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General discussion

Can't get 2 Plextor DVD drives to work on same cable

Jan 9, 2007 8:51AM PST

I have a Plextor 708A DVD drive and a newly received Plextor 760A DVD drive. I cannot get the computer to recognize both on the same cable. I set the 760A as the master and the 708A as the slave. I am using Windows XP on an Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard. No matter what combination I tried, the computer would only recognize one drive and not both. Each drive worked perfectly when on the cable by itself.

Before going any further, I think I might have figured it out but wanted additional opinions. After pulling my hair out and trying almost every combination possible, with Plextors tech support,I think the problem might be my cable. I read in the 708 manual that it uses a 40 pin cable. I read in the 760A manual that it uses only an 80 pin cable. I believe I have both hooked up with a 40 pin cable (as the connectors are not blue, gray and black). Could this cause one drive to intermitently not be recognized? I say intermitent because every once in a while, the computer would recognize both drives but rarely.

Discussion is locked

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Try setting the jumpers to CS. . .
Jan 9, 2007 10:46AM PST

Cable Select. If it works, the master will be on port 0 and the slave on port 1 of the controller.

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Does it matter
Jan 9, 2007 10:51AM PST

Does it matter, with cable select, which drive is attached to the middle? Is there a preference based on performance?

I actually already tried cable select (and it didn't work) but only tried it once and may not have had the drives correctly positioned.

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You tried CS with the 80-wire, 40-pin cable and it didn't
Jan 9, 2007 11:02AM PST

work ?

Re CS on 80-wire, 40 pin cable....whatever drive is at the physical end of the cable is the master.

VAPCMD