Caught between Master & Slave

[Subhash]

This being my very first build, so I am going slow and one thing at a time. Yesterday, I finished putting my Hard Drive in and checked the bios to make sure the Hard Drive is detected.

Today, I put in my DVD Rom Drive and I need some help/advice on Master/Slave concept. This is what it shows in my BIOS:

Primary IDE Master............Not Detected
Primary IDE Slave..............Lite-On DVD Rom... (Jumper on DVD Rom set to Slave)
Third IDE Master...............ST32....... (This is my Hard Drive)
Third IDE Slave.................Not Detected
Fourth IDE Master.............Not Detected
Fourth IDE Slave...............Not Detected

My question is if this configuration is OK or do I need to change something. I still have to put in my DVD Burner. Also, just for my knowledge, if someone can briefly explain the concept of Master and Slave to me.

I am using ASUS P5GD1 mobo.

Btw, do I need to connect CD ROM to the audio on the mobo. If yes, then would I have to connect my DVD burner also to the CD audio port. How can I connect to drives audio to one port or there are more than one 4 pin ports on the mobo.

Thanks a lot for your help....

[doctorgonzo]

No, this is not correct. First, what happened to the second IDE channel? Is anything on it, or did you just forget to put it in there? The real problem, though, is the DVD-ROM drive. It should be set as Master, since you can't have just a slave drive on an IDE channel. IF you add another drive to that channel, make sure it is set to Master.

Calling drives "Master" and "Slave" on an IDE channel isn't accurate, since the master drive doesn't control the slave drive at all. If you have one drive on an IDE channel, it needs to be set to master. If you have two drives on a channel, one needs to be set to master and the other to slave (or both to CS if you are using an 80-wire IDE cable). You can't have one drive on an IDE channel set to slave.

[MakeYourslf2012]

ONLY if you are using the Microsoft XP OS, there is no need for audio cables for CD/DVD drives and burners, all the sound is transfered from the IDE cables.

So to answer your question - no you do not need to connect the CD audio to the motherboard.

[Subhash]

Thanks doctorgonzo for the reply.

The Second IDE channel doesn't show up in the BIOS. This is all what is displayed. So should I change the jumper on DVD ROM drive to Master or can I leave it as is and set the jumper on DVD Burner to Master which I am going to add next. I am using the ribbon cable that came with my mobo.

Thanks.

[Subhash]

Originally Posted by MakeYourslf2012 ONLY if you are using the Microsoft XP OS, there is no need for audio cables for CD/DVD drives and burners, all the sound is transfered from the IDE cables. So to answer your question - no you do not need to connect the CD audio to the motherboard.

I am going to be using XP. Does that mean I should connect CD audio to the mobo.

Thanks.

[doctorgonzo]

If you are going to add the DVD burner to that channel, then set it as Master. It really doesn't matter how you do it as long as a drive that is by itself on an IDE channel is set to Master.

[Subhash]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo If you are going to add the DVD burner to that channel, then set it as Master. It really doesn't matter how you do it as long as a drive that is by itself on an IDE channel is set to Master.

What about Second IDE channel then. How do I fix that problem ?

[MakeYourslf2012]

Originally Posted by Subhash I am going to be using XP. Does that mean I should connect CD audio to the mobo. Thanks.

no, you do not need to connect the CD-ROM Audio cable to the motherboard.


All the sound is transfered through the IDE cables so therefore, there is no need for audio cables when using the XP OS.

[Subhash]

Originally Posted by MakeYourslf2012 no, you do not need to connect the CD-ROM Audio cable to the motherboard. All the sound is transfered through the IDE cables so therefore, there is no need for audio cables when using the XP OS.

Thanks.

Can you also explain why I am missing Second IDE Channel from my BIOS display.

[TwoRails]

Since I don't build with Intel, I don't know diddle about mobos for Intel. As such, I looked at that mobo's specs on Asus' site. It has 3 IDE channels: one is ATA 100/33, and two that are 133-66. Since optical drives are normally ATA 33, you need to identify which channel is the 100/33 channel and put the opticals there. The other channels should be the hard drive channels.

Opticals should be set Master / Slave. Hard drives, depending on manufacturer, can be set up various ways. Some like Master/Slave, some like CS, and some don't use any setting when it's the only HD in the system.

If you don't have the owner's manual, you can D/L it from Asus' site to help figure out which channel is which.