Re: ribbon cable problem?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance



Paulh7436 wrote:
On an XP Pro machine I added a 250GB HD 18 months ago and used the new cable that came in the box. This was an additional drive (D:) in the machine and it booted off the C: drive. I have since removed the 250 GB to mount externally. I tried booting with the same C: drive and cable after removing all jumpers. The machine only beeps and won't boot up. Do I need to find an older cable to run with the older hard drive? Any suggestions are appreciated.


There is a tutorial here, on drives and ribbon cable.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf.htm

When the cable has one drive on it, you should use the end
connector. Fill the end position first, then use the middle
connector, if connecting a second drive. Jumper options for
two drives, involve Master on one, Slave on the other. Or
the second alternative is Cable_Select on one, Cable_Select on
the other. With some brands of hard drives, they have one option
for "Master Only", and another for "Master", the latter being
the master in a master/slave pair.

Check the label on the drive, to see what options it supports.

Cable Select works with the ribbon cable that has 80 wires.
80 wire cable support Cable Select, and they also support up
to 133MB/sec transfer rate. The older 40 wire cable (wires
look slightly thicker), may not do cable select (so use Master/Slave
jumpering instead), and the 40 wire cable cannot support
the very fastest transfer rates. 80 wire cable is preferred,
as the signal quality is better. Every second wire on the 80 wire
is a ground signal, helping to define the impedance for the signal
wires.

Paul
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Difference between IDE and SCSI ??
    ... The high speed UDMA drives need the 80 wire cables, ... from the middle connector to reach the harddrive caddy. ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: [OT] ATX-PSU and amperage on connectors...
    ... Flexible Cord and Equipment Wire (Based on Ambient Temperature of 30C" ... Note that cables of 4 or more wires (e.g. if you shrink-wrap 4 drive ... Since I do not know them, I know only, what is written on the Drives. ... normal AC PSU. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: M3A and ATAPI
    ... There are several pictures of the same wire; ... disconnected all of the cables. ... jumpers on them but I didn't take any pictures of the hard drives. ... gives excellent signal integrity and no CRC errors. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: M3A and ATAPI
    ... There are several pictures of the same wire; ... disconnected all of the cables. ... I also had a look at the hard drives and found that there are absolutely ... Primary IDE controller that was set to PIO mode now says "Ultra DMA mode ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: For your amusement -- Re: Lahey FORTRAN for DOS
    ... I big chunk of that was the pair of 8" floppy ... drives and the controller and case for them; that cost me $2k, ... One other limitation I recall was that it didn't implement backspace ... Though I have to admit that my wire wrapping was less than professional. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)