DVD/CD Conflict Problem

I searched through this forum to see if there was something already discussed on this, but nothing seems to be exactly like the problem I'm experiencing, so I thought I'd forge ahead and post.

I recently inherited a computer from a friend of mine - it runs faster than my old Dell computer, so I'm psyched.

The computer came with a CD-RW which was installed as the Master and connected with its own separate cable (not hooked to the hard drive).

I wanted to buy a DVD/CD-RW, so I did, yesterday. I installed it and the computer continued to recognize the CD-RW, but not the DVD and the DVD wasn't even powered (i.e. I couldn't open the drive door).

I remembered the Master/Slave thing, so I went back and switched the DVD to Slave and then rebooted the computer.

This time, the DVD worked and the CD-RW had power, but the CD-RW wouldn't play any CDs and was not recognized in the list in Windows of the drives available (although the DVD was).

I checked my old computer's configuration and saw that there were three slots, with the CD in that computer in the far left slot. So, I tried that on the CD-RW - the computer then wouldn't even boot. So, I switched it back to the master slot.

So, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Do I need a different cable? Should the CD-RW be attached to the hard drive's cable? Or should the DVD be the Master and the CD-RW the slave drive?

Any help would be appreciated. I had a headache and was cussing a blue streak by the time I went to bed last night. *grin*

Thank you!

 

May I suggest you try putting the hard drive on the primary IDE (normally the blue socket on MoBo) alone. The DVD as Master and CD as slave on the Seconday IDE (normally Black). The DVD goes on the end of the cable and CD on the middle cable connector. Also install any software for DVD.

 

the dvd should be the master, and the other the slave. make sure you have the power and ide ribbons plugged in well. also, know that different manufacturers put their master/slave/cs pins at different configurations, so double check each drive. if it's not labelled, or youre not sure, check the manufacturers website.

 

Dell usually ships out their machines with all drives jumpered CS (cable select), which all components of recent manufacture should support. It doesn't matter which optical drive on an IDE channel is master or slave-- mount them where you physically prefer them in the case, jumper them both CS, make sure both power and data cables are properly oriented (stripe on data cable nearest power connector) and securely plugged in, and you should be fine. If the new DVD drawer would not open, and the power cable was plugged in, there may be a problem with the drive itself-- improper jumpering should not have affected drawer operation.

 

Thank you all very much for the help!!

I will endeavor to try again when I get home from work tonight.

Thank you for all the suggestions!

 

I would like to add a suggestion to the pile; enter the CMOS Setup program (you'll probably have to press the DEL key during bootup / POST), and check to see if there is a way to "DETECT" the IDE drives. That will allow the CMOS to find the hardware changes you've made, and get everything in order with the Master / Slave configuration.

If you DON'T see a way to detect the IDE drives, look for an option to "Reset the Configuration Data", or "Reset ESCD", or "Reset DMI", or something to that effect. Doing that will wipe the previous hardware entries from the DMI table within the CMOS, and force the CMOS to redetect / re-poll the existing hardware at POST. You will probably have the chance to "ENABLE" the "Reset ..." option, so look CAREFULLY through the CMOS settings. If you aren't sure what you're looking at, copy the information down and post it here, so we can do some research and advise you.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt if you included any information you have about the BIOS (including the VERSION), and the motherboard itself.

Once you've enabled the "Reset ..." option, save your settings and reboot the system, and let us know what happens.

 

Just realized I forgot to mention that you might find a similar option with a different name; if you see a setting to "Clear NVRAM", that will have the same effect as resetting the configuration data. "NVRAM" is the non-volatile RAM within the CMOS, used for the settings that don't change very often (such as the list of installed hardware). Change the "Clear NVRAM" setting from "NO' or "DISABLE" to "YES" or "ENABLE", or whatever it might be, then save your settings when you exit the CMOS, and reboot the system.

Making this change will force the CMOS to redetect the installed hardware, and you might have resolved your problem.

Good luck with this; hope everything gets corrected soon.

 

C'mon, we're not talking HD cylinders and sectors here, just plain old optical drives.It just ain't that complicated. I've never had machine, neither built nor bought, that needed such rigamarole just to install a CD or DVD, about the most plug & play devices you'll ever have.

 

Thank you, all of you, for your help! I finally got everything working, following your advice, and I didn't even have to curse too many times.

Thanks again for the help!

Susan

 

susansuth:

Glad you got the problem rectified; making ATAPI devices work through an IDE interface is OFTEN complicated, though it seems there are some who either don't believe that, or don't understand how ATAPI devices actually work. Proper optical drive configuration can be a REAL nightmare, as you've no doubt begun to discover.

I didn't have the time earlier to go into a lot of detail about this subject, but I now feel obligated to address some misinformation that has been posted in this thread:

First of all, these statements are NOT correct:

"It doesn't matter which optical drive on an IDE channel is master or slave-- mount them where you physically prefer them in the case..."

In fact, it often DOES matter which drive is Master, and which is Slave; some optical drives REQUIRE installation as Master, and will NOT work when jumpered as a Slave. For example, I've seen several Sony and Lite-On optical drives (also sold under other brand names) which REQUIRE installation as the Master drive on an IDE channel, or they simply will NOT function. Sometimes, this can be addressed by the use of an 80-conductor cable.

"... jumper them both CS, make sure both power and data cables are properly oriented (stripe on data cable nearest power connector) and securely plugged in, and you should be fine."

In order for the Cable Select option to work, a special IDE ribbon cable (CSEL capable) must be used. If the IDE cable does NOT support the CSEL option, Cable Select will NOT work properly. Furthermore, the position of the drives attached to the cable IS a factor; when using the Cable Select option with an actual 40-conductor CSEL-capable IDE ribbon cable (as opposed to an ordinary NON-CSEL 40-conductor IDE cable), the MIDDLE connector of the CSEL cable is the "master" connector, while the end connector is the "slave" connector.

This has changed with the introduction of the 80-conductor IDE cables; you can read this article for more information on the CSEL tar-baby:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html

More information about ATA and ATAPI standards is available here:

http://www.ata-atapi.com/

Basic IDE definitions provided by Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262969

As you will see, the ATA standard is just as complicated as everything else in the PC realm. ATAPI drives which use an IDE interface must be setup correctly in order to work as designed; they are FAR from the "plug & play" ideal so many people expect them to be.

Again, I'm glad you got everything working properly; here's hoping nothing else goes wrong for a while. If you DO run into trouble in the future, you now know how complicated installing optical drives can be, and the linnks I've provided might help you sort things out.

Best wishes ~

MK

 

It might well take you more than one day here to realize that the majority who post questions are seeking simple answers, not a computer technology course. Their stuff doesn't work, and they just would like it to, period. It's not "misinformation" to offer a solution more applicable to 2006 than 1996, and at the questioner's apparent level of comprehension. Given the limited information often supplied, it's the best anyone should be expected to do, and it doesn't help to confuse things more with replies that try to show off some technical expertise-- it's self-serving and unnecessary. Start with the simple and see if it works before proceeding with the more unlikely. There's no reason to assume the 1 in 1,000,000 scenario first. Somebody who wants to know how to set his watch doesn't want to be referred to links on watchmaking, they just want to be able to know the time.

 

TheDoug:

In case it wasn't obvious to you, my original post provided ONLY the information the OP needed to unscramble her system and solve her problems. YOU decided to interject something about "plug and play", which certainly does NOT apply to optical drives, regardless of what you think.

Obviously, it ALSO somehow managed to escape your notice that I intentionally didn't address your earlier post; I saw no reason to mention the misinformation you'd posted, but again, YOU chose to comment for no apparent reason, so which post was actually self-serving, yours or mine? The evidence would indicate it was YOUR "answer", which wasn't really an ANSWER at all, just a careless reply.

Your high post count means NOTHING if you're just making the answers up as you go along; the people who request help here AREN'T helped by your condescending attitude; the OP was CLEARLY struggling with the system problems:

"...I had a headache and was cussing a blue streak by the time I went to bed last night..."

so I did my best to HELP her, not simply pad my post count; I wonder if the same thing could be said for you.

I really don't care how competent / incompetent you are; I HELPED the OP solve her problem, which she acknowledged, and that was my intent. It might be better if you stop thinking the people who ask for help here are dumber than a box of rocks; judging from her original post, suesuth understood enough about the basic problem she was encountering to realize that SOMETHING was wrong, and I worked with the information she provided. I DIDN'T waste time MISINFORMING her (which you did), and I didn't waste bandwidth complaining about someone else helping her solve the problem; I simply posted and moved on, which is what YOU should have done. Instead, you chose to add your remark about "plug and play", which has NOTHING to do with solving the problem, and I decided to address the OBVIOUS mistakes I'd intentionally ignored in my first post.

Don't blame anyone else for what YOU screwed up, and don't try to impress me with your post count; I wipe my *ss with morons on a daily basis, and I'm more than willing to add more names to the list at any time.

 

It would be interesting to know what the OP actually did to solve her problem. She acknowledges no one solution directly, nor does she exclude anyone in her thanks, although you happily take the credit. Even if she tried my suggestion and it didn't happen to work for her in this case, it surely didn't "screw anything up". I would love to hear from her regardless.

BTW, anything I post is simply based on what I've personally experienced in about 20 years of building, buying and owning dozens of PCs, and I don't hold myself out as some big expert. I am not incompetent or mis-informing if I suggest what has worked, how it has worked, for me time and again in my own experience. I don't tell people to go digging around in their BIOS or Windows registry without first ascertaining how comfortable they are doing so and without the necessary caveats. Nothing I have said impunes the intelligence of any member of this board. If I've never come across a "must-be-master" drive, and know no one else who has, I tend to assume most other people haven't either. Occam's razor? KISS?

Also, I wasn't aware that post count was some sort of snob index. I don't hold post count out as a measure of anything, never have. Average 1+ post per day over 2+ years. Gosh, I'm such a post whore.

 

k, this thread is dead, unless the original problem still persists.

 

Oh, please... like it's your call. Inquiring minds still want to know what the OP did.