Hard drive/pci express

Hi I have just had a new mobo installed in my computer, unfortunately it only has 1 ide connector. I have 2 h/d and 2 dvd to install. All 4 are ide not sata. I have tried many configurations for 2 h/d and 1 dvd and still cannot get it to work. I can get 1 h/d and 1 dvd on the same ribbon cable connected to the mobo and they work fine. I next tried the second hd connected to a pci express card which gives me 2 ide connectors. The pci card is listed in the system/hardware list so I know it is being recognized. When I hooked up 1 hd to the pci, it said I needed a different ribbon cable, so I got an 80 wire cable and now it doesn't say anything about the cable, but it doesn't recognize the hd either. There is a sata connection on the mobo, but I didn't want to purchase another hd. Any suggestions? CArol

 

A bit more info would be helpful here, like what version of Windows are you running, the make and model of the PCIexpress controller card, make/model of motherboard, etc. Also, when you say "it said I needed a different ribbon cable" and "it doesn't say anything" and "it doesn't recognize the hd", what exactly is "it"? Is "it" the BIOS, or My Computer in Windows, or the Device Manager in Windows, or Disk Management in Windows? Are the drivers and/or software for the PCIexpress controller card installed correctly? I have run into several scenarios similar to yours in the past year or so: most new motherboards have only one IDE port, and at least 4 SATA ports. This is because SATA has become standard and IDE is being phased out. I've had customers with all IDE devices and their motherboard has failed requiring replacement. If there's only 2 IDE devices, no problem. Any more than that and they generally need to buy something, and luckily, SATA optical drives (like DVD and CD drives) are very inexpensive (much cheaper than a new SATA hard drive or IDE controller card, and MUCH easier to configure than a controller card also) New DVD burners are under $30 at online retailers, sometimes with free shipping. Personally, I'd invest in a new SATA DVD burner. This way you can hook it up to the SATA port, and then hook up the 2 IDE hard drives to the on-board IDE port, and then either return the PCIexpress card, sell it, or just keep it if it's needed. You can offset the cost of the DVD drive by selling your old IDE CD/DVD drives. But this doesn't help much with the immediate issue.... So, if you could answer the questions I asked at the opening of my post, I should be able to offer some insight.
:-D

[dlb]