Problems with 4 IDE Devices 1

[WhiteStar1]

I have a Biostar M7NCG 400 motherboard, and when I try to run four IDE devices, two in each channel, it freezes on boot looking for IDE devices. Running three devices is A-OK, any combination of the three HDD and DVD-ROM is fine, but as soon as the fourth device is hooked up, it all falls down.

Any suggestions as to what's wrong would be appreciated.

 

[paparazi]

WhiteStar1
I guess the obvious answer to this is:
Either one of the devices isn't jumpered properly (note some hard drives have a differant jumper config when a slave is present)
Or one of the devices is either faulty, just plain doesn't like to be with another.
Not very technical I know but swap the devices around a bit.
Also try other IDE cables
Note* that you need an ultra IDE cable (fine wire) for your hard drives and some DVDrom/writers. ATA66 or faster

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[BaudKarma]

The other possible bugaboo is power. Your power supply might not have enough juice to get all four devices up and running at the same time. Do you know how many watts your PS puts out?

I try not to let my ignorance prevent me from offering a strong opinion.

 

[carpetbelly]

possibly power but does sound far more like a jumper setting issue.

 

[WhiteStar1]

How is this for a typical computer problem? It works then it doesn't, hen it works again!

 

[edfair]

You understand, of course, that if it failed several times,then started working again, that it is probably going to fail again, probably at the most inopportune time.
I'm with Martin on the cable issue. Although modern drives supposedly are backward compatible if they find something slower talking to them they may not like 40 conductor ribbon cable since it is prone to noise and jitter. Length of cables also affect it. And since the secondary is usually designed for slower access I would put all my efforts there.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[garebo]

I just had the same problem, ide drives worked sometimes and sometimes not. I replaced all the ide cables and all is well with the pc. By changing them around i found the one cable that was bad. But its not worth taking chances, i replaced both and threw the others in the trash.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[firewolfrl]

I had a similar issue I repaired. the drive would disappear at boot at times....
the way I fixed it was to zero out the offending drive
I have not had any issues with 2 of these drives for over 4 months now
this could be a MBR issue with one of your drives