cd drive and dvd drive

[Sir]

k, i've got most of my comp built and ready to go (although i still havnt turned it on yet )
but here's the issue:
i have a cd-rw drive, which i've connected with the analog audio and digital audio cables to my sound blaster audigy 2 ZS sound card
now I have a dvd drive with a analog audio cable that came with the drive which i've plugged into the drive
but the only 2 slots left on the card are a AUX_IN slot and a TAD slot...I don't know what either would be used for
the analog audio cables are 4 pin and the digital audio cables are 2 pin
the AUX_IN slot and TAD slot are both 4 pin
plz help me out here, also, would I even need audio on the DVD what
plz help me out if ur familiar with this sound card or a similar one and mainly the fact of cd drive and dvd drive

*EDIT*: the dvd drive is 16x read and the cd-rw is 52x32x52

[Panama Red]

You only need one connector from the CD-RW to the sound card. Use the digital. Then use the analog for the DVD.

edit: Better yet, use your DVD rom as first on your secondary IDE cable, connect the digital audio to it. Then connect the burner to the midposition of the secondary IDE, and connect it to the sound card with the analog cable. That's how mine is configured.

[Sir]

explain to me the advantage of having it this way
and although this prolly wont matter, i have a SATA hdd and im planning on running the cd-rw off of the primary ide channel and the dvd on the secondary ide channel *each set to master*

and wuts the difference between analog and digital?
as well as with speakers

[Sir]

also, i just realized, i dont have an ide cable for my dvd drive....where can i get one

[oddjob]

Originally posted by Sir also, i just realized, i dont have an ide cable for my dvd drive....where can i get one

Originally posted by Panama Red Better yet, use your DVD rom as first on your secondary IDE cable, connect the digital audio to it. Then connect the burner to the midposition of the secondary IDE, and connect it to the sound card with the analog cable. That's how mine is configured.

Set up this way, as Panama Red had said (except on the primary channel instead of secondary) and you will only need one IDE cable.

[Sir]

well wouldnt they both be faster if i ran them off of individual channels?
and i still need info on the difference between analog and digital audio

[oddjob]

They will be neither slower nor faster set up one way or the other. They will only work as fast as their rated speeds, and as fast as your computer will run them.

As for the audio thing, I assume that digital is of a higher quality than analog. I just don't know the specifics. What I think Panama Red meant when he suggested that set up, was that you'd want the best sound quality from your reader (DVD-rom) drive for movies as well as music CD's. I also have a similar set up in my comp.

[Sir]

well its not like im in any rush and IDE cables are cheap
so wuld it be fine to just buy another IDE cable for the dvd rom and then run them both as master
then use the digital audio cable for the DVD and analog for the CD because I really dont plan on playing that many music cd's on my comp anyway, i'd rather have better sound for dvd's
and does any1 know what the TAD and AUX_IN slots on the sound card are for?

[oddjob]

TAD = Telephone Answering Device.

AUX_IN = just an extra (analog) audio input to the soundcard, you can use it if you add another CD-rom drive later.

Double check your manual.

Why add an unnecessary cable? More cables = more clutter. Less clutter = better airflow/better cooling. I have 2 HDD (7200 rpm, they get quite warm) and 2 opticals with only 2 cables, and everything runs like a champ.

[Sir]

k, so on my primary channel, i will run the cd-rw as master and the dvd as slave
then i will use the analog cable in the cd-rw and the digital in the dvd
does that sound good?

[bailey]

yes but
where do you have your hard drive connected,
I did not see that info anywhere

[Sir]

well i listed it
the hard drive is SATA
so does everything else work then?
*EDIT*: and the differenec between digital and analog?
*EDIT #2*: well, i turned on the comp, it ran for a bit, then shut down and i can't get it back on. I've tried removing the IDE drives and turning it on, everything, but every time that i try it turns on and the fans run for about half a second then it goes off
this happened when i put in the monitor and it ran all the tests, before i could run it for an unlimited time
im going to try removing a part at a time to see if there's any faulty parts but if you have any other suggestions, plz go ahead and throw them out

[Sir]

plz help!!!

[Sir]

well i listed it
the hard drive is SATA
so does everything else work then?
*EDIT*: and the differenec between digital and analog?
*EDIT #2*: well, i turned on the comp, it ran for a bit, then shut down and i can't get it back on. I've tried removing the IDE drives and turning it on, everything, but every time that i try it turns on and the fans run for about half a second then it goes off
this happened when i put in the monitor and it ran all the tests, before i could run it for an unlimited time
im going to try removing a part at a time to see if there's any faulty parts but if you have any other suggestions, plz go ahead and throw them out

[Sir]

wow, someone plz help me out here, my computer is not working...

[bailey]

are you saying that it won't post at all
the one single beep ?

[Sir]

no beeps, no POST messages, it turns on for half a second then goes off

[Cricket]

Follow the troubleshooting steps outlined in this thread.

Cricket

[Sir]

k, i'll post back if it doesnt work

[Sir]

but what is the difference between digital and analog sound?

[bailey]

the fact alone discribes the differance
digital is just that it would be like listening to a cd
and analog would be like listening to a radio which is analog.

also if you don't get the post correctly, you will not have anything

post is power on self test, it test for the needed hardware to run, if it detects everything ok it will give you a beep

if it faiils the test it will give you a error code telling which part failed

you must get one or the other

[Sir]

so digital is better and i shuld use on the dvd?
and it originally ran the POST and everything seemed to work and right before it shut off it mentioned something about the CMOS
but i've tried checking all the drive cables, what can I do?
im going to try the help thread

[Sir]

so digital is better and i shuld use on the dvd?
and it originally ran the POST and everything seemed to work and right before it shut off it mentioned something about the CMOS
but i've tried checking all the drive cables, what can I do?

[Cricket]

I've tried both the analog and digital cables and I can't tell the difference between the two...but I don't have digital speakers. And with WinXP, you can actually have the sound signal go through the IDE cable instead of using a separate audio cable. IDE cable sound signal will be digital.

If the system keeps shutting off right after POST, it could be the power supply, the motherboard, the RAM, the video card or even the PC speaker that's causing the problem. You gotta systematically try to eliminate each possible cause of the problem.

Cricket

[Sir]

ya, what is happening is that it doesn't even get to POST...
it starts up and then literally...half a second later, it shuts off
not a few seconds
5/10's of a second
i took out the ram...same thing
took out pc speaker...same thing
so its either the old rma'd psu...current mb, or current video card

[Cricket]

So you haven't tried another power supply yet?

Cricket

[Sir]

neg

[kev7555]

Hmmm...

I was told by one of my "true geek" buddies that running any cd or dvd device on the same cable as the hard drive would slow down access. I always took his word as gold (he's a pretty smart geek!!!).

Have I been misled?


-Kev