Keep Loosing access to second ide channel

[evan_fotis]

Recently my pc is loosing access either to both or one of IDE secondary channel's devices.
I noticed my drive was missing, then another day both hd and dvdrw where missing.
I have opened the case and checked if everything is tight, cables etc. It seems ok for a while and then while the pc is on it loses access, poping up missing device window.
I even changed the cable for a new one, just to be sure, but it still is inconsistent...
Specs: gigabyte mobo GA-6VXDC7 Dual Socket 370 for Intel
2 X 800mhz PIII,1512Ram.
IDE 1 channel: 80GBide boot-partitioned
IDE 2 channel: 60gb ide-partitioned, dvdrw 811s
SCSI cntrl: Adaptec 29160 : 2X 18Gb atlasII u2scsi.
Is there a remedy or should I be looking for new mobo>system?
I use it as workstation and has been quite reliable so far;I would like to Keep it for renderings etc.
I would Appreciate any help.
Evan

 

[Crashman]

It could be a bad IDE cable, this does happen.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Cybercraig]

Make sure you didn't stick a 40 cable in there instead of an 80. It's happened to me!

Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.5ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Evan;

Do the drives show up at the time the Bios detects your Drives?
Or does this seem to be exclusively a windows problem?

This informnation will be helpful in figuring out the cause of the problem.

 

[evan_fotis]

Hello,
today my pc can recognize the dvdrw, which is secondary master if I'm right, it is the first device on the cable from the mobo, but the hd which is at the end of the cable doesn't show up even at Bios boot time...
The cable is new and tested in other pc and works.

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Evan;

I think i know whats hapenning here.

The following chart should help you to identify and resolve the issue.

[Primary IDE CHannel]
Primary Master: Hard drive
Primary Slave: CD-Rom

[Secondary IDE Channel]
Secondary Master: Hard drive or CD-Rom
Secondary Slave: CD-Rom

Your Primary master and Secondary Master cannot be on the same Channel (i.e the same cable), so if you have two masters on one cable like you presently do the Bios will be confused and recognize niether drive, or only the one on the master position on the cable. So you must set your Hard drive as master and your CD-Rom as slave via the jumpers on the drives then set them in the correct position on the cable and all will be well.

 

[Coyote]

Something similar happened to me once, very fluky thing - the 5 volt 4 pin connector was bad. I confirmed by hooking up a case fan to the connector that had been attached to the HD. When the fan wouldn't spin, I knew what the prob was.

Mobile XP 2600+ (11X200)
Abit NF7-S v 2.0
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB Corsair Twinx 3200LL
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax Noisetaker 420 watts
Win98SE