Help with rebuilding my pc.

  • Thread starter Cobraboy
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Cobraboy

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Well seeing as I'm planning to build my own computer I decided to rebuild my old computer and get it running properly.

I've got the processor, gfx card and memory in and I'm in the process of putting my Hard Drive, CD-ROM and Floppy drive in. I've connected the power up and plugged them into the slots on the motherboard. Now this is my first question. I have three slots on my motherboard, one for floppy, one for cd and one for HDD, now I know that the floppy is a 32 pin (or whatever it is, all I know is that its smaller then the cd and hdd cables) whereas the cd and hdd slots are both the same. Does it matter which slot is used for the two? Like is there a specific cd slot and the other the hdd slot??

Now my second question.

I'm running Win95 on this computer (1996 model, P1 133mhz it's absolute crap but still good to tinker with). So would it automatically detect the new drives? Or would I have to set it to find them? Because my floppy and hdd have been buzzing and whiring away but the screen still displays 'None' next to Primary Master/Slave and Secondary Master.

Any help would be appreciated. This has opened up a whole new world to me and it is quite exciting. :)
 
Q1:

The bigger slots are called IDE controller 1 and 2 and it doesn't matter which one you plug them into, but it's easier to organize them if you put your HDD in IDE 1 and your CD drive into 2.

Q2:

You have to set the Master and Slave settings on your HDD and CD drive itself. Look on the back of the HDD, there are these small set of pins with small plastic plugs. These are called Jumpers.

HDD.gif


Picture: See on the label, there are instructions for the jumpers, the black squares are the positions they must be in. Between the IDE connector and Power plug, there are 10 pins for the jumpers.

You need to set the HDD as Master and the CD drive as Slave. There should be instructions on which pins settings are Master or Slave on the drives themselves or check the manuals to them.
 
It does matter which IDE channel u plug them into. the HD must be plugged into IDE1 or Primary or whatever it's called in your manual. And the CD rom will be in channel 2.

As for the computer not detecting the drives, you will most likely need to go into your CMOS/BIOS setup screen (usually you will see a msg thats says press del to enter setup, when the computer powers up). So go into the BIOS and find the section where u have the drives (usually the first section). Now change the option to Auto for both IDE channels. When u boot up, it should auto detect the drives. If it doesn't then u might have to manually set them up in BIOS by selecting the correct setting for your drives. Make sure u consult your motherboard manual if u aren't sure what to do.

Also make sure that u plug the IDE cables in correctly. There is a red stripe on one side of the flat IDE cable, and usualy an arrow in the plastic header at the end. That red line/arrow is to be pluged into the #1 pin on the IDE channel. Again consult your motherboard to find it, otherwise just experiment. Some cables have a small extended piece of plastic in the center of the header to prevent you from pluging it in incorrectly, if yours does have it, great :)

good luck!
 
Originally posted by Angel O'Death
Some cables have a small extended piece of plastic in the center of the header to prevent you from pluging it in incorrectly, if yours does have it, great :)
Click to expand...

Yea thats what mine are like.
I'm not as advanced in this area as what you guys are, but I pretty much thought it would have to be something to do with the jumpers on the hdd and cd themselves. Thanks for the help. :thumbsup:
 
It does NOT matter what IDE controller you plug your HDD or CD drives into. They are both the same. As for setting the drives to AUTO in the BIOS, most older drives don't support it, so you have to set them up manually using the jumpers. Use Master for the HDD and Slave for the CD drive.
 
Originally posted by Viper Zero
It does NOT matter what IDE controller you plug your HDD or CD drives into. They are both the same. As for setting the drives to AUTO in the BIOS, most older drives don't support it, so you have to set them up manually using the jumpers. Use Master for the HDD and Slave for the CD drive.
Click to expand...

Thats not exactly how id do it but there are several ways.
Ok you might not want to put the HDD and the CD-Rom on the same controller. You should only daisy chain them of you have a second HDD or cd rom. Also the best thing to do is put the HDD on the primary IDE controller, actually I have had problems with installing windows 2000/xp on harddisks that are on the secondary controller.

Example.

Here is how my pc is configured.

IDE 1------Data HDD(slave)------Windows HDD(master)
IDE 2------CD-ROM (Slave)-------CD-Writer (master)

The little dashes is the ide cable.

So the plug that is in the middle will always where you plug the slave drive in. Also the master will be the top one, although you are meant to plug the longer end into the PC (cant remember if its the long or short end of the cable you plug into the PC.

Anway.
Cobragirls PC.

IDE 1------Nothing------Cobraboys HDD(Master)
IDE 2------Nothing------Cobraboys CD-Rom(Master)

Just have a look on the top of the HDD/CD-Rom for both of their jumper configurations and set them both to the master setting.

Another thing is that you may have to go back into the BIOS setup program and re-enable the drives, so you will have to press del, or F1 and then either look for the ide HDD detection page. Or on the main configuration page (usually the first option you can pick) you may need to enable the auto setting again. I cant explain this part too well because it could be completely different depending on the bios manufacturer.
 
Originally posted by Race Idiot
.
Cobragirls PC.
Click to expand...

:odd:

Originally posted by Race Idiot
is that you may have to go back into the BIOS setup program and re-enable the drives, so you will have to press del, or F1 and then either look for the ide HDD detection page. Or on the main configuration page (usually the first option you can pick) you may need to enable the auto setting again. I cant explain this part too well because it could be completely different depending on the bios manufacturer. [/B]
Click to expand...

Right on.





:odd:
 
When you turn your PC on, does it say "Press F1 to enter setup" when it is booting up. It might not be F1, it could be F2, del, F12.

This should bring you into the BIOS setup menu.
 

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