Answer to first question is Yes, With no cd rom present? system boots up normal.
Computer
is homemade but fairly new.
Muthaboard-('06 ECS mdl#P4M800Pro-M)Intel pentium4 supports SATA LAN & DDR/DD2 w/700 mg of RAM
HD-('08 Maxtor 80G) and supports PATA
CD-('98 sony) label says ATAPI
Power Supply-('08ArrowMax 450W)
OH!
now i sorta remember what happened. Computer was working fine, including cd rom This I'm sure of as I played Tiger Woods and also installed some hardware using manufactures disk.
It was time to perform routine maintenance. So I disconnected power leads and thoroughly cleaned unit using compressed air.
After said cleaning I couldn't get machine to boot up. It was a nightmare. But after several days of trying everything humanly possible. I eventually got working by simply removing and replacing RAM sticks. Problem solved!. Booted up, everything worked fine.
BUT! At that time I only had HD hooked up. No cd rom or floppy present. Well I was so happy to have my pc back and to afraid of messing something up again. I just left cd disconnected. Until a month ago when I needed cd rom but couldn't get to work. That brings us to this point.
Note: tried changing jumper configuration