Question on IDE Connector Drivers

Hopefully someone that recalls the older IDE drive connectors can help with this one. I have been battling an odd problem that I still have not solved. See this post:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=251117

In any case I have bit the bullet and am trying to do a complete reinstall of the operating system. However I have hit a brick wall there, and I think it is also probably the root issue of the original problem. What it looks like now is this:

The motherboard is an ASUS P5LD2-VM. It has a Primary IDE connector, and also a ITE IDE Connector. Based on the way this thing is behaving it seems the BIOS is only recognizing the Primary which has a CD RW Drive on it. It does not find the two hard drives on the secondary connector. In my manual it has a note that says this about the secondary connector "Install the driver first before using this IDE connector". I have a feeling this driver is missing or corrupted. In BIOS setup there is no identification of the hard drives. The very unusual part is that if I boot in Safe Mode the computer finds the hard drive but seems to have trouble reading the CD RW Drive. I have now switched the connectors, and the BIOS finds the two hard drives but not the CD RW Drive.

If this driver is the issue how do I install it? Is it a CD Drive driver or what?

I have a vague recollection when I built this thing I had to do some unusual things to get it working -- like connect it up one way, install something, and then connect it up another way.

Any thoughts on what to do?

 

Try the drivers from Intel (I guess some of their 'boards must have used this chip).

 

Thanks, I found the drivers on the ASUS CD ROM. I'm able to read the hard drives now, but can't get the CD drive to work reliably. I think I am going to have to install one hard drive and the CD drive on the same primary cable, at least until I can get the drivers for the secondary loaded. The problem is the cable does not reach. Now I am starting to have a recollection that I had to do something silly like that on the initial install. i.e. plug into the CD and hang the HD loosely out of the slot so the cable will reach.

CD on the end or the middle connector?

 

It shouldn't matter if both drives are set (and work correctly) on the Cable Select setting (CS).

Length of IDE cables was always a problem

 

OK, I not got the disk drive to work, and the CD drive (kind of). I had to hard jumper both drives with the disk drive as master and CD as slave. But, now windows installed. I then started to install some device drivers. The driver for the ITE8211F secondary IDE connector seemed to install OK, but I have not tested it yet. I went to install the audio driver from the MBO support disk and it seems to install, but on reboot it says it has no device driver. I also tried to install the graphics card driver and I can't even get the CD drive to read the disk -- even though it seem to read it fine to install Windows XP.

My two basic problems that caused me to do the total reinstall is that on a normal windows start, it could not read the C: drive. It would however see it if I started in Safe Mode. I could not install device drivers even in safe mode.

So now I seemed to have solved the C: drive problem. It is now on the primary instead of secondary. But the CD drive (which is now a slave on the primary) is flaky -- and I still cannot reliably install device drivers???

Any thoughts on what is going on? I was originally thinking it was software and drivers. Now thinking something is not right on the hardware side? I checked voltages on the drive power supply and am getting the 5V and 12V.

 

There could easily be a problem with the IDE cable, pick up a new one and test it out again. Otherwise the CD drive could be flaky, can you access another PC to test it on?

 

I ran MemTest86+ this AM and after 3 passes no errors. I think I can rule out memory. Will try a new 80 conductor cable next. I guess I could also move the CD drive now to the secondary IDE and see if that helps.

This communication with hardware seems to have been a common theme, and over this time I have been working on it, has affected the graphics card, hard drive, CD, & audio hardware. There seems to be a common issue, and I just can't seem to corner it. Seems like the IDE cable should not be linked to the graphics card and audio problem.

I have another newer MBO in a box that I believe is 100% and I could try it. I've been avoiding that because it only has one IDE connector and I would have to run both the hard drive and CD drive off the same connector, so I assume the hard drive would have to operate at the CD speed.

 

I put a new 80 conductor cable in and no change. I switched the optical drive to the secondary IDE. The good news is that the channel now seems to work which would suggest the driver for it installed, but having the same flaky issues reading CD's. It reads some, doesn't read others. And even the ones it reads, Windows does not seem to be able to install the driver. Essentially no change to the problem. I would blame the optical drive, but it seems to have had no problem reading the Windows install CD, and doing a complete install of windows. I have no easy way to test it in another computer.

Is changing the whole motherboard the next logical step?

 

One further question. I have only used the original XP Home disk to install XP and not updated it with any service packs. I have been trying to keep this install squeaky clean and have not even connected it to the internet. Could that be a reason why it does not want to install drivers?

 

That's a possibility Ron, the first couple of updates would include one for the Windows Installer, if I remember correctly.

 

I'm going nowhere fast with this thing. I updated to SP3 and no change. I can't update the Audio driver or the Video driver. I have disks for each and can't get this computer to read them. I downloaded what is supposed to be the right video driver to the hard drive and it errors out when I try to use it. I've never seen such a stubborn and strange problem.

 

Check in the Windows Management > System and Applications logs to see if anything useful has been logged that might help you pin down the problem.

 

OK, will do. It seems to me that the common issue here is drivers. They don't seem to install properly. I think my original problem that was causing the BSOD was due to my using the secondary IDE for the C: drive, and it depends on a driver installed to make it work. That problem now appears to be solved as I moved the C: to the primary which I believe BIOS sees without a driver. I suspect the reason Safe Mode was working was that it installed a driver for the C: drive on the secondary, thus patching the problem -- but only in safe mode.

I would attribute it to a hardware problem with the secondary IDE, but if that was the only problem, then why would I be having problems with installing the graphics driver and audio driver.

I wish I understood how these dam things work. I wonder if there is a basic block diagram of how a PC works that might narrow down where the problem lies?

 

Do you have the latest BIOS installed for the motherboard?

You could try updating the main chipset drivers via the Intel support site, if they install correctly, the other drivers might too.

 

I did not have the nerve to start updating the MBO BIOS. Had bad experience with that in the past. However I decided to start over with a new MBO (Gigabyte EP45-UD3R) that I had sitting here unused. Also due to the Antec box design there was no way to connect both the optic drive and HD on the same cable. So I bought a new LG SATA Optical drive. The install went almost perfectly. All problems were resolved except for the Realtek HD Audio Bus Drivers. I've tried to install them from the Gigabyte Utilities disk, and all seems to go well, but they don't install. I've tried letting windows install them, and it seems to read the CD but it won't install them. I end up getting 3-4 ? Listings in the System Hardware display. Tried uninstalling them and reinstall before before and after XP SP-3 but to no avail.

The interesting part is that I use the same Gigabyte EP45-UD3R on my main computer and the drivers appear fine. I can't recall if I had issues installing them, but they are OK now on the good machine.

Is there any way of forcing this new install to use the same drivers as I have on the good install? I probably need some tips on how to best do that.

 

I don't blame you not risking the BIOS flash, Ron. As another who has had bad experiences with it in the past, I think I know how you feel. That aside, I think the more recent 'boards/flash software are much more resilient and much less prone to that problem.

I just checked the drivers for your current 'board over at GigaByte and they all look pretty recent so you're probably best to use those as your baseline - install the chipset drivers first and work your way outwards from there.

I know almost nothing about fixing the HD audio drivers, it's not something I've had experience with; I seem to recall that maybe DavidGP, plodr and a few others here are more knowledgeable about that, maybe someone else will look in and help you out with it.