Secondary slave drive - ATAPI incompatible

[Balera]

Hey all!

I'm having trouble with a newly bought DVD writer. If I start my computer it says Secondary slave drive - ATAPI incompatible, Press F4 to resume. (it gives 1 short beep with that)

My setup is:
- Primary Master: harddisk 1
- Primary Slave: DVD reader
- Secondary Master: harddisk 2
- Secondary Slave: DVD writer (NEW)

If I look in my BIOS under Advanced -> IDE configuration it says what my setup is with all 4 of them listed. But if I look in BOOT -> CD-ROM Drives then the DVD writer isn't there..

If my computer is booted up. My DVD writer doesn't appear in 'this computer' or anywhere.
The only way I CAN get it to work is to 'search for hardware' BUT normally this is the way the DMA settings should be:
harddisk 1: DMA 5
DVD reader: DMA 2
harddisk 2: DMA 2
DVD writer: (well not listed but SHOULD be DMA 2 if I'm correct)

But like I said this would be under normal circumstances. Well it isn't if I 'search for hardware'. (I don't have to install the DVD writer) it becomes usable (untill I shutdown or restart my computer) BUT the DMA settings change immediately:
harddisk 1: DMA 5 (stays the same)
DVD reader: DMA 2 (stays the same)
harddisk 2: PIO Mode (changes)
DVD writer: PIO Mode (changes)

Because of that I can't use my second harddisk like I normally do (instead of 2 or more tasks it can only do 1, else my computer lags) and I don't think I can use the full speed of my DVD writer either (haven't tried to write anything).

Is there something that can fix this? I don't know if my explaination made sense if not just ask to make it more clear, I'll try then

 

[matt123]

Ya. i want more about your pc config and OS specifications.
it may be non support of mainboard..

 

[MindoverMaster]

Matt, this is BIOS level, has nothing to do with OS.

Have you tried taking off your old DVD Reader? It looks like you have your pins right.

Might want to try putting your hard drives on Primary, DVD drives on Secondary

Make sure the cable is on tight. It may detect it, but not apply it.

 

[Balera]

OS: Windows XP Home (SP3)

Haven't tried taking off the old DVD reader or putting the setup like you said (HD's primary, DVD Drives secondary).

The cables are in like they should (tight) because I've checked & double checked them.

What I did try allready (regarding the setup) is: switching the secondary master/slave settings (harddisk 2: slave, DVD writer master) but that didn't work also because then it didn't gave an error but it didn't load my secondary harddisk.

I'll try to put the HD's on primary and the DVD drives on secondary now, if it works or not I'll get back to this thread thanks for helping.


edit: now that I'm saying that, heh could it be that my IDE cable/ribbon is broken?

edit2: THANKS MindoverMaster!!!! It worked (HD's are now both on the primary IDE and DVD Drives on secondary IDE) I've tried a bunch of things before I did this and it's the only thing that worked, even better my second HD is now running in DMA 5 instead of 2 (DVD drives both DMA 2) again thanks!

 

[MindoverMaster]

No problem man! I had to deal with this back in my EIDE days. it worked 90% of the time.

But yes, you must have your OS hard disk as Primary Master.