fine. I tried
connecting several other CD-Rom drives that I know work and I get the
same result. I can boot from disk with the drive so I know it's
connected, but Windows will not load. I tried a different IDE cable,
same result. I tried connecting a Zip Disk 250 and that works just
fine. The problem is narrowed down to just the CD-Rom drives. I tried
updating the ide controller and that didn't fix it. I also made sure I
was using the most current Bios on my PC.
Click to expand...

Try replacing the power supply. If that works, fine. If not, then there's
something wrong with your motherboard. Contact Dell for replacement if the
machine is still under warranty.

Malke
 
blaze77 said:
I have a very puzzling situation.

Dell Dimension 4400
Running Windows XP


When a CD-Rom drive is connected to the Secondary IDE (either master or
cable-select), Windows XP Home Edition will not boot. When it gets to the
Widnows XP logo screen, the computer just hangs for hours and hours. The
computer will not boot into safe mode either.

When I disconnect the CD-Rom drive, everything works fine. I tried
connecting several other CD-Rom drives that I know work and I get the same
result. I can boot from disk with the drive so I know it's connected, but
Windows will not load. I tried a different IDE cable, same result. I
tried connecting a Zip Disk 250 and that works just fine. The problem is
narrowed down to just the CD-Rom drives. I tried updating the ide
controller and that didn't fix it. I also made sure I was using the most
current Bios on my PC.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? This situation seems odd to me.
Click to expand...

My first thought would be: are you sure that you are inserting the ribbon
cable round the right way? The coloured stripe should be next to the power
connector. If that is the case, then I may be inclined to think that the
drives are overloading the power supply, but CD and DVD drives don't take a
great deal of power when not actually spinning a disc and besides, you have
got a Zip 250 to work (presumably off the same power connector). What
happens if you connect the CD drive, but leave the power connector
disconnected?

Have you tried the CD drives in another PC just to make certain? Can you
power the CD drives from another source while connected to the problem PC?
And in desparation: what happens if you connect another hard disk to the
secondary channel?
 
blaze77 said:
I have a very puzzling situation.

Dell Dimension 4400
Running Windows XP


When a CD-Rom drive is connected to the Secondary IDE (either master or
cable-select), Windows XP Home Edition will not boot. When it gets to the
Widnows XP logo screen, the computer just hangs for hours and hours. The
computer will not boot into safe mode either.

When I disconnect the CD-Rom drive, everything works fine. I tried
connecting several other CD-Rom drives that I know work and I get the same
result. I can boot from disk with the drive so I know it's connected, but
Windows will not load. I tried a different IDE cable, same result. I
tried connecting a Zip Disk 250 and that works just fine. The problem is
narrowed down to just the CD-Rom drives. I tried updating the ide
controller and that didn't fix it. I also made sure I was using the most
current Bios on my PC.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? This situation seems odd to me.
Click to expand...

Any enumeration of the CD Rom drive by the bios summary of ide devices at
boot time?

How old is the CD Rom drive? Check month/year of manufacture noted on the
CD Rom drive.

In the bios setup, be sure the boot screen options are disabled. This will
allow all normally done tests to be done, and be visible. (System setup
program in the link below).
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4400/
 
sgopus said:
how are the jumpers configured on the cd drive and any other device on that
connection?
Click to expand...

they were set as cable-select. I tried it as master but that didn't
seem to matter. Non of the cables have a secondary, just primary
 
blaze77 said:
I have a very puzzling situation.

Dell Dimension 4400
Running Windows XP


When a CD-Rom drive is connected to the Secondary IDE (either master or
cable-select), Windows XP Home Edition will not boot. When it gets to
the Widnows XP logo screen, the computer just hangs for hours and hours.
The computer will not boot into safe mode either.

When I disconnect the CD-Rom drive, everything works fine. I tried
connecting several other CD-Rom drives that I know work and I get the
same result. I can boot from disk with the drive so I know it's
connected, but Windows will not load. I tried a different IDE cable,
same result. I tried connecting a Zip Disk 250 and that works just
fine. The problem is narrowed down to just the CD-Rom drives. I tried
updating the ide controller and that didn't fix it. I also made sure I
was using the most current Bios on my PC.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? This situation seems odd to me.
Click to expand...


HERE's an update to my situation. I bought a new IDE cable long enough
so I could have the CD-Rom drive as a slave on the primary ide. Now my
computer boots fine and recognizes the CD-Rom drive, but it cannot find
a driver for it. It's a NEC NR-7900A. Before it was using the basic
drivers that came with Windows XP. Is there anyway to get the drivers
back to factory settings?
 
You shouldn't need special drivers for a regular cd drive, what is going on
that makes you think you need drivers for it??
 
sgopus said:
You shouldn't need special drivers for a regular cd drive, what is going on
that makes you think you need drivers for it??
Click to expand...

Because Windows told me it couldn't find drivers for it in the
system32/drivers folder where they should be. I know I "shouldn't" need
them. That's why it would so hard to find which one I need. I was
hoping to find a way to reset the files in the folder back to it's
original state so all the files were there and working properly.

I found the solution though finally. I had to edit the registry to get
things to work. Now everything works perfectly.

Here's the fix that worked for me:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q314060

Now Windows will boot up with the CD-Rom as the master on the secondary
IDE again! Thanks goodness I finally found a solution that worked!
 
blaze77 said:
Because Windows told me it couldn't find drivers for it in the
system32/drivers folder where they should be. I know I "shouldn't" need
them. That's why it would so hard to find which one I need. I was hoping
to find a way to reset the files in the folder back to it's original state
so all the files were there and working properly.

I found the solution though finally. I had to edit the registry to get
things to work. Now everything works perfectly.

Here's the fix that worked for me:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q314060

Now Windows will boot up with the CD-Rom as the master on the secondary
IDE again! Thanks goodness I finally found a solution that worked!
Click to expand...

You got me confused. The 1st follow-up reply, you said slave on the primary
ide using a longer data cable. Now on the 2nd follow-up, you're saying
master on the secondary, which is what the original post stated. I didn't
see any error codes mentioned.
 
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