Please explain this...

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Merlin

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Hi all,

Yesterday I found an old IDE HDD and figured I'd add it to my PC in order to partly alleviate a storage problem. The existing drive is a SATA.

I connected the IDE HDD to the mobo with the relevant IDE ribbon cable and connected the power with a SATA>IDE connector.

The PC wouldn't start...

I tried two different [old] PSUs, on my PC and on a spare rig and they worked. Then I removed the PSU from my PC and tried on the spare rig. Everything worked.

I reconnected my PSU to my PC's components; it wouldn't start.

I disconnected the IDE HDD; it wouldn't start.

I disconnected the ribbon cable and it started!

I should point out that the IDE HDD was set to 'cable select' and that whenever I switched on my PSU, I could hear the speakers pop, so it was definitely getting power, everytime.

What confuses me is that it seems to have been the presence of the ribbon cable that blocked things. A jumper issue would have only shown itself during the POST.

WtF caused this wierd problem? I'm as curious as can be.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for the replies.

How odd, re: IDE/SATA combination.

Can't be the BIOS; the PC didn't even switch on. The fans gave a near-lifeless attempt to spin and that was it.
 
Check that you didn't bend any of the pins on the header as well.
 
@ Merlin - what motherboard and PSU are you running on that rig? Is the IDE ribbon cable you're using the older 40-pin (up to ATA-33) or the "newer" 80-pin (for drives fater thatn ATA-33) ? The 40-pin will work fine for a CD-Rom but may not work for a HDD.

Also what what make/model is the IDE HDD you found - did you try and set the jumper to "Primary" and use the correct IDE plug on the ribbon cable? Some older IDE HDD's also have additional jumper settings to force the drive to emulate a slower connection.
 
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^What howardb said.

heh! reminds me of an old memory - 25 years ago I had a PC that wouldn't start if a particular combination of stiffy drive and CD ROM drive was inserted in the same machine. Had me scratching me head for a while - any other combination of drives, no problems - those two - nada - dead PC

Think it was a samsung and a sony or something...

Good luck - don't waste too much time and effort on it - just not worth it sometimes
 
Hey hey

On the IDE cable, make sure it is in the "correct way round"... the little red stripe on the cable's edge should match up with pin 1 on the motherboard (sometimes a 1 or a little triangle symbol next to the IDE connector pins) and closest to the power connector on the hard drive. Some cables have a little centre "block" to prevent this from being inserted incorrectly, some cables do not have this.

Some boards do not power up if this is incorrectly done.

4843271_f520.jpg


EDIT: Also make sure it IS an IDE connector on your board and not a floppy / parallel thingy :D
 
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1) I disconnected the IDE HDD; it wouldn't start.

2) I disconnected the ribbon cable and it started!
Click to expand...

if going by what you said here (exactly), it would suggest something with ribbon cable.

1) had ribbon connected to mobo still and power still to drive?
2) had ribbon connected to drive, but not to mobo... also still have power connected to drive?

@kilobits didn't IDE connectors have that little "latch" part on one side and the port on the drives a hole for where that would go?
 
Off-The-Chart said:
didn't IDE connectors have that little "latch" part on one side and the port on the drives a hole for where that would go?
Click to expand...

The latter models did, but the earlier ones not - similar to the old floppy and stiffy drive cables; I always managed to get the cable plugged in the wrong way, either at the board or the drive ;)
The older 40-pin didn't have the latch and could be fitted either way:
ide_ribbon_connector_2.jpg


The latter 80-pin had the latch (with 1 pin blocked out)
ide_ribbon_connector_1.jpg


@ Merlin - here's a good explanation of the cable types and connections, in case this is the issue you have
 
Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all of the help and tips. :)

It is definitely the IDE 'port'. All of the pins are in perfect condition.

The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-956G-DS3.

I tried a different ribbon cable last night. It is correctly aligned and yes, it does have the notch.

Same result; unplug it and it starts up.

This is a very old and small HDD. It really isn't critical that this works. I was just really curious as to why it does it what it does. :D

Kind regards.
 
Did you consider the master/slave settings? That can normally cause a drive not to boot even though it will spin up with power?
 
You will probably find then that some contacts surrounding the IDE port on the mobo have been damaged.. and since its a non-critical component everything else keeps working just fine.
 
That is also a sign on some older boards. Check master/slave and check that maybe the sata and ide don't share a common bus.
 
I have come across several machines that do not handle both IDE and SATA at a time. P4 3GHz IBM desktops or that sort of age exhibit the problem.
 
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