tom32y

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Feb 8, 2007
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Ok i have both a cd and dvd drive that have power they open close normally etc, its just that they are not recognised by the system or bios!! this has happened before so i unplugged the ide cable swapped it round still didnt work so not the cable! i then decided to move the pc so everything got unplugged when i started it back up it was recognised!! but its only been recently when i had to unplug everything again and install a new graphics card etc that they are no longer being recognised, again still powered open and close but not in bios or anything! would this be a problem with the motherboard or the drives??? because they are getting on a bit at several years old, if anyone could help it would be brilliant, Thanks
 

desolationw

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Aug 4, 2006
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i am willing to stake my (weak) repuation on the fact that the jumpers are set wrong on the back of your 2 drives. Incase you dont know what a jumper is, it is a bridge to connect two pin together and give the drive instructions how to run, it can be set in a number of ways

You have to set up your drives as master and slave on an ide line and if both are set as master or both as slave then nethier get recognised. There is also an option for cable select but i have found it to be useless.

Set the top drive as Master, and the bottom one as slave. Then plug the right end of the ide cable into the motherboard(either end works, one way gives you more cable length over the other) then plug the other end of the ide cable into the top drive(master) and the middle connection into the slave.

This link will help you out.

CNET: Installing a DVD burner
 

tom32y

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Feb 8, 2007
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thanks for your help, the jumpers were ok though! but i had a change round of the drives and found that the one set as master has stopped working, im guessing that if that happens it would stop both from getting recognised?? so ive set up my other drive as the master with no slave and that works fine, so now ive ordered myself a new dvd writer to replace the old one, hopefully everything should work then!! thanks for your quick reply!!
 

desolationw

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Damn! there goes my reputation :p

I've never heard of a broken drive stopping the other from working but you learn something new everyday!

Anyway, congrats on sorting it out.