first deep format ... chkdsk threw up errors for first time ... worried

daily_2

32, it will only work on Maxtor/Seagate drives.

catalina66

Thanks daily. To you and everyone, I've done the 'last format' i.e. no intention of formatting every again until truly necessary, lol, and had also been trying to sort out DVD/CD drives so both work ... can't and now I've installed Seagate DiskWizard, I know I can't make a backup image of the partition until this DVD/CD problem is solved!

I have the HP dvd/cd drive as a slave, and it's picked up by bios, but can't work out the cables or bios settings in order for the cd drive to be recognised also. And don't want to be left with the option of having to manually swap the cables and settings each time I need to use the cd drive, lol! So, I'd hugely appreciate advice. (Faffed on with trying to sort this thismorning, and now when I boot up there are error messages about primary and secondary drives not present, so I have to press F1 to get into Windows). Stuck!

Best regards, Cat

basmic

Right, you've got IDE CD drives then.

You have two choices with IDE selection - Master, Slave or CS (Cable Select). I prefer not to use CS, but I've come across drives that won't work unless you use it.

This is the order you should set your drives up - the top-most drive in the list should be set as a Master, and the one below it in the list ought to be set as a Slave:

1. DVD writer
2. CD writer
3. DVD ROM
4. CD-ROM

Now, cabling can cause problems too. You should always have the Master drive at the END of the cable, and the Slave drive in the MIDDLE. The start of the cable, will obviously connect to your motherboard.

You'll probably find the end of the IDE cable has a blue header to connect to the drive - this blue is meant to symbolise the Master drive, grey for the Slave and black/grey for the motherboard.

To clarify: If you have a DVD writer and a CD writer - set the DVD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the CD writer as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

If you have a DVD ROM and a CD writer - set the CD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the DVD ROM as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

catalina66

basmic wrote: »

Right, you've got IDE CD drives then.

You have two choices with IDE selection - Master, Slave or CS (Cable Select). I prefer not to use CS, but I've come across drives that won't work unless you use it.

This is the order you should set your drives up - the top-most drive in the list should be set as a Master, and the one below it in the list ought to be set as a Slave:

1. DVD writer
2. CD writer
3. DVD ROM
4. CD-ROM

Now, cabling can cause problems too. You should always have the Master drive at the END of the cable, and the Slave drive in the MIDDLE. The start of the cable, will obviously connect to your motherboard.

You'll probably find the end of the IDE cable has a blue header to connect to the drive - this blue is meant to symbolise the Master drive, grey for the Slave and black/grey for the motherboard.

To clarify: If you have a DVD writer and a CD writer - set the DVD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the CD writer as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

If you have a DVD ROM and a CD writer - set the CD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the DVD ROM as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

Thanks basmic! Sounds great. Knee-deep in fluff from the inside of the pc, lol, but after a rest can't wait to get on and do this; will be great to have both drives working and be able to make the image! Will post back later.

Thanks again, Cat

catalina66

basmic wrote: »

Right, you've got IDE CD drives then.

You have two choices with IDE selection - Master, Slave or CS (Cable Select). I prefer not to use CS, but I've come across drives that won't work unless you use it.

This is the order you should set your drives up - the top-most drive in the list should be set as a Master, and the one below it in the list ought to be set as a Slave:

1. DVD writer
2. CD writer
3. DVD ROM
4. CD-ROM

Now, cabling can cause problems too. You should always have the Master drive at the END of the cable, and the Slave drive in the MIDDLE. The start of the cable, will obviously connect to your motherboard.

You'll probably find the end of the IDE cable has a blue header to connect to the drive - this blue is meant to symbolise the Master drive, grey for the Slave and black/grey for the motherboard.

To clarify: If you have a DVD writer and a CD writer - set the DVD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the CD writer as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

If you have a DVD ROM and a CD writer - set the CD writer as Master and put it on the END of the cable, and the DVD ROM as a Slave on the MIDDLE of the cable.

Hi basmic, I've sorted the jumpers and cables fine, and only needed to alter one bios setting ... bios reads that PMD is hard drive, PSD unknown (set it to off), and that secondary master and slave drives both recognised as CD-R devices. (I'd set the PSD to off after the first boot saying 'primary drive 1 not found', and changing the setting solved it).

Really glad the drives are being recognised, but there's a problem with the CD-drive itself ... got a feeling there must be some setting that needs adjusting ... it read the first CD-rom fine, but then on others I can hear it trying to read, skimming across quite a few times, then it stops. Am going to try uninstalling and reinstalling it now to see if that fixes it. Weird, as the DVD-writer's CD functions stopped months ago, and now the CD drive itself is kicking up a similar problem. I remember the DVD-writer responded to a fix (can't remember it!) but only once!

Just rebooted and again first disk worked, after opening the CD-drive's door thru software eject. But 2nd disk it won't read.

Thanks, Cat

basmic

Hmmm - out of interest, how old is the cable to the CD drives?

Do you know if it's and 80 or 40-wire cable running to them?



The top cable in the picture is an 80-wire cable, and the one below is 40-wire. Not that it makes too much difference with CD drives in the first place, but I like to have the best possible cabling in place for my devices - future-proofing myself.

When you turn the computer on, right before the Windows logo, can you startup from a Windows installation CD? I'm trying to establish whether or not the problem is related to Windows or not - or whether you just have either a cabling problem or a fault drive.

basmic

Also, are you running XP or Vista? I didn't notice.

basmic

Go to the Start menu > Run > type devmgmt.msc, then click OK.

Click on the + next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers to expand > right-click Secondary IDE channel and select Properties > Advanced Settings tab.

Tell me what is shown in the two Transfer Mode boxes. I'm guessing it wil say DMA if available.

Then tell me what is shown in the two Current Transfer Mode boxes.

catalina66

Hi basmic. Many thanks for your messages. Been faffing, as had a dim memory of upper/lower filters fix, so gave it a go with cdgone.zip I found and this has meant the CD-drive is a little bit more reliable (temperamental!), but still won't burn ... Nero and Imgburn don't recognise there's a disk in the drive/'device not ready (medium not present - tray closed).

The cable is 80-wire. Running XP Pro, and machine is about three and a half years old. You use the 80-wire yes?

Can always use Windows installation disk if go into bios and set it to install OS mode, then the system reads from the DVD-writer fine. (I haven't tried this process with the newly-resurrected CD-drive).

'DMA if available' and 'Ultra DMA Mode 2' is in both the boxes regarding Secondary IDE channel.

Many thanks, Cat

catalina66

Hiya, just bumping this up, as still can't get either drive's CD functions working and not able to make an image. Would much appreciate help, as cables are right (thanks basmic!) and BIOS is seeing both drives, but I am stumped what else to do!

Best regards, Cat