Dell won't read DVD burner

Hello again. I'm back with another problem. I just bought a new DVD burner to put in my Dell Demension 2350. It was almost impossible to get the old CD-RW drive out (I had to rip off the whole front panel of the computer) but I finally got the burner in there. I had a CD-R drive on top and a CD-RW burner on the bottom. I ripped out the CD-RW burner just because it was the easiest to get out, and I hooked up the IDE cables and whatnot like they originally were. Now my computer isn't reading the CD-R drive or the DVD burner. Both units have power to them, the trays slide out and in, but they aren't in My Computer. Is there some sort of master/slave configuration step that I forgot about? Please help. Thanks everyone.

 

If they are connected to the same IDE cable, then yes, One drive must be set to master and the other set to slave. The master drive at the end of the cable, the slave drive connected to the second connector on the cable. Consult your owners manual for jumper settings. Many drives today have MA, SL, & CS etched right into the drive case above the jumpers. MA for Master SL for Slave.

 

Am I correct in assuming that the way to set this is with the 3 pins in the back of the drive? In that case, both old drives had the little plastic peice in the far left pin, while the new DVD burner is set to the far right. The burner didn't come with a manual, so I'm having trouble determining which jumper is for the master or slave. Also, if both jumpers of the old drive were in the same position, wouldn't that mean that both drives were either set to slave or master? I'm a little confused by all this. Thanks for the help.

 

Usually when looking at the back of the drive far left would be master, far right would be cable select, and the middle set would be slave. If you are connecting them on the same cable then one should be set to master and one to slave.

 

Everythings working now. Thanks!

Does the master/slave configuration affect system performance at all?

 

Doesn't effect system performance. The jumpers set one to drive 0 the other to drive 1; so that the BIOS knows which one is which.

 

Thanks again for all your help.