New DVD Drive Not Recognized

[crw330]

Hello all,
   First my PC:
*Abit AA8XE mobo, (LGA 775, Intel 925XE)
*1 250 GB HDD (connected via SATA cable)
*2 GB Patriot DDR2 RAM, 533 Mhz
*P4 3.0 Ghz CPU (Prescott I think)
*Sapphire ATI Radeon X850Pro graphics card
*SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card
*600 watt PSU
*NEC DVD R/W
*Lite-On DVD-ROM

I am trying to add a second DVD drive to my computer at home.  Windows doesn't show the new drive in My Computer, nor in the Device
Manager.  The CMOS also doesn't detect the new drive.  I have tested various configuration and for some reason the CMOS will not recognize that there are two DVD drives.  No matter what configuration I use only the master drive shows up in CMOS when both drives are plugged in. Here are the various configurations that I have tried that have failed (the original drive is an NEC DVD R/W, and the new drive is a Lite-On DVD-ROM):

1.    NEC as master (plugged into end of IDE cable) with jumper at Cable Select
   Lite-On as slave (plugged into middle of IDE cable) with jumper at Cable Select

2.    NEC as master with jumper at Master
   Lite-On as slave with jumper at Slave

3.    Lite-On as master with jumper at Master
   NEC as slave with jumper at Slave

4.    Lite-On as master with jumper at Cable Select
   NEC as slave with jumper at Cable Select

   At this point I determined that neither drive is defective because in situation 1 & 2 the NEC drive showed up in CMOS, and in 3 & 4 the Lite-On showed up in CMOS.  The slave just won't show up though.  So I thought that the problem might be the IDE cable.  I tried two more new IDE cables with the same results.

   I read online that a BIOS update might fix the problem.  So I downloaded the newest BIOS from Abit, flashed the BIOS, then cleared the CMOS via the jumper on the motherboard.  This didn't change my results, still no slave in CMOS.

   I then tried just plugging in the Lite-On as slave with no master and the CMOS recognized it.  For some reason though when I plug the NEC in as master and reboot it goes back to not recognizing the slave.  I am thoroughly confused at this point and am just wondering if either anyone has run across this problem before and been able to resolve it.

Thanks

[Raptor]

Maybe your IDE cable is damaged. Try another one. Or try cable select.

[soybean]

crw330, in the 4 configurations you posted, you mentioned which connector on the IDE cable you had the drives connected to in #1, but not the others.  Did you also change the connections when you reversed the master/slave settings?

You might visit the websites of the DVD drive manufacturers and see whether they have any FAQ or Knowledge Base area with relevant info.  They might even have their own forum.  You might also see whether a firmware update is available for either or both drives. 

[crw330]

Maybe your IDE cable is damaged. Try another one. Or try cable select.

I tried 3 IDE cables, 2 of them new.  Also tried cable select.

[crw330]

crw330, in the 4 configurations you posted, you mentioned which connector on the IDE cable you had the drives connected to in #1, but not the others.  Did you also change the connections when you reversed the master/slave settings?

You might visit the websites of the DVD drive manufacturers and see whether they have any FAQ or Knowledge Base area with relevant info.  They might even have their own forum.  You might also see whether a firmware update is available for either or both drives. 

Yes, I switched the positions of the drives so that the slave would plug into the middle connector and master into the end connector.  I just included it in the first scenario to indicate that I know how the plugs are supposed go into the master/slave to rule out that as a possible cause of the problem for readers.

I will check for firmware and manufacturer FAQs. Thanks.

[soybean]

OK, please post back and let us know how it's going.

[ale52]

Try hooking up the problem drive alone & see if it comes up.

Alan <>< 

[crw330]

Try hooking up the problem drive alone & see if it comes up.

Alan <>< 

Either drive is recognized when connected by themselves.  The problem occurs when both drives are connected.