Using more then 4 IDE devices

by tre-erau Mar 21, 2004 8:39AM PST

Hey,

I recently purchased a new 160 gig 7200 rpm HD from a local store that was going out of buisness. Here is the problem, I already have two 40 gigs, a CD-RW and a DVD drive making up my 4 IDE devices. However my motherboard (Asus A7V333) has an additional two Promise IDE slots for a RAID I assume making a grand total of 4 IDE slots on my mainboard. So the first thing I tried was simply plugging the new HD into one of the Promise IDE slots with no jumper in (Single Drive configuration for WD HDs) and unfortunately I havent been able to get my computer to recognize the HD no matter what I do. I know the HD works because I have already partioned it and formatted it by unplugging my current master and slave HDs and using it solo in thier place.

So cutting to the chase does anyone know why my computer would not be recognizing this 5th IDE device? Also would adding an PCI controller card really do anything different? Basically I'm a hesistant to buy a contoller card when I essentially have one built into my motherboard already and it doesn't seem to be working.

Any help would be great.

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Re:Using more then 4 IDE devices

by Michael Geist Mar 21, 2004 8:55AM PST

First stop is a look in the Bios to see if that function is active.

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Re:Using more then 4 IDE devices

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 21, 2004 8:56AM PST

The rule is 2 IDE devices per channel. I read your post twice and didn't nail down how many IDE channels you have.

As to the Promise IDE slots for RAID, those "might" support more drives, but the BIOS must be set to enable and the OS might need drivers to know how to use those channels.

Bob

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You must check your manual or look in the BIOS

by Ray Harinec Mar 21, 2004 9:20AM PST

to see if you can opt to have the Promise controller set to handle IDE or even ATAPI drives. I have an ASUS A7V 133 which does [and I use all of them as ATAPI or IDE].

I know that the Promise chip on the A7V 233 only served for RAID purposes. Not sure about the 333.

There are Promise chips that only allow RAID, some that allow RAID or IDE [but not ATAPI, and some that allow all three [by selecting in the BIOS and possibly also a jumper on the mobo.

That's the real purpose of a manual. If you don't have yours, simply go to the Asus site and download a copy of the manual.

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Re:Using more then 4 IDE devices

by JMarchi Mar 21, 2004 9:38PM PST

Why not just dump the 2nd 40GB drive, no need to keep a 40 when you have a 160. Just plug in the 160 as a 3rd drive, copy all of the files on D: to it and then remove the 40 and replace it with the new 160.

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Re:Using more then 4 IDE devices

by Willy Mar 22, 2004 2:19AM PST

Taking all the other replys into consideration, they al hit on what maybe your problem. Your cure is basically will the RAID portion support added drives as EIDE, thus making those RAID posts an extra EIDE channels. You need to load the mtrbds. drivers from the CD or from the support websites(latest ones).. Once loaded you will find if they'll toggle amongest RAID or EIDE support plus check into bios setting. The plain fact is those RAID ports were just that, intended for RAID usage. Since, another poster offered good advice on getting rid of a smaller HD when you got 160gb'er, gee do the math. On top of all that, you better have a good(very good) power supply to support all the power demands of that many devices. Also, since you mentioned XP OS, have all the patches installed to better handle a HD bigger that 130gb size, in order to use it all. The HD support website should have a direct link to MS or its own patch, so look into it before taking things apart.

good luck -----Willy

Using more then 4 IDE devices

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