Hooking up 3 CD drives.. need help.

[Guest]

3 drives,
Sony CD-RW
Sony DVD-Rom
ASUS CD-Rom
(and 1 HD)

I can hook up 2 drives fine (I hooked up the DVD and RW for now), case supports 4 extra drives. The DVD is the secondary master, the RW is the secondary slave, obviously, the HD is primary master. Pri slave is empty. However, when I try to hook up the 3rd drive, the computer will not boot up properly. I'm pretty sure I have the jumpers right, but would there be something extra I would have to do if I'm hooking up 3 drives? I have 2 good-shape IDE cables that hold 2 devices each, and all the drives do work, like I could hook up any 2 drives together at the same time but putting all 3 mess up, power should work for all 3.
The only thing I can think of is the jumpers and power problem, and yes, I configured BIOS when trying them. Thx for reading, and if you have any idea it would be well appreciated.
-Jonathan

 

[MGGP]

Jonathon -
Does the BIOS see all 4 drives when they're hooked up ?

Have you tried setting the devices on the Primary IDE bus
to Cable Select instead of Master / Slave ?

You say the computer doesn't boot properly - do you get an
error message ? Exactly what happens ?

Good Luck & post back . . .

-----Original Message-----
3 drives,
Sony CD-RW
Sony DVD-Rom
ASUS CD-Rom
(and 1 HD)

I can hook up 2 drives fine (I hooked up the DVD and RW

for now), case supports 4 extra drives. The DVD is the
secondary master, the RW is the secondary slave,
obviously, the HD is primary master. Pri slave is empty.
However, when I try to hook up the 3rd drive, the computer
will not boot up properly. I'm pretty sure I have the
jumpers right, but would there be something extra I would
have to do if I'm hooking up 3 drives? I have 2 good-shape
IDE cables that hold 2 devices each, and all the drives do
work, like I could hook up any 2 drives together at the
same time but putting all 3 mess up, power should work for
all 3.

The only thing I can think of is the jumpers and power

problem, and yes, I configured BIOS when trying them. Thx
for reading, and if you have any idea it would be well
appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Sorry about that, should have been more specific lol
um, I don't believe so (I haven't tried it in a while lol)
I'm unfamiliar with Cable Select... (when to use it, why to use it etc.) so if you could tell me that part it would be appreciated
And when it doesn't boot properly, at the beginning when it checks the Primary, Secondary etc (the first boot screen) it freezes there
Hope this helps a little bit, any help would be appreciated, thx in advance
-Jonatha

----- MGGP wrote: ----

Jonathon
Does the BIOS see all 4 drives when they're hooked up

Have you tried setting the devices on the Primary IDE bus
to Cable Select instead of Master / Slave

You say the computer doesn't boot properly - do you get an
error message ? Exactly what happens

Good Luck & post back . .

-----Original Message----
3 drives
Sony CD-R
Sony DVD-Ro
ASUS CD-Ro
(and 1 HD

for now), case supports 4 extra drives. The DVD is the
secondary master, the RW is the secondary slave,
obviously, the HD is primary master. Pri slave is empty.
However, when I try to hook up the 3rd drive, the computer
will not boot up properly. I'm pretty sure I have the
jumpers right, but would there be something extra I would
have to do if I'm hooking up 3 drives? I have 2 good-shape
IDE cables that hold 2 devices each, and all the drives do
work, like I could hook up any 2 drives together at the
same time but putting all 3 mess up, power should work for
all 3

The only thing I can think of is the jumpers and power

problem, and yes, I configured BIOS when trying them. Thx
for reading, and if you have any idea it would be well
appreciated

 

[MGGP]

Intro to Cable Select:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html

Not sure what your second sentence refers to . . .

You say:
at the beginning when it checks the Primary, Secondary etc
(the first boot screen) it freezes there.

Does it see all four drives when it freezes ? or 3 ?

Are you certain that the drives on the Primary IDE bus are
as follows: Hard Drive set to Master, CD-ROM set to Slave ?

I doubt it's power related, most systems have PLENTY of
power.

Post back . . .

-----Original Message-----
Sorry about that, should have been more specific lol.
um, I don't believe so (I haven't tried it in a while lol).
I'm unfamiliar with Cable Select... (when to use it, why

to use it etc.) so if you could tell me that part it would
be appreciated.

And when it doesn't boot properly, at the beginning when

it checks the Primary, Secondary etc (the first boot
screen) it freezes there.

 

[Guest]

Ok, so I read the Cable select, I get how it works now, lol
I'm not sure if it reads all 4 drives (HD & 3 CDs).. I think it freezes after reading HD, sry I have to check back on that.. and if the power issue is out of the way (I didn't think it was that either...) then should I try the cable select thing? and yes, HD for sure is master (obviously.. cause the computer still runs fine I just use it without the 3rd drive for now and it works 100%) and I'm pretty sure that the CD drive is slave. I'll recheck those, and should I try the cable select
Just to point out too... all drives DO work.. I can use any 2 CD drives simultaneously like mix-n-match them but its only when I try the 3 of them it messes up.. thx alot for the info so far.. its appreciated
-Jonatha

----- MGGP wrote: ----

Intro to Cable Select
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.htm

Not sure what your second sentence refers to . .

You say:
at the beginning when it checks the Primary, Secondary etc
(the first boot screen) it freezes there

Does it see all four drives when it freezes ? or 3

Are you certain that the drives on the Primary IDE bus are
as follows: Hard Drive set to Master, CD-ROM set to Slave

I doubt it's power related, most systems have PLENTY of
power.

Post back . .

-----Original Message----
Sorry about that, should have been more specific lol
um, I don't believe so (I haven't tried it in a while lol)
I'm unfamiliar with Cable Select... (when to use it, why

to use it etc.) so if you could tell me that part it would
be appreciated

And when it doesn't boot properly, at the beginning when

it checks the Primary, Secondary etc (the first boot
screen) it freezes there

 

[Papa]

Another thing to consider, assuming your DVD drive is not a DVD burner: Use
a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. That would reduce the number of CD drives from 3 to
2, and combo drives are inexpensive these days.

3 drives,
Sony CD-RW
Sony DVD-Rom
ASUS CD-Rom
(and 1 HD)

I can hook up 2 drives fine (I hooked up the DVD and RW for now), case

supports 4 extra drives. The DVD is the secondary master, the RW is the
secondary slave, obviously, the HD is primary master. Pri slave is empty.
However, when I try to hook up the 3rd drive, the computer will not boot up
properly. I'm pretty sure I have the jumpers right, but would there be
something extra I would have to do if I'm hooking up 3 drives? I have 2
good-shape IDE cables that hold 2 devices each, and all the drives do work,
like I could hook up any 2 drives together at the same time but putting all
3 mess up, power should work for all 3.

The only thing I can think of is the jumpers and power problem, and yes, I

configured BIOS when trying them. Thx for reading, and if you have any idea
it would be well appreciated.

 

[Cari \(MS MVP\)]

Make sure the hard drive is set to Master and not CS. Or if it is and you
want to keep it that way, use CS on the Primary Slave as well!
--
Cari (MS-MVP Windows Client - Printing, Imaging & Hardware)
www.coribright.com

3 drives,
Sony CD-RW
Sony DVD-Rom
ASUS CD-Rom
(and 1 HD)

I can hook up 2 drives fine (I hooked up the DVD and RW for now), case

supports 4 extra drives. The DVD is the secondary master, the RW is the
secondary slave, obviously, the HD is primary master. Pri slave is empty.
However, when I try to hook up the 3rd drive, the computer will not boot up
properly. I'm pretty sure I have the jumpers right, but would there be
something extra I would have to do if I'm hooking up 3 drives? I have 2
good-shape IDE cables that hold 2 devices each, and all the drives do work,
like I could hook up any 2 drives together at the same time but putting all
3 mess up, power should work for all 3.

The only thing I can think of is the jumpers and power problem, and yes, I

configured BIOS when trying them. Thx for reading, and if you have any idea
it would be well appreciated.