'conductor cable no. 80 not installed'

[chris thomas]

When my PC starts up, on the first screen (ie the screen
where it says press del to enter setup) underneath where
it detects IDE devices and drives, displays the message
'Primary IDE device conductor cable no. 80 not
installed'. I've been having quite a few problems and was
wondering if this message had anything to do with it. If
anyone has any idea what it is I would appreciate it.
Bear in mind I am a novice at best.

cheers,
chrs thomas

 

[Kelly]

Hi Chris,

Do some reading here: http://tinyurl.com/37za7 and http://tinyurl.com/yrvqo

 

[BC]

Not a clue, but the numbers ring a few bells. Most ribbon cables are 40 pin
varieties, but some drives require an 80 pin cable to function properly.
Luck.

 

[Steve Pearce]

Not a clue, but the numbers ring a few bells. Most ribbon cables are 40 pin
varieties, but some drives require an 80 pin cable to function properly.

All IDE cables have 40 pins. What does vary is if the cable had 40 or
80 wires. The original cables had 40 wires (i.e. 1 wire/pin). These
cables are OK for lower speed drives but when higher speed drives were
developed it was found that noise interference via the cable was an
issue. So a new 80 wire cable was developed that has the same pin to
pin connections but also has 40 earth connections that provide better
noise performance.

If your system is complaining, it means you have a fast drive but an
old cable, sp speed is probably being limited. Get a new cable and
things should improve.

 

[sgopus]

I recently ran into this same problem.
I had a problem with failing cables (old), I thought I
could get by with the cable used for a cd drive, and after
installation, got the same error you did, I figured it was
due to the wrong type of cable, and replaced it.
Yep, that was it, it needs the cable specifically for the
newer type of harddrives 80 connector...

-----Original Message-----

 

[Alex Nichol]

When my PC starts up, on the first screen (ie the screen
where it says press del to enter setup) underneath where
it detects IDE devices and drives, displays the message
'Primary IDE device conductor cable no. 80 not
installed'.

The hard drive and controllers these days probably want to use a high
speed ('UDMA 66' or above) which needs a connection cable in the
machine that has 80 wires, not 40, so as to have extra shielding ground
wires between active ones. And you don't have one. You should be able
to get one at any good computer shop, and it is not very difficult to
take out the present one and plug the new one in its place in just the
same way. Or get a repair shop to do it for you if you are not sure