Primary IDE channel won't recognize ANYTHING

[zuk999]

I am installing a brand new ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard, and it's
a (semi-)first time for me.
After careful installation and following all instructions, I was very
happy to get the computer on with all lights, fans working properly.

Attached to the Primary IDE channel is a Master Maxtor 80 GB HDD, and
a Slave Maxtor 45 GB HDD.
Attached to the Secondary IDE channel is my CD-ROM and CD-RW drives
(models are not important here).

Problem:
The BIOS will not recognize my hard drives on the Primary channel.
The CD drives are recognized just fine on the secondary, but nothing
on the Primary.

So, I try using Auto-Detect on the drives, but still with no results.

I then disconnect the IDE connections and try the hard drives on the
Secondary channel. THERE they are recognized just fine, with the
proper size, heads, etc. displayed in the BIOS.

After some monkeying around, and hooking my CD drives to the Primary
IDE channel, I have discovered that NOTHING is recognized on the
Primary channel, yet EVERYTHING I hook up to the Secondary channel is
recognized.

I have double-checked the IDE cables (they are fine, and I've used
several of them); jumper settings on the hard drives (they are fine
also, but this makes sense since they are recognized accurately on the
Secondary channel); power supplies (fine); and just about everything
else under the sun.

Even worse:
This is the 2nd time this happened for me. A few weeks ago I went
through the same thing, and assumed there was a defect in the
motherboard and returned it to newegg.com.
NOW It's happening AGAIN! I guess it's user error on my part, but I
have tried everything I can think of.
My boss suspects 2 things:
1 - the board is somehow grounded on the case. But I have checked
this, and this does not seem to be the issue; I can't see any
'grounding' - it is all squarely in place.
2 - the BIOS needs to be updated. How can this be? It is a brand-new
motherboard. I have not done this step because it seemed unlikely.

Suggestions, anyone? I am stumped.

 

[dgk]

I am installing a brand new ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard, and it's
a (semi-)first time for me.
After careful installation and following all instructions, I was very
happy to get the computer on with all lights, fans working properly.

Attached to the Primary IDE channel is a Master Maxtor 80 GB HDD, and
a Slave Maxtor 45 GB HDD.
Attached to the Secondary IDE channel is my CD-ROM and CD-RW drives
(models are not important here).

Problem:
The BIOS will not recognize my hard drives on the Primary channel.
The CD drives are recognized just fine on the secondary, but nothing
on the Primary.

So, I try using Auto-Detect on the drives, but still with no results.

I then disconnect the IDE connections and try the hard drives on the
Secondary channel. THERE they are recognized just fine, with the
proper size, heads, etc. displayed in the BIOS.

After some monkeying around, and hooking my CD drives to the Primary
IDE channel, I have discovered that NOTHING is recognized on the
Primary channel, yet EVERYTHING I hook up to the Secondary channel is
recognized.

I have double-checked the IDE cables (they are fine, and I've used
several of them); jumper settings on the hard drives (they are fine
also, but this makes sense since they are recognized accurately on the
Secondary channel); power supplies (fine); and just about everything
else under the sun.

Even worse:
This is the 2nd time this happened for me. A few weeks ago I went
through the same thing, and assumed there was a defect in the
motherboard and returned it to newegg.com.
NOW It's happening AGAIN! I guess it's user error on my part, but I
have tried everything I can think of.
My boss suspects 2 things:
1 - the board is somehow grounded on the case. But I have checked
this, and this does not seem to be the issue; I can't see any
'grounding' - it is all squarely in place.
2 - the BIOS needs to be updated. How can this be? It is a brand-new
motherboard. I have not done this step because it seemed unlikely.

Suggestions, anyone? I am stumped.

Two come to mind. Neither terribly likely.

First, usually the bios has an option, under the Integrated
Peripherals (or similar heading) to enable or disable the IDE
channels. I can't understand why the primary would come as disabled
(not once but twice!), but that would fit this scenario.

Second, do try it with the board out of the case on a piece of
cardboard. Just the board, memory, power supply, and video card.
You'll have to short the startup jumper which are two of the pins on
that block that the case wires go to. A key works fine.

Oh, a third idea. Try cable select, just for fun.

 

[Paul]

Two come to mind. Neither terribly likely.

First, usually the bios has an option, under the Integrated
Peripherals (or similar heading) to enable or disable the IDE
channels. I can't understand why the primary would come as disabled
(not once but twice!), but that would fit this scenario.

Second, do try it with the board out of the case on a piece of
cardboard. Just the board, memory, power supply, and video card.
You'll have to short the startup jumper which are two of the pins on
that block that the case wires go to. A key works fine.

Oh, a third idea. Try cable select, just for fun.

The "grounding" thing could be the insertion of a brass standoff on
the motherboard tray, where there isn't a matching plated hole
on the motherboard. Brass standoffs at least, should only line up
with motherboard holes. If you want added support for a motherboard,
any other randomly placed standoffs should be made of an insulating
material, like plastic.

I'm sure you've already tried all possible combinations of master
and slave jumpers, or cable select on the drives.

As for cabling, the 80 wire cable with 40 pin connectors on either
end, is the best quality cable to use for the drives. On the 80 wires,
every second wire is grounded, which improves the quality of the
other 40 signal carrying wires. You can use the 80 wire cable for
all drive types if you want.

The "cardboard" test is definitely worth a shot.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Tim]

Does the board have SATA? Have you remapped a SATA controller to IDE1?
- Tim

 

[zuk999]

Two come to mind. Neither terribly likely.

First, usually the bios has an option, under the Integrated
Peripherals (or similar heading) to enable or disable the IDE
channels. I can't understand why the primary would come as disabled
(not once but twice!), but that would fit this scenario.

Second, do try it with the board out of the case on a piece of
cardboard. Just the board, memory, power supply, and video card.
You'll have to short the startup jumper which are two of the pins on
that block that the case wires go to. A key works fine.

Oh, a third idea. Try cable select, just for fun.

I will try the 2nd and 3rd choices shortly.
Re the first option - under Integrated Peripherals, there is no
settings for enable/disable the IDE channels. I've looked all thru
the BIOS settings, because this occurred to me also, but can find no
options for turning the IDE channels on or off.
Unless I'm really looking in the wrong place?

 

[zuk999]

Thanks for the assistance.
Turns out it was a grounding thing after all, due to a missing riser.
Real hard to see that it had come out, due to the shape of my case,
and it was definitely touching the case just slightly.

Totally fixed it and the computer is running great. Just glad the
grounding didn't cause worse problems...

 

[Paul D. Motzenbecker, Jr.]

Zuk,
Greetings and hallucinations from just north of Fantasy Land (Washington,
DC)!
Frankly, the holes should line up with your ATX case. Nine holes on the
board, nine studs in the backplane, nine screws holding the board to the
backplane. The screws do one thing to help the system - they provide grounds
(earths to you English English speakers) You can get a good deal of voltage
drop over long traces. Good grounds help avoid that.
One thing that some people forget when hooking up a system is to test it on
cardboard before you assemble the whole shooting match. It helps keep your
hair on your head.
When my A7N8X Deluxe did that it turned out to be an IDE port problem. It
also screwed up my drive something fierce. It needed to be low level
formatted to correct the problem. So be grateful for small albeit fatal
problems.
Peace,
Paul