[Cialug] New Computer Hardware Issue

[Daniel A. Ramaley]

On Monday 03 December 2007 12:23, Todd Walton wrote:
>Funky Thing
>When I disconnect the IDE cable to the optical drive, but leave power
>plugged in, it'll turn on.  I can eject it and it winks its LED at me.
> So they must build drives to take input from the motherboard on
>whether it's okay to power up or not.

You said you have a IDE optical drive. What type of hard drive are you 
using, IDE, SATA, SCSI, something else?

What happens if you disconnect the data cable to the hard drive but 
leave power connected to it and turn the machine on? Does the drive 
spin up? Hint: some drives are so quiet you can't tell they are on from 
listening, but if you hold the drive in 3-space and gently rock it back 
and forth you'll feel a torque countering your movement if it is 
spinning.

Are you sure the IDE cable is good? Are the master/slave jumpers set 
correctly? If the hard drive is also IDE, are both drives plugged into 
the same cable? Are the hard drives master/slave jumpers correct? Is 
the master device on the end of the cable and the slave in the middle? 
(*Shouldn't* matter, but sometimes does.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Ramaley                            Dial Center 118, Drake University
Network Programmer/Analyst             2407 Carpenter Ave
+1 515 271-4540                        Des Moines IA 50311 USA