IDE cable problem! READ!!!

[dheeraj_kumar]

I have only one IDE port in my motherboard, but have one hard disk and a dvd writer to connect. So a cable has three connectors, right? I use one in the motherboard, one for hard disk and one for the writer.

The problem is, hard disk works if writer isnt plugged in.
writer works if hard disk isnt plugged in.

both dont work if i plug them together.

they dont work, as in they arent detected by bios.

help!

PS: Both the devices' jumper pins are empty, no jumpers set at all. I need to know which should be set the master and which the slave.

[pimpom]

You did not mention which HDD and DVD-writer models you have. Jumper settings may be different for different models, but this is the way it is on most models:

HDD:
Master - jumper on the two left-most pins, i.e. closest to the IDE connector
Slave - no jumper
Cable Select - jumper on the two pins second from the left

Optical drives:
Master - jumper on the right-hand-side pins
Slave - no jumper or jumper on the middle two pins
Cable Select - jumper on the right-hand-side pins

Your problem is that, with no jumper at all, the two drives are both set as slave and this confuses the BIOS.

There is no hard and fast rule as to which drive must set as master and which one as slave, but it is usual to set the hard disk as master and the optical drive as slave.

If both drives are configured for Cable Select, one drive will be automatically set as master and the other as slave. The drive at the end of the IDE cable automatically becomes master, and the drive in the middle of the cable becomes the slave.

To use Cable Select, you have to use an 80-conductor IDE cable, not the 40-wire type. (There's a special type of 40-wire cable that can be used as Cable Select, but I won't bother explaining that now).