Problems running HD and CDROM through same IDE?

[crisc]

I've been tinkering with my device configuration to try to work around what I think is a bad controller on my mobo, and I have discovered another problem.
I used to have IDE-1 with only my CD-ROM on it and IDE-2 with my HD. I've changed it so now IDE-1 is empty and IDE-2 has my CD-ROM as master and my HD as slave.
What I've noticed since is that when I launch an app, the first minute or so my apps are really bogged down, and seem to flutter or jump. I've noticed at these times, my HD is being accessed, and the flickering of the LED coincides with the jumps in the program I'm running.
Does anyone have a similar device cfg as this? Does it matter that my HD is slave not master? I attempted to set it as master and CDROM as slave, but none of my ribbon cables had the corrct length to allow this.

 

[ayjaycee]

Unless you're using the CS option (cable select), then you shouldn't need to alter the cable connectors. Just change the jumpers on the FD (to Master) and CD (to Slave) & off you go (You may need to go into the Bios & run Autodetect IDE - I sometimes had to do this on old machines after changing the IDE setup).

I've never tried having CD as Master & FD as Slave, but I can imagine it could slow tinks up a bit :-( One by one, the penguins steal my sanity. X-)

http://www.tanda.f2s.com

 

[crisc]

Thx, ayjaycee.
My BIOS is detecting the devices just fine. For some reason I thought the master/slave relationship had to be reinforced in the cabling too. Your right, that's only with Cable Select...
I'll try rejumpering my devices when I get home. I'll update this thread once I've tested it.

 

[crisc]

It appears I was mistaken, I already have my CD-ROM set to slave and HD set to master. Didn't see much use in flipping them around.
I did try once again to make use of my other IDE channel (the primary one). When I connect either device to it, post freezes up at the point where it detects IDE devices, so I'm sure it's bad.
Just bought this motherboard too. ;[

 

[Scotsdude]

try using both on IDE-1. thats what I've got.
I've got a HDD and a normal CD-ROM on IDE-1, and a cd burner on IDE-2, and I've had no problems.

let me know if this helps!

Scotsdude

 

[railugh]

perhaps you could check for recent motherboard drivers, this can help with ide or bus mastering issues.

If you only have one hard drive and one cdrom then you should not have to alter slave settings or cable positioning. The hard drive will be detected as primary master and the cdrom as a secondary master .. you can consider to see if DMA access is enabled as well in the device manager for those drives, this can cause lag if your motherboard does not support it

good luck B-)

 

[osuman]

Your source of slowness is the fact that you have both a CD-ROM (atapi) device on the same IDE channel as your HD. Putting both on the same channel causes the channel to run at the speed of the slower device. Even if you have an old HD the slower device will almost always be the cd-rom. Essentially the HD is not being able to run even close to its full performance potential and that is why your system is running slow. It has nothing to do with jumpering, master or slave, or IDE1 or 2. Put the devices on seperate IDE channels and your problems should go away.

If one of your IDE channels doesn't work then could buy a controller card to put in one of you PCI slots and that should correct the problem as well.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

osuman is spot on!

 

[crisc]

Thx osuman, I'll update this when I get a change to try a controller card. That IDE channel is definately NOT working...