Help I can't open my tower casing!

sunshine124

Ok thanks for the reply and now i'm confused , what does a IDE drive look like from the back? As for the lightscribe i won't really be using it but I thought £22 for the drive was quite a good price? or is it?

When I bought the pc 7 years ago I was told that it was a SATA but I don't know if thats for the motherboard? I'm confused. i think I'm gonna have to open her up again....

Please help.

fiddiwebb

Download this and see if it works or not.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_cd_dvd_fix.htm

fiddiwebb

Any joy yet?

aliEnRIK

2 drives dont just fail at the same time

basmic

Ok, let's check the jumper settings on each drive.



On the back of each drive, will be jumper (probably, white, black, green or even red) across two pins. In the above picture, the jumper is the Master setting. Moving it to the middle set of pins would set the drive as a slave.

What you need to understand is, you can only have one master and one slave on each ribbon cable - also the master drive should be on the end of the cable, the slave on the middle, then the other end plugs into the motherboard.

So check your drives are configured correctly, and the cable is plugged into the motherboard properly.

If the drives show in My Computer in windows, but neither of them read, try disconnecting the power and gray data cable from each drive and see if they work one at a time. If one drive does read without the other plugged in, then the one unplugged is probably goosed!

If neither drive reads, then you may have a faulty drive controller. Which means the controller chip on the motherboard that controls the drives has probably died, or is dying. You can buy a new controller card for about £10-20 - or if your computer is so old, now may be a wise time to consider an upgrade!

sunshine124

Hi thanks for the replies and i have done what basmic has said but still no joy, the jumper settings seem fine. I have a wide cable attached to both my drives - does that mean it's a IDE connection? It has the same cable that is shown in your picture that you sent - is that the same thing as a PATA connection? I'm getting a bit confused with all these terms - SATA, PATA, IDE...:eek: Also my pc is about 7 years old - is this old for a pc?

Sorry

BillScarab

PATA is the same as IDE. SATA is a newer technology that uses much smaller cables and connectors.

See here.

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/cooldrives/ultraflex-sata-cable-1.jpg

sunshine124

Thanks so is that a pic of a PATA (IDE)? If it is then shouldn't it show the wider cable aswell? as shown in basmic's picture?

sunshine124

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews84920.html

the above link (i hope it works) has actually given reviews for the drive that I have, and it doesn't look good.