can harddrive and cd-rom be on the same ide

[vadadof2]

I think that I have realized that one of my ide slots does not work.  I have been using the same ide cable for both the cdrom and the hard drive.  when doing that does the hard drive need to be set as slave or can I even put both of them on the same ide slot?

Thanks,

sam

[Computer_Commando]

...
1.  I have been using the same ide cable for both the cdrom and the hard drive.  
2.  when doing that does the hard drive need to be set as slave or
3.  can I even put both of them on the same ide slot?
...sam

1.  Not a problem.
2.  One needs to be master and one needs to be slave, you choose.  Enter BIOS and verify.
3.  Each IDE channel allows 2 devices, a master and a slave.  There's a 3rd setting called Cable Select, where it's supposed to be automatic, but I have found it doesn't always work.  

[sam greeson]

thanks for the help.  do you know what it would say if it was the cd-roms fault because i can't figure out if the cd-rom even works.  would it say anything about inserting bootable media?

[Computer_Commando]

If it can't boot from the hard drive, it will try to boot from the CDROM or the floppy drive (A-drive).  Boot order is set in the BIOS.