Recently i tried adding a 3rd HDD to operate Linux Mandrake as a secondary OS on my Win98 266 Home PC.When I added the HDD as a slave on my secondary the bios found it and all I had now to do was format. HOWEVER...upon restarting the bios found nothing on my secondary IDE cable,not even my CDROM. At this point my newly added harddrive squealed once and the running light on the bottom began to blink rapidly. Now whatever combination I try proves fruitless... No matter what IDE cable I put it on nothing will be detected (not even existing items,CDROM,harddrives...nothing) and again the squeal and blinking lights. What the hell? Is my Drive fried?Is this why it wipes out the ability to see anything on my IDE? HELP!!!!

This is what i would do: Remove all of your hardware from the motherboard. Clear your CMOS. Re-seat your hardware. Try starting your computer with only a drive (that you know works) on the primary controller. Go into the BIOS and make sure everything is set correctly. If this deosn't fix the problem, i would flash my BIOS with the latest revision and try using other drives from other computers that you know work. Mak sure to check your jumper settings! :)

Have You checked the junper settings on the second HDD? If it is placed on the secondary IDE as A Slave, is it a Slave to the CD-Rom or the first HDD? Now, if You are uisng the second HDD by itself On the second IDE, then the settings should be that of the Secondary Master not Slave.