Replaced cpu and cooler on P4C800 mobo, no ide drives recognized
Harry Putnam
the computer stripped down. So, the parts and stripped down case have
been setting around for mnths.
Finally got ambitious. Got the cpu replaced and a tuniq tower cooler
installed.
Its a Intel 3.2 ghz cpu and asus P4C800 mobo.
Tracked down everything and got it mostly back together. (I hope).
I replaced the ribbon connectors from primary controller to master which is
an IDE 250 that has winXP pro sp3 on it.
The cdrom is connected to secondary master.
Made sure the power socket are attached to both. (I also have 2 sata
drives but those are apparently recognized) Anyway the OS is on an IDE
which 1st or primary master.
When I start it up, and get to the bios I see nothing is recognized on
either primary or secondary IDE controller.
Checked the plugs and tried again... Still nothing recognized.
I'm not sure how to debug this and get any farther.
Strobe
First step is - don't assume, recheck everything, in detail.
Second step is always - SIMPLIFY.
Check that IDE controller is not disabled in the BIOS.
Try with just one cable and one drive in the primary IDE, double checking that
all jumpers are set correctly and that the drive is on the right cable
connector.
Note whether the drive spins up; check the voltages at the drive power
connector.
Try this again for the secondary IDE.
Repeat, this time using the CD drive.
Be prepared to accept that the MB IDE controller has died.
Sometimes they just do that - I had one MB where the primary IDE controller
died, but the secondary kept working.
If you have lost all your IDE, there's still hope.
Free up one of your SATA drives and install minimal OS on it, in a same-size
partition to make it bootable.
Find a friend who'll let you install your IDE and SATA drives on his computer.
Boot from his HDD so that your drives are seen as just data disks, then copy all
your original IDE over your bare-bones OS on the SATA - you should have all your
stuff back, once you boot the SATA on your own machine.
Harry Putnam
> Try with just one cable and one drive in the primary IDE, double checking that
> all jumpers are set correctly and that the drive is on the right cable
> connector.
> Note whether the drive spins up; check the voltages at the drive power
> connector.
I haven't done all checks yet but hit paydirt right away. I was a bit
chicken to start switching stuff around, but braved up a bit after
seeing your post.
I disconnected all drives then switched the IDE drive with the os on
it onto 2nd master (it had been 1st master) but left the cdrom and
alll other drives disconnected.
By jove it booted. I'm doing a few necessary things here long as its
running. ... Tracking down various drivers etc.
Do think it means the cable from 1st master or first master itself are
done for?
I'll start testing various combination soon as I get some software
type work done.
Thanks for the reply it helped a bunch.
Strobe
You're welcome.
Tip 3 - be logical, even to an extreme. Making notes as you go along will help
in the complicated cases.
You'll work out for yourself what's failed by a process of elimination, as you
try the other cable, other drive and the other MB socket.
For instance, you already know that one drive, one cable and one socket are
working - at least, in that combination...
The logic behind simplifying is that one of the removed components may not only
have failed but also be affecting the good parts.
For intance, 2 IDE drives can share a single cable, as only one is supposed to
talk at a time. But if one drive has gone bad and keeps putting random bits on
the cable, even the good drive's signals won't be recognised properly.
Or a seriously failed item could be pulling down the supply voltage, so that the
good parts don't get enough volts to work properly.
BTW, I've had occasions like yours where after testing every item separately I
found that they all worked together again - I decided there must have been a bad
contact on a connector that got cleaned up by all the plugging and unplugging.
nobody >
>
> BTW, I've had occasions like yours where after testing every item separately I
> found that they all worked together again - I decided there must have been a bad
> contact on a connector that got cleaned up by all the plugging and unplugging.
Don'cha hate it when that happens?
kony
... or love it because you don't have to buy more stuff? I
do agree though, the worst feeling is when a fault goes away
but you don't know if it will come back because there was no
clear problem and resolution/solution.