Optical Drive in Second Position Malfunctions

[PipoNYC]

I installed a new Liteon DVD Burner in the second bay of my sister's DELL 2400 P4 PC w/XP Home, but when I inserted a DVD movie, both video and audio would start to jump and "stagger" terribly. I moved it to the first position and the CDRW/DVD drive down to the second. Now the DVD Burner works but the old drive malfunctions in the same fashion. (I replaced the ribbon in case it was defective but that didn't change anything.) As far as I can tell I've jumpered both drives correctly, with the topmost drive as the master and the older drive as the slave. Device manager says both drives are in working order. Don't know how else to attack the problem. Any ideas? CR

[doctorgonzo]

What is on your other IDE channel? Sometimes, certain brands/models of optical drives don't work well together. I would first try some other configurations, like this one:

Primary IDE: HD master, CD-RW slave
Secondary IDE: DVD-RW master

[PipoNYC]

Man that was fast! Thanks. The HD is by itself on the other channel. (The older CDRW/DVD drive is a Samsung. It seems that whatever drive I put in the second/slave position is the one to mess up.

[trulad]

Did you try it with both drives set at CS(cable select)?
trulad

[glc]

Dell cables are cable select cables. The drive's position on the cable determines master or slave. Jumper everything to CS.

[PipoNYC]

As far as I can tell, the cable on my sister's one year-old Dell is a regular 40 conductor IDE cable with three black connectors. (I thought cable-select cables had 80 conductors and blue, grey, and black connectors.) That said, should I go out and buy an Ultra DMA cable?

[glc]

Before you do that, make sure DMA is enabled on all IDE controllers. Device manager, IDE controllers, primary and secondary channels, advanced settings.

If it's a factory Dell cable, it's cable select capable regardless of the number of wires. If you use master/slave, the master must be on the end connector and slave must be on the middle connector.

[EDB]

Originally Posted by glc If it's a factory Dell cable, it's cable select capable regardless of the number of wires.

Wow, didn't know that. Do you know around what year that started? I think I have a few older Dell ribbon cables that I thought were 40pin, not Cable select. Are they marked in any way?

[glc]

I know the Dimension 4100's had 40 wire CS on the secondary. Those came out in what - 1999? Yes, they should be marked, I don't remember if they say master and slave, or P1 and P2. You CAN use master/slave jumpering on them, but you can't override the cable select, the drives still have to be on the right connectors, master on the end and slave in the middle.

[EDB]

Originally Posted by glc I know the Dimension 4100's had 40 wire CS on the secondary. Those came out in what - 1999? Yes, they should be marked, I don't remember if they say master and slave, or P1 and P2. You CAN use master/slave jumpering on them, but you can't override the cable select, the drives still have to be on the right connectors, master on the end and slave in the middle.

Good to know! Thanks again glc!