IDE Slave not recognized (CDRW and DVDRW)

I have a problem with an existing Lite-On CD-RW drive and new Toshiba DVD-RW drive. Seems as if the IDE cable Slave position is not being recognized. Originally, I had the CD-RW jumpered as the master, and it was set and the far end of the IDE ribbon cable. My old Asus CD-ROM drive was slave, and was at the middle position on the IDE ribbon cable. It has been removed from the system, it stopped working a long time ago (or the IDE cable Slave position connector failed?).

When I got the DVD-RW drive, I jumpered it as the Slave and placed it on the middle IDE connector. I checked the BIOS, and the Master/Slave detect settings were on Auto, so I left them alone as they were. I booted up in XP Home Edition, XP saw both drives as New Hardware with the little balloon messages. But when I went to My Computer, only the CD-RW drive was shown (Master IDE cable position and jumpered as Master), with no drive icon at all for the DVD-RW in the Slave cable/jumper position. I ran the Add Hardware wizard, could not find the drive. Device Manager shows only the CD-RW drive, no conflict warnings.

I then tried reversing things. I put the CD-RW on the middle Slave IDE cable position and jumpered it as Slave, and the DVD-RW in the Master cable position, and jumpered it as Master. On startup XP sees both drives, but now only the DVD-RW icon is shown, neither the Add Hardware Wizard or Device Manager see the other drive.

As a last resort, I set BOTH drives' jumpers on Cable Select, but only the drive in the Master (far end IDE cable position) position is recognized by the Device Manager. Both drives functioned properly ONLY when attached to the Master (end) position of the IDE cable. This ruled out the possibility of a DOA new DVD-RW unit, or vice versa. Both drives' LED's come on when booting up, power is good on both connectors.

I'm kinda' stumped, maybe the IDE ribbon cable is getting flaky? I made sure it wasn't flipped over, the red stripe is on the power connector side of both drives, and they plug in firmly, no dinged-up pins. Any other suggestions I haven't tried ?

 

First thing that I would try would be changing the IDE cable.

 

Did Novice's suggestion work? I have the same identical problem.