computer building help required

[Cyclist33]

hi, i need a real expert!

i ve just replaced the power supply on my pc after the last one packed in yesterday.

all good up to a point. that point came when i tried reconnecting an ide drive which is my second hdd, which has lain unconnected for a year or so because, following a transfer of the system to a new case, the connection of the ide caused the system not to start.

for reasons of complete stupidity i reconnected it after checking the system was working with the new power supply and with the usual sata controllers on hdd1 and the dvd drive. at this point it stopped working. i can get power but cant get it to pick up either monitor on any of the various display outputs, and it doesnt appear to boot.

ive since disconnected the ide and done a clean reinstall of the the mobo and all components and still cant get it to work.

apart from driving me mad it is making my little lad increasingly unbearable as tonight was going to be lego batman night.

i consider myself competent at this sort of thing, some would argue otherwise, but i have reached the end of my tether. anyone who can help me resolve would be a star, thanks!

stu

 

[DaveReading]

Have you checked for jumpers on the HDD that tell the BIOS whether it's the primary or secondary drive on that IDE channel?

 

[Cyclist33]

Er no, but I've sorted it somehow! Batman Lego here we come!

Thanks ,

 

[midliferider]

So the problem is that your system does not recognise your hard disk and the operating system? is that correct.
If so, I agree with the above. Make it the primary
Check what it says when the computer starts.

 

[Kies]

Primary & secondary IDE takes me back a bit. How old is your system?
Many hours wasted faffing around with that and partitioning :-)

 

[pclay]

Sata is the HDDs of today. If your using IDE, might be time to upgrade your #PC.

 

[Cyclist33]

So the problem is that your system does not recognise your hard disk and the operating system? is that correct.
If so, I agree with the above. Make it the primary
Check what it says when the computer starts.

No the problem is that with the IDE connected the system will not startup. The SATA disk is the primary disk and boot device but when the IDE drive is connected up the system doesn't even get as far as startup. It's like the IDE connection is somehow preventing other components from becoming active. It's odd because I ran exactly the same setup in the previous tower case without a hitch. I basically had to reset the entire thing yesterday after the IDE incident, and that meant removing everything from the mobo for the second time in a day, resetting CMOS etc then trying to reboot the thing using each of the display ports until it worked. In order to isolate what exactly the connected IDE is conflicting with, I'd have to reiterate this process piece by piece, and as it is working now I haven't got the patience to try.

I am not unwise to the ageingness of my system but it seems to perform as well as anyone else's newer kit, and the reason for still having an IDE drive is a) it was a legacy from my last system and b) contains a load of music and photos that I haven't got on my primary HDD. I should also note that I fixed the computer for £20 (price of a new power pack) and by contrast a new PC would be ten times as much.

Cheers

Stu

 

[Dragonwight]

As previously said jumpers on IDE HDD are a good place to start. Just take them off it will opt to be whatever cable is connected to it then. I assume you have taken a nosey through the BIOS at the hard drive controller to make sure there is nothing obvious set that would cause issues.

 

[philcr]

Possibly if the ide drive was set to cable select and plugged into the wrong connector on the ide cable that may cause a problem, but as you have fixed it congrats.