ribbon cable

[xgirl]

Hi,
May I know how does all the ribbon cables connect to the motherboard, eg ribbon cables from hard drive, printer and etc? Where does the red line on the ribbon connect to the motherboard (not hard drive)?

Is there a difference between the ribbon cable of hard drive and floppy drive? What does a twist in the cable mean? I cannot see a twist in my floppy ribbon cable, how does it look like?

There is a connector between the CD-ROM and sound card. Where should the connector plug into the sound card becos there are a few same slots?

Thank you for your replies in advance

[RayH]

The sound card and CD ROM are connected by a speaker connector. The connector can be of a couple of different types. The CD ROM side is usually universal--black flat. The red is on the right (for right channel). The sound card side can be of two different types: black flat or white. That just depends.......

The floppy cable and IDE cable are distinct. But both have a red stripe to help you orient to No. 1 pin. The IDE cable will connect the hard drive and CD ROM devices. Check the motherboard manual for which side has the No. 1 pin on the motherboard and which is the PRIMARY and which is the SECONDARY connector on the motherboard. On the IDE device (hd,cd, dvd, cd-rw), the No. 1 pin will be the side closest to the device power connector. Be sure you have the devices correctly jumpered: master, slave, or cable select. The CD type devices are usually good about identying the jumpers. The hard drive diagram is usually upside down and backwards from how you are probably holding it.

As for the floppy cable. The No. 1 pin on the device can be on either side, depending upon the manufacturer. Note there is a pin missing on the device. Check the motherboard manual for the No. 1 pin orientation. Note the motherboard will have a pin missing on the connector also. Orient the cable the same way on the floppy. That is, the row of pins can be up or down depending upon who made it!

The CD ROM and the sound card are connected by the speaker connector. The flat black connector will go into the CD ROM. Red to the RIGHT (R to R). Audio is usually RED is RIGHT channel. Anyway, on the sound card, there is usually any of two types: identical flat black or a smaller white. You have to have the correct connector.