got myself a cheap box and........

[Apokalipse]

I got me a cheap 700MHZ box from a friend for $100 (aus) with:
Intel P3 700MHZ slot 1
256+256+128=640MB SDRAM
ATI Rage IIC
Nvidia TNT2 Pro - I chose to use the TNT2 Pro over the ATI Rage IIC
not sure what motherboard
8x CDR/RW
sound card, NIC, modem
and I'm using my 21" monitor which I bought a while ago

first of all, what do you think of it all, for $100 aus

it has only 1 IDE cable but there are 2 IDE channels, I set the HDD to master and the CD burner to slave
when I got it all together and booted, it went through POSTing and didn't detect my HDD or the CD burner
it gave me the messages: primary master HDD fail, and that was with the HDD on the secondary channel too
and I got: floppy disk drive fail <- that's probbably because I haven't got one in it
so now I'm gonna get a new cable to test if it is the IDE cable, if it isn't, then I've got an extra IDE cable and I can run the HDD and CD burner on different channels, but I'd need to get a PCI IDE controller
but if it is the cable, then I'll be set
what do you guys think it is, the cable or the controller?

 

[TheMajor]

I think its the cable. That's a nice comp for aus-$100. How much is that in US$?

 

[Apokalipse]

currently the aussie dollar is at about 76 US cents

 

[TheMajor]

BTW, have you checked the BIOS settings?

 

[Apokalipse]

yeah I've checked the BIOS settings, it's all fine, it just doesn't detect the IDE drives even when I change the modes for the IDE controller

 

[Cappy]

get another ribbon cable put the HD on the Primary (Master) and the IDE on the secondary as a Master.Untill you get a floppy disable it in bios .I think its F1 key to get to bios on that system

 

[Apokalipse]

actually it's 'delete' on my system
maybe I'll try disabling the floppy for now

Worst case scenario I'll prolly be running the drives off a PCI IDE card

 

[Nubius]

$75 for a full blown comp aint bad, considering it's so damn old....I say $75 cause you said it's roughly 76 cents US for an Australian dollar so $100 aus = $75 US, but yeah either way seems fair enough. As to whether its the cable or what, I suppose your only best bet is to simply start troubleshootin

 

[Joeisalsocool]

I'll agree with Cappy. A hard drive and a CD-ROM shouldn't ever be on the same channel, it would slow performance down when playing a game that uses a CD. Also put both the CD ROM and hard drive on cable select. That way the computer will decide where to put them.
Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Apokalipse]

unfortunately I have no choice ATM with only one cable, but after I get another IDE cable, if it turns out to be a problem with the cable I have now, I will prolly get another