Hello
My previous post “three DVD IDE one HDD IDE?” explains a little background of my situation but is not necessary to read. I have found cables long enough to hook up all of my devices but now it is not working. So I went to Western Digital HDD and attempted to find help but those attempts were in vain. Anyways this is my set-up and it is not working.

Primary IDE from mobo
Western Digital HDD- 10 pin connector on HDD- set as Primary Master
DVD/RW IDE- also set as Master (this is what WD said to do… it doesn’t work…)

Secondary IDE from mobo
DVD/RW- Master
DVD/RW- Slave

The other HDD is a SATA so it is automatically found

The BIOS can read all these drives when I use Cable Select (first pin 1 and 2 on HDD) on both drives on my primary IDE led but it becomes stuck at Verifying Pool Data so something must not be right. If anyone knows of a configuration that will work please share. Also if you would tell me on which pins to place the jumper on the HDD because I am unsure. Thank you much.

Bio Star
2 gig RAM OCZ,
AMD 64 3400 Athlon
Thermaltak SVKing Case
XFX 7600 GT
Zalman CNP Heatsink
500W Antec TruPower

I had a similar problem... same set up 1 sata, 2 ide drives (as well as 2 burners)

Make sure your drives are connected to the proper connectors on the mobo. You want to connect the drives as master and slave (black connector on slave, grey connector on master) and the blue connector into the ULTRA DMA connector on the board NOT THE ULTRA ATA CONNECTOR.

I made the mistake of using the ata connect... they showed up in bios okay but xp couldn't use them.

You cannot have 2 masters on the same channel...one must be master & the other, slave.

I suggest that you not pair up 2 HDD or 2 optical drives on the same cable/channel. The jumper settings are usually printed right on the label of the HDD. WDC has a jumper setting for Master (single), Master (with slave), or Slave...I do not recommend using Cable Select. If it's not on the label, go to the WDC website...

Try either of these configs:

primary master = HDD-1
primary slave = DVD/RW-1
2ndary master = DVD/RW-2
2ndary slave = HDD-2

OR...

primary master = HDD-1
primary slave = DVD/RW-1
2ndary master = HDD-2
2ndary slave = DVD/RW-2

So yeah.
I reset up my system in my BIOS it reads...
Channel 0
Master- DVD
Slave- DVD
Channel 1
Master- HDD
Slave- DVD
Channel 2- SATA
This I believe is all correct and I the color thing blackbill mentioned was done. But I am unsure on Ultra DMA and Ultra ATA.
I still receive the error the pool data error. Is thier anything in the BIOS that would affect this. Anything else>?

Bio Star
2 gig RAM OCZ,
AMD 64 3400 Athlon
Thermaltak SVKing Case
XFX 7600 GT
Zalman CNP Heatsink
500W Antec TruPower

I have 3 DVD drives. The SATA always fall on the 2nd channel automatically. Do I need to change that? Where do I put the other DVD drive?

Bio Star
2 gig RAM OCZ,
AMD 64 3400 Athlon
Thermaltak SVKing Case
XFX 7600 GT
Zalman CNP Heatsink
500W Antec TruPower

why would possibly need 3 DVD drives in one PC?

I explained before in my other post. Can this be done? Why am I recieving the error?

Bio Star
2 gig RAM OCZ,
AMD 64 3400 Athlon
Thermaltak SVKing Case
XFX 7600 GT
Zalman CNP Heatsink
500W Antec TruPower

OK...you screwed up the drive because you updated the firmware, but you decided it was a good idea to keep it installed anyway? Hmmmmm.....

Take the bad drive out & don't pair up 2 optical drives on the same channel

The other drive still works fine- it just burns really slow. Through CD/games still work fine at full speed. Why get rid of it if it still works- even if it does not work at full capacity?
I was able to get three ROM drives and two HDD to work. Had to reset CMOS- reload BIOS defaults. Everything works fine now. I placed the two DVD on the same channel. Placed the DVD with HDD on a channel. And SATA fell on its own channel.
Thanks for your help Jam and Blackbill. I am glad I was able to solve it fairly quickly.

Bio Star
2 gig RAM OCZ,
AMD 64 3400 Athlon
Thermaltak SVKing Case
XFX 7600 GT
Zalman CNP Heatsink
500W Antec TruPower

Hi, If that's a CS (Cable Select) cable then both drives on the cable can be jumpered CS. Tip off is that the connectors are color coded and some CS cables do not do Master/Slave. Some do both M/S and CS.

Jim

That still doesn't answer my question...& 3 of us asked you in the other post & you blew us off. Why would you need 3 DVD drives in one PC. Just saying "I have 3 & they all work" doesn't justify using them all. Best burns are accomplished by copyin the data to the HDD, then back to disc anyway...burning "on the fly" sometimes leads to problems (i.e. coasters) & if you do burn on the fly, it's best not to burn between 2 drives that are on the same channel. Only one device can use the channel at a time, so if tranfer data between 2 devices on the same channel, there's constant buffering & wait-states....& that contributes to the "coaster factor".

Whatever, it's your rig, do as you please. I just don't understand the logic.