AN35N Ultra Won't Detect Drives (Drives Start When Connected to Power Only)?

[Nehmo]

Have AN35N Ultra V 1.1 ,
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/MotherBoard/mbd_Spec.asp?M_id=49 ,
(AMD 2800 CPU, and Windows XP Home sp1)

The board has 2 dual-channel IDE connectors, IDE1 & IDE2, providing
support of up to 4 devices.

If anything is attached to _IDE1_, I can't get into the BIOS. The
screen says Entering Setup but doesn't. The BIOS hangs on detecting
IDE drives.

If I attach a drive to (jumpered as master) to the end of (the master
connector) the cable going to _IDE2_, I can get into the BIOS. But the
BIOS doesn't detect any IDE drives, even in auto detect.

!- When a drive is attached to the power connector _only_ (IDE
connector left unattached), the drive starts. When holding it in my
hand, I can feel it start.

!- If a drive is connected to the power connector _and_ the IDE
connector, the drive doesn't start. When holding it in my hand, I
don't feel it start.

Voltage measurements form power supplies are correct. Also in PC Health
of the BIOS, they look correct.

Drives are probably okay. I got the same behavior with known-good
drive I had on the shelf.

I tried switching cables. Same behavior.

Everything was working fine until I began to prepare to install a new
drive, which I never installed. I vacuumed inside the case to clean out
the dust. Even though I was very careful, something must have happened.

The board has a year's warranty, and the year isn't up. But the
warranty is from Shuttle, and I have to send it away, I think.


Do you people think it's the board? Could it be anything else?
What's my next step?

 

[dave AKA vwdoc1]

I would suggest you unplug and replug your RAM modules. Maybe you knocked
something loose and it is not fully seated anymore.

good luck
later,
dave
(One out of many daves)

 

[kony]

Have AN35N Ultra V 1.1 ,
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/MotherBoard/mbd_Spec.asp?M_id=49 ,
(AMD 2800 CPU, and Windows XP Home sp1)

Are you running the most-current bios? If not, and nothing
else helps, do that.

The board has 2 dual-channel IDE connectors, IDE1 & IDE2, providing
support of up to 4 devices.

If anything is attached to _IDE1_, I can't get into the BIOS. The
screen says Entering Setup but doesn't. The BIOS hangs on detecting
IDE drives.

If I attach a drive to (jumpered as master) to the end of (the master
connector) the cable going to _IDE2_, I can get into the BIOS. But the
BIOS doesn't detect any IDE drives, even in auto detect.

It wouldn't happen to be a WD or some IBMs, etc, drives that
require a "single" jumper setting would it? Try jumpering
the drive as cable select and try a different cable.

Also double-check the case standoffs, if there are any where
they shouldn't be and are shorting out the back of the
board.

!- When a drive is attached to the power connector _only_ (IDE
connector left unattached), the drive starts. When holding it in my
hand, I can feel it start.

!- If a drive is connected to the power connector _and_ the IDE
connector, the drive doesn't start. When holding it in my hand, I
don't feel it start.

Voltage measurements form power supplies are correct. Also in PC Health
of the BIOS, they look correct.

Drives are probably okay. I got the same behavior with known-good
drive I had on the shelf.

I tried switching cables. Same behavior.

Everything was working fine until I began to prepare to install a new
drive, which I never installed. I vacuumed inside the case to clean out
the dust. Even though I was very careful, something must have happened.

Vacuumed? ESD potential there, maybe.
Try clearing the CMOS, then retry the drives. Failing that,
see if you can get it to boot to a floppy, flash the same
bios version that was working previously if possible,
otherwise flash the newest bios.

The board has a year's warranty, and the year isn't up. But the
warranty is from Shuttle, and I have to send it away, I think.


Do you people think it's the board? Could it be anything else?
What's my next step?

I suspect the problem happened when you cleaned it out.
Could be something else, though it does seem you isolated it
to the board itself. If you had another power supply handy
you might try it before going to the trouble of pulling the
board and shipping it off. Likewise, recheck memory
modules, cards, other cables to be sure nothing else is
amiss. When everything else seems OK, the default "most
likely" thing is of course what remains- the board itself.

 

[David Maynard]

Have AN35N Ultra V 1.1 ,
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/MotherBoard/mbd_Spec.asp?M_id=49 ,
(AMD 2800 CPU, and Windows XP Home sp1)

The board has 2 dual-channel IDE connectors, IDE1 & IDE2, providing
support of up to 4 devices.

If anything is attached to _IDE1_, I can't get into the BIOS. The
screen says Entering Setup but doesn't. The BIOS hangs on detecting
IDE drives.

If I attach a drive to (jumpered as master) to the end of (the master
connector) the cable going to _IDE2_, I can get into the BIOS. But the
BIOS doesn't detect any IDE drives, even in auto detect.

!- When a drive is attached to the power connector _only_ (IDE
connector left unattached), the drive starts. When holding it in my
hand, I can feel it start.

!- If a drive is connected to the power connector _and_ the IDE
connector, the drive doesn't start. When holding it in my hand, I
don't feel it start.

Voltage measurements form power supplies are correct. Also in PC Health
of the BIOS, they look correct.

Drives are probably okay. I got the same behavior with known-good
drive I had on the shelf.

I tried switching cables. Same behavior.

Everything was working fine until I began to prepare to install a new
drive, which I never installed. I vacuumed inside the case to clean out
the dust. Even though I was very careful, something must have happened.

The board has a year's warranty, and the year isn't up. But the
warranty is from Shuttle, and I have to send it away, I think.


Do you people think it's the board? Could it be anything else?
What's my next step?

Others have suggested something might have been damaged when you vacuumed,
and that's possible, but a drive that spins up alone, but not when
connected to the IDE cable, is typical of a reversed cable. Recheck *both*
ends, meaning the drive connection and on the motherboard.

 

[Nehmo]

- dave AKA vwdoc1 -

I would suggest you unplug and replug your RAM modules. Maybe you knocked
something loose and it is not fully seated anymore.

- Nehmo -
It successfully runs through the initial RAM check (I don't know how
thorough it is), so I'm guessing that's not the problem. I'm not
clear what kind symptoms bad RAM (or a bad connection to the RAM) would
have. I have an old program that checks RAM, but I have to have a
running computer to use it. I'm on a library computer now, it's
just walking distance from my house.

I'm going to take the machine to MicroCenter to see what they think.

 

[Nehmo]

The IDE (also called ATA) cable has the blue end on the motherboard and
the black end at the master drive, and the jacks only fit in one
direction. Don't they?

The power cable, I don't have it in front of me right now, doesn't
that fit in only one way too?

I already have the machine prepared for a trip to the store, but I'll
open it back up to look.

I don't remember whether I unplugged and re-plugged when I began. I
physically repositioned the drives when I began, to accommodate the new
drive, which I never installed.

I already have the machine prepared for a trip to the store, but I'll
open it back up to look.

 

[Nehmo]

- Nehmo -
You were right, David. I had one of the IDE cables plugged-in upside
down on the motherboard. On this board, the red wire of both cables
needs to be on the bottom. I had thought the jacks only allowed
connection in one way. Stupid on my part.

Now everything works again.

Thanks. I was just about to waste half a day (+ the emotional toll)
taking the box to MicroCenter.

================================= Off Topic:

While I was at the library http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/ , naturally, I
began to help some of the people there with their computer questions.
There was an old guy trying to get his credit report, and he needed to
register at a site that someone else had directed him to. But first
things first. I quickly saw that he didn't know how to use a mouse or
how to scroll. So I tired to start him on Solitaire so he could learn
the basics. But the Gestapo library had deleted all the games (or
perhaps the shortcuts to them).

On the computer, there was some MS instruction on How to Use a Mouse
(interesting, Melinda's name, as well as Bill's, was on it), and I
started the old guy on that. But Solitaire would have been a better
instruction tool.

I suppose the library doesn't approve of anything that might be fun.
But fun thing are sometimes instructional, and even if people did use
the library computers to play games just for entertainment, so what?

 

[David Maynard]

- Nehmo -
You were right, David. I had one of the IDE cables plugged-in upside
down on the motherboard. On this board, the red wire of both cables
needs to be on the bottom. I had thought the jacks only allowed
connection in one way.

Some do and some don't, which is redundant now that you know you've got one
that isn't keyed.

Stupid on my part.

Hey, guess how I knew

I think the most common time I find one like that is from a shop. And they
just reverse it on the hard drive rather than fix it on the motherboard so
the next poor soul gets hit by it.

Now everything works again.

Glad to hear it.

Thanks. I was just about to waste half a day (+ the emotional toll)
taking the box to MicroCenter.

================================= Off Topic:

While I was at the library http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/ , naturally, I
began to help some of the people there with their computer questions.
There was an old guy trying to get his credit report, and he needed to
register at a site that someone else had directed him to. But first
things first. I quickly saw that he didn't know how to use a mouse or
how to scroll. So I tired to start him on Solitaire so he could learn
the basics. But the Gestapo library had deleted all the games (or
perhaps the shortcuts to them).

On the computer, there was some MS instruction on How to Use a Mouse
(interesting, Melinda's name, as well as Bill's, was on it), and I
started the old guy on that. But Solitaire would have been a better
instruction tool.

I suppose the library doesn't approve of anything that might be fun.
But fun thing are sometimes instructional, and even if people did use
the library computers to play games just for entertainment, so what?

Because it ties them up with people playing games when there are others
waiting who need them for library oriented tasks.