IDE CDROM Drive Slave Problems

[Jamesc359]

All of a sudden my computer started accessing my HD and wouldn't quit. I quickly noticed that my CDROM drives were no longer recognized by Windows. Not to long after that everything froze and every time I tried to reboot it-it would immediately start accessing the HD like crazy and wouldn't get past the initial BIOS screen.

My initial suspicion was that it was my HD, but after a lot of trial and error I've come to suspect it's something to do with my CDROM drives. I say this because after I unplugged them the system boots and runs perfectly. So after some more trial and error I discovered that both CDROM drives (and my system) work so long as there's only one of them connected. As soon as I connect either of them as a slave the problem returns. It doesn't seem to matter which drive is the slave/master either.

I've checked my IDE cables and they all look fine and are firmly connected. Both drives are seemingly powering on, as I can usually (except when the system freezes) eject the disk tray. And I've only checked and double checked the jumpers a few hundred times.

So I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be. I could see it if one of the drives was defective, but why would they both still work as a master?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.
~James


System:
OS: Windows 98 SE
MB: ECS P6VXA
RAM: 256MB
CPU: 1Ghz Pentium III
HD: 250GB Seagate Barracuda ST3250623A-RK - Primary IDE controller
CDROM: Mitsumi FX4831T!A - Secondary IDE controller
CDWriter: HP CD-Writer 9500 - Secondary IDE controller

[mektek]

When you say both work when connected individually can you read discs and copy files from them on both and burn with the CD-RW?

[Jamesc359]

Yes. Individually both drives read discs, copy files, play audio CDs, and the burner writes all of the above beautifully.

[patio]

I would start by replacing the IDE cable...make sure it is an 80 pin connector,
Next i would go to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and select the IDE channel that is acting up...right clik it and select remove.
You still haven't mentioned how your drives are set up/ cabled...
Windows will automatically re-install it on re-boot...although it may ask for your MBoard driver disk...

Try these steps and post back with the results.

[Jamesc359]

Okay, I removed the IDE controller from Windows, then replaced the old IDE cable that came with the system with a new one. I successfully booted with both drives connected. For the moment it would seem as if it's working.

I'm still a little concerned as when I first turn the computer on the HD accesses for a few seconds. Normally it only comes on for a split second. I hope that's nothing to be concerned about, but some part of me is afraid it might be.

You still haven't mentioned how your drives are set up/ cabled...

Sorry, I didn't think it was important. Usually I plug the master into the end of the cable, and the slave in the middle. Although I did try swapping that arrangement. Which didn't seem to matter either way. My old IDE cable (for the CDROM drives) was a 40 wire cable that came with the system when I bought it. The new one I just installed is an 80 wire cable. The HD cable is a newer 80 wire cable that came with the HD when I bought it.

[patio]

There are many things that will access the HDD and cause the activity light to go on...anti-virus; programs loading or running in the background etc.

To check the overall health of the HDD DLoad and run the diagnostics from the drive manuf. site. This will tell you if that drive can be trusted with data.

You may also want to run disk cleanup and defrag if it hasn't been done in awhile.

You can also DLoad and install Startup CPL from Mike Lin. This will tell you everything that is loading at startup on your machine...

[ale52]

You might, as a precaution, back up any data you want to keep just in case the hard drive does fail.  Better safe than sorry

Alan <>< 

[Jamesc359]

Oh, no. I mean literally when I first turn my computer on, this is happening long before Window's is even given the chance to boot. When I press the power button the HDD access light lights up for a few seconds while my BIOS performs it's initial start up sequence. Which is abnormal behavior, as it normally only comes on for a split second. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid?

Anyways, I'm not really worried about the hard drive itself, I run diagnostics with Seatools and defrag it every once in a while, and so far everything looks good. But even if it were to go I always keep a backup of all my important data.