Athlon Socket A Motherboard

I have the above motherboard, and have a normal CD rom as master to one IDE port, and a CD-R burner to the 2nd IDE port again as master.

I would dearly love to keep both and use up the extra bay by installing a new Emprex DVD 16X burner, what I would like to know is what its the best advice for the master/slave configuration when I install the new burner?

My hard drive is on the primary IDE channel, is it also possible to fit a new ribbon and attach it to the secondary IDE channel on the motherboard and fit the DVD burner as master, or is this 2nd channel purely for adding another hard drive?

I may just replace the CD rom with the DVD burner, any help would be most welcome.

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Originally Posted by Icecake

.. what I would like to know is what its the best advice for the master/slave configuration when I install the new burner? ..

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Best advice & what you can do given you have 2 existing cd type devices & a hard-drive already are two different things ;)

There's a whole load of techical mumbo-jumbo-technical whatsit about IDT (independend device timings) & DMA methods (direct memory addressing) to consider for IDE channel sharing if you want the 'best advice' & for that we'd need the exact motherboard details & all the device details..

I'm though a little confus-ed by your question .. generally IDE controllers on most motherboards have two channels (think wires) & each of those channels(wires) can connect to either one or two atapi type devices (that means any hard drive or cd or dvd attached via IDE), you seem to have three, two connected on one wire & the other on its own - which is fairly typical.

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My hard drive is on the primary IDE channel, is it also possible to fit a new ribbon and attach it to the secondary IDE channel on the motherboard and fit the DVD burner as master, or is this 2nd channel purely for adding another hard drive

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So I'm thinking just attach your drive to that spare point (having checked on each channel {wire} that any pairs of devices are set appropriately as master or slave) - this should work, but due to all the techo whatsit mentioned earlier, you might run into performance (speed) issues on cross channel transfers of data..

I suspect I may be making this much harder than it need be to a novice ;) (or novice on such matters anyway :)) - so just try setting the master/slave jumper as appropriate for your new burning device & then note your transfer modes in device manager (looking to find DMA enabled on properties of each drive in device manager- any PIO mode mentioned in here indicates the IDT stuff I was waffling about earlier & then we need all the details to work out the best combination of devices or alternatively more IDE channels by adding say a pci IDE controller {$20 or so} as you don't get these issues on drives on their own IDE channel )

Thanks for your reply.

You say you are confused as you have said that I have 2 connected on one wire, I don't, I have as listed out below.

All I know about the motherboard is that it is a socket A Athlon, and the positions of the 40 pin IDE ports are as follows -

There are 4 in total - 2 and another 2 below, the top LEFT is used only for the CD Rom drive as Master, the top right is used for the CD burner also as master, and they are both MASTER because they are on seperate IDE ribbons.

Now the other 2 ports are directly beneath and they are the PRIMARY and SECONDARY ports, on the primary port my Hard drive is connected to this only, and I have nothing connected to the SECONDARY port.

I really wanted to know if I could connect the new DVD burner to the SECONDARY port and connect it there as MASTER, or would it be wiser to connect the DVD burner to the exsisting IDE ribbon used for the CD Rom or CD burner and make the DVD burner the MASTER and either the CD rom or CD burner the slave, or would this not be a good idea?

You see I really want to keep both of my current drives, but if I would be better removing one which one would you suggest as that would make things much easier, my preference would be to remove my CD rom and replace it with the DVD burner, what do you think?

I hope that you can correct any mistakes I have made when I say that I have 4 IDE ports. Do the 2 that I mention being the PRIMARY and SECONDARY ports be used the same as the other 2 ports that I have my CD drives attached to?

As for the details on my Motherboard, well I don't have any paperwork and wondered if there was anyway I can get details from the computer?

I know it to be a SOCKET A ATHLON only because that is what's printed on the invoice when I first bought the computer.

Sorry for asking questions like this but I am just learning all the time.

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

Best advice & what you can do given you have 2 existing cd type devices & a hard-drive already are two different things ;)

There's a whole load of techical mumbo-jumbo-technical whatsit about IDT (independend device timings) & DMA methods (direct memory addressing) to consider for IDE channel sharing if you want the 'best advice' & for that we'd need the exact motherboard details & all the device details..

I'm though a little confus-ed by your question .. generally IDE controllers on most motherboards have two channels (think wires) & each of those channels(wires) can connect to either one or two atapi type devices (that means any hard drive or cd or dvd attached via IDE), you seem to have three, two connected on one wire & the other on its own - which is fairly typical.


So I'm thinking just attach your drive to that spare point (having checked on each channel {wire} that any pairs of devices are set appropriately as master or slave) - this should work, but due to all the techo whatsit mentioned earlier, you might run into performance (speed) issues on cross channel transfers of data..

I suspect I may be making this much harder than it need be to a novice ;) (or novice on such matters anyway :)) - so just try setting the master/slave jumper as appropriate for your new burning device & then note your transfer modes in device manager (looking to find DMA enabled on properties of each drive in device manager- any PIO mode mentioned in here indicates the IDT stuff I was waffling about earlier & then we need all the details to work out the best combination of devices or alternatively more IDE channels by adding say a pci IDE controller {$20 or so} as you don't get these issues on drives on their own IDE channel )

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Originally Posted by Icecake

Thanks for your reply.

You say you are confused as you have said that I have 2 connected on one wire, I don't, I have as listed out below..

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Ahh I see ;) - generally IDE cables have two connectors on them like so http://www.texinfo.fr/images/cable_IDE_plat_m.jpg ... & your motherboard also sounds to have more than one IDE controller on it , raid boards & such have extra controllers (so more points to connect to), generally all IDE controllers have just two connectors but your board is like this ?
http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/...r/idesmall.jpg
(that pictures from a board with an ata 100 IDE port & IDE raid also - the yellow are for the raid drives {thats when you use a collection of disks together for either speed or data redundancy purposes - in your case it sounds as if the raid function is off & that means generally you can use it just like an extra IDE controller} & the white & blue are the standard IDE ports {one here is ata 66 white, the other ata 100 blue })..

So with just one hard drive, & three cd/dvd type answers the answer to your question of whats 'best' is to put each device seperately on its own channel (wire) here (despite the fact that some of the devices might be happy to share - all that IDT stuff applies, also we may have on complications on what kinds of devices can be connected to what I'm pressuming is an additional RAID controller, sometimes you can only connect Hard disks to these)

As to finding out exactly what motherboard you have, look at it ! :D - for serial numbers/model numbers or manufacturer details, mostly it'll say, if you are brave enough to open the case - danger will robinson moment - if you aren't confident & don't know about electrical safety - don't open your case & use a utility instead , such as EVEREST Home Edition

Hopefully that answers you, but I have a habit of raising as many questions as I answer, so we'll see ;)

When you say put the device on it's own channel do you mean to connect a NEW IDE CABLE using the SECONDARY port on the motherboard? and then set it as MASTER? for my DVD BURNER.

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Originally Posted by Icecake

When you say put the device on it's own channel do you mean to connect a NEW IDE CABLE using the SECONDARY port on the motherboard? and then set it as MASTER? for my DVD BURNER.

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I mean stick them all on seperate wires (Channel=wire here) on whatever connector - the master/slave setting of jumpers is for when you have more than one device attached to each wire/cable/channel & if there's only one its irrelevant if that jumper is set as master or slave ..
(Not knowing just what board you have is making this hard to describe, as some raid controllers can have CD/DVD devices attached to them & some can't !!!)

Note: Due to even more 'techo-babble' most cd/DVD type writing devices 'prefer' (the manufacturer recommends you set it as that, for aforementioned 'mumbo-jumbo' reasons) as SLAVE for any connected device.

Sorry but you are confusing me slightly.

Are you meaning stick it on a seperate IDE connector? and if you do then it would have to be connected to the SECONDARY port.

I understand about the SLAVE and MASTER settings, all I want to know is what to do with the new DVD burner, it's all very well saying stick it to a seperate channel, but you will have to explain to me fully how to do that as I have already explained how my current drives are attached.

My options surely must be attach it to either connector that is already in place as either MASTER or SLAVE, or attach a new IDE connector and make it MASTER.

The confusing aspect here is that you are telling me to use a seperate channel/wire, but do you mean using a new ribbon?

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

I mean stick them all on seperate wires (Channel=wire here) on whatever connector - the master/slave setting of jumpers is for when you have more than one device attached to each wire/cable/channel & if there's only one its irrelevant if that jumper is set as master or slave ..
(Not knowing just what board you have is making this hard to describe, as some raid controllers can have CD/DVD devices attached to them & some can't !!!)

Note: Due to even more 'techo-babble' most cd/DVD type writing devices 'prefer' (the manufacturer recommends you set it as that, for aforementioned 'mumbo-jumbo' reasons) as SLAVE for any connected device.

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Originally Posted by Icecake

Sorry but you are confusing me slightly.

Are you meaning stick it on a seperate IDE connector? and if you do then it would have to be connected to the SECONDARY port.

I understand about the SLAVE and MASTER settings, all I want to know is what to do with the new DVD burner, it's all very well saying stick it to a seperate channel, but you will have to explain to me fully how to do that as I have already explained how my current drives are attached.

My options surely must be attach it to either connector that is already in place as either MASTER or SLAVE, or attach a new IDE connector and make it MASTER.

The confusing aspect here is that you are telling me to use a seperate channel/wire, but do you mean using a new ribbon?

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What would help them is knowing what thier dealing with , ie: MotherBoard and such , if need be by using that EVEREST program ,
or if its brand name like Dell-Gateway-IBM-HP , if so the give brand name and model number or name or if both .

Most MB only have 2 IDE connectors (primary or main , and a Secondary ) , if it has 4 IDE connectors , normally the other 2 are for RAID array and only work with 2 identical HardDrives connected ,
thus the confussion .

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Originally Posted by Icecake

The confusing aspect here is that you are telling me to use a seperate channel/wire, but do you mean using a new ribbon?

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Yes. (there can't get simpler than that !)

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

Yes. (there can't get simpler than that !)

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Will it be safe to use the Secondary port on the Motherboard?

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Originally Posted by Icecake

Will it be safe to use the Secondary port on the Motherboard?

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Why wouldn't it be ? Do they have safety marshalls for folks deciding to use the secondary IDE rather than the first ? :eek2: ;)

In practical terms there's no difference between IDE0 & IDE1 (what some folks insist on confusingly calling primary & secondary - which only made sense 10 years ago when all IDE controllers were single channel, but not now as they are almost always dual channel, its irrelevant unless we are onto some real complex techo-mumbo jumbo stuff about enumerating LUNS for SCSI impersonation for writing)..

Where you might run into trouble is trying to connect some cd/dvd device to what I'm refering to as your additional IDE RAID connectors as in JBOD mode (Just a Bunch Of Disks) some controllers won't recognise them..

(& I'm damned sure btw mentioning your motherboard details {ta Grandad for picking up on my implication}, now I've told you how to find them, would make this much easier on both of us ;))