dvd writer

[nicola]

hi i have a dvdrom on my system and dont know if it is a slave or master my hard drive is a master ,and i want to fit a dvdwriter i dont have a spare slot on the mother board so i will have to use the dvd rom`s ribon cable extra connector can someone advise me on the jumpers

[Norm]

I would make the writer the master, and the rom the slave, or use 'cable select' on the same ribbon. Leave the HD on it's own ribbon, alone.

The jumpers are on the back of the drive, and should have something like MA, SL, and CS written to show where to place the jumper. MA for master, SL for slave, and CS for cable select. (or very close to that. Might be 3 letters like MAS, SLA, and CSL

Place the jumper for the writer on MA, and the jumper for the Rom on SL (each have 2 pins that the jumper will connect)

[nicola]

i have just put writer on master and dvdrom was already on slave ,turned my pc back on ,clicked my computer and dvd rom and dvdwriter not there,do i put both onto cable select?

[Norm]

You can try cable select on both, it may work. No harm trying.

You may need to get into the BIOS setup and set all IDE channels to "auto" (One or more of them may be disabled. Try cable select on both first.)

[nicola]

just set to cable select and clicked my computer dvd rom is back but dvd writer is not there ????? anything else i can do? how do i go into bios set up?

[Norm]

Shut your PC down completely, then restart it.

Press the pause key (press and release many times, just to be sure you pause the display). (giving your monitor time to warm up, and show the display.

Post what you see for BIOS. Award? Pheonix? AMI (american megatrend)?

They are all different. Usually press the delete key, or F1. A few others too depending on the manufacturer.

Be careful in he BIOS setup, only change one thing at a time and save it then reboot. If problems arise, at least yo'll know what to change back.

[Norm]

Curious...

Is this DVD writer brand new?

[nicola]

hi , icant change any thing in the bios until you tell me how to get into it and what to change, done what you told me with pause results were
american megatrends
ambios{c} 2000
release 09/14/2001 s
amd athlon processor 900mhz
checkin nvram
262144kb ok {16 mb shared sizeused}
wait
auto detecting secmaster ....atapi cdrom
auto detecting secslave ....not detected
pri master wah21pb0 maxtor 2bo2oh1
ultra dma mode-5 s.m.a.r.t. capeable but disabled
sec master 12 dvd rom 12x

[Norm]

ALT+?, ALT+S, ALT+ENTER, F1, F2, F3, CTRL+F1, CTRL+F3, CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, DEL, CTRL+ALT+INS, CTRL+ALT+S, ESC, and INS.

Try the delete key, as it starts to boot, keep htting it.
Then if that doesn't work try the others the same way.

From your above post it appears that all IDE channels are being auto detected, so no need to change in BIOS.

Either your jumpers are wrong, or the DVD writer is toast.

[nicola]

the dvd writer is brand new dont tell me it is toast please it cost me £2oo :cry: only had it since july

[Norm]

It is also possible that your IDE cable is on backwards for the DVD writer.

Is it brand new?

You did remember to plug a power cable into it, right?

Also, recheck the jumpers.

Sometimes certain devices won't master slave and get along well. To check this, just connect the writer, and disconnect the Rom and see if the writer works alone.

[nicola]

brand new,,,, its on the wright way , i checked that, what do i do in bios what shall i change

[Norm]

I edited my above post, reread it, ok.

No need to change in BIOS, it IS already set to autodetect.

Try what I wrote above re: running ONLY the writer.

[Norm]

I reread the thread to see if maybe I forgot something, and yes, I did.

A mastered device should be at the 'end' of your cable, and a slaved device should be in the 'middle' (even if you chose to use 'cable select' on the jumpers)

If you run the DVD writer on Master, by itself, and at the end of the cable, and still doesn't get seen by the BIOS, then it is more than likely 'toasted'

One thing I've noticed in the past is that 'writers' seem to work better as the 'master' device, they don't like being a slave for some reason. (some)

Good luck nicola, I have to go out to a barbecue. I'll check back when I can.

Norm

P.S. You are very welcome, thanks for being polite and thanking me. :)

[nicola]

thanks norm ,writer is working all i need now is for the dvdrom to work at the same time, you are clever ;) thank you so much for your time and help:D xxxxxx

[Norm]

Originally posted by nicola
thanks norm ,writer is working all i need now is for the dvdrom to work at the same time, you are clever ;) thank you so much for your time and help:D xxxxxx Super, I just saw this as I reread my reply.

Read my above post, and see if you can get both working together. I think you may have had one set to master, but had it hooked in the 'middle' of the cable.


Good luck, I'll check back tonight.

Norm

[Norm]

One more thing before I go...

If the BIOS sees both drives, but windows doesn't see either, then hook up the writer alone again, boot to windows, and then go into device manager>properties of the writer, and disable DMA.

If I remember correctly, your problem started when you enabled it.

The ROM may not be compatible with DMA and knocked out the entire secondary IDE channel.

[nicola]

hi norm, dma is disabled already auto insert notification is ticked and disconnect box is ticked in writers properties i have put writer at the end of the ribbon and tried rom in the middle made both slaves {did`nt work} tried writer as master {nothing
}i have now disconnected the dvd rom and its ok again the writer is my d drive ,is it possible that when i disabled my dvd rom dma and put the writer on its own it is being reconised as the dvd rom ,if i can get into the properties of the writer i can disable the dma but at moment if both are connected it does not show writer ??????

[nicola]

hi i just loaded xp ,ive managed to get dvd rom dvd writer to work ,i puit writer on a ribbon of its own and put the dvd rom on the hdd ribbon and went into bios and made the rom a pri slave ,everything works when i turned pc back on ,:D , so i have just put xp on and it give me details of things that might not work with xp i will put them on here see if you can help me ,thanks again norm for everything xxxxxxx;)

[Norm]

Sounds like those 2 devices didn't want to play nice together as master, and slave nicola. It happens sometimes.

I didn't want to suggest slaving with your HD, but hey, if it works, and works well, go for it.

Good thinking, you're going to be a master of PC's one day :)