JonatanRaven
Joined: Aug 15, 2005
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 Posted:
Apr 17, 2007 - 01:45 |
 
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Hey there, I thought I'd pop this question here just for fun..
Recently I got an old comp from a friend and I'm trying to get it to work. As it turned out, I can't get it to start once I put the hard-drive in and I can't even get it to show the bios.
Symptoms:
Once I insert the power-cables from the power supply, both the cd and the hard-drive starts properly, but once I insert the flat cables (no idea what their name is in english but I'll post a pic to make it clear) neither the cd or the hard-drive(s) start at all.
We've tried switching the power supply with another comp, so we know that it works.
Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated. I'll try to answer any questions that might help understanding the problem.
The "flat cables":
I'm really new at "building" a comp from scratch, so any help is appreciated..
/Jonatan |
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svvampy
Joined: Nov 13, 2003
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Apr 17, 2007 - 04:57 |
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The "flat cables" are your parallel ATA IDE cables. They should be keyed so you can only insert them in one orientation. It's probably worth plugging in the CD-ROM and HDD to another computer to verify that they work or at least separately into the build PC. Making sure the drives are connected correctly is the first step.
If you're not even getting to the BIOS then something is significantly wrong --usually power related. It may also be the Master/Slave jumper settings on the drives.
Cheers,
Svvampy
If you're sure that the drives are working, but get no love when plugging them into the motherboard, it may be that the IDE controller on the motherboard is bollocksed, in which case you can probably only replace the motherboard. You might be able to get a USB enclosure for your HDD and plug that in to workaround a faulty motherboard, but such failures are rarely isolated.
Hope that provides you with some clues. |
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JonatanRaven
Joined: Aug 15, 2005
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Apr 17, 2007 - 05:09 |
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thing is, when I plug the hdds and the cd to the power alone, they seem to start just fine, it's only when I plug the IDE to them as well that it doesn't work.. |
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Colin
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
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Apr 17, 2007 - 14:33 |
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Does the BIOS show if you don't attach the drives? If you can find out what motherboard it is, post it here; HD and CD drive details would help too. Assuming the jumpers are set correctly, it may be that the motherboard pre-dates the drives by a significant amount, and cannot handle HDs above a certain capacity. You may be able to update the motherboard's firmware, but that depends on the manufacturer to provide them for download. |
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JonatanRaven
Joined: Aug 15, 2005
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Apr 17, 2007 - 14:52 |
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| Colin wrote: | | Does the BIOS show if you don't attach the drives? |
No, I can't get it to show anything, so i'm kind of expecting the motherboard to be wasted, but I'm going to exhaust every other option before I assume it's broken.
When I find out the specs, I'll post it here.. |
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BrainBUCK
Joined: Dec 06, 2005
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Apr 18, 2007 - 14:03 |
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I had the problem, that my CD-ROM didn't work some time ago. The reason was a wasted IDE-Cable.
If you got the material, then try to replace one thing afer the other.
Replace one IDE-Cable, if it doesn't work either, then the reason for the problem is mostly not that replaced cable. Then replace the HDD, if this don't work, then the reason is mosty not the HDD. And so on. Try to set the problem to one part of hardware.
And check the master/slave-settings. |
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