I'd love a hand getting IDE + SATA both on this pc

Hello, thanks for reading-
I've got a self built edit suite here, (about 2 years old) ASUS SLI-A8N, and I've been using my D: drive (which has My Documents on it) as a bleedin extrnal drive (mounted in USB2 caddy) cause I can't get the bastard to work happily on the IDE

I have 2 dvd drives, and everything I've tried with jumpers has caused at least one thing to disappear. I'm nearly insane, any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks,
Luke

(I have connected it internally before, but for some reason, it seems to be at the expense of the dvd drives..)

The OS is on the Sata yes?
How are the dvd drives set?

My friend had the same problem. I can't remember how he solved it

I always set the jumpers to "cable select" sorts most problems.

Ah sorry, yes XP Home is on one of the 3 SATAs

i'll have a look at the dvd drive jumpers now, brb

(did i just say brb in a forum)

Ha. Yes you did.

You are obviously an IRC chat nut Luke and the only time it becomes sad is when you actually say rofl out loud when speaking to someone. :p

I'm beginning to get paranoid the drive's dieing.. (but it's only a year old, and god knows i've had my share of hdd deaths on this pc)
i'll try removing both dvds and seeing if the hdd is happy at all. If it's dead i will kill someone (probably my dogs as they are the only alive thing in my house right now)

It's not uncommon, i went through a phase personally of 3 or 4 dying hard drives in about 18 months, then after some reading up replaced with western digital drives with hard drive fans and have not had problems since.

Plug both hard drives in on seperate IDE channels thats the 'acid test'.

If its any consolation Luke i had a 320GB HDD die in my standby desktop christmas eve ! brilliant timing !!!

Dave, 2 hard drives?

Completely misread this haven't I?

Well, disconnect both CD drives and plug the Single HD on the IDE with nothing else connected.

Check it in the BIOS first, if it doesn't show up there its pretty much knackered.

I think we have both misread this entire thread.
Let me get this right Luke

You have a sata drive containing the OS
You have an ATA drive externally
You have two optical drives that you haven't a clue how are configured yes?

Please let us know before we go out of our minds with frustration or cheap cider. :D