Secondary DVD Rom has bad sound

[Biscuitlover]

I have a Dell Dimension 8400. It came with a Sony DVD-rom. I just added an NEC DVD burner. I originally put the NEC in the second slot and the Sony in the top slot. The last connector of the ribbon cable was connected to the Sony and the second connector in line was connected to NEC burner. Both devices are in the cable select mode. When I play audio through the Primary device( Sony DVD rom) it sounds fine. When I played audio throught Secondary device (NEC burner) it sound poor (scratchy/slightly distorted). So I switched positions thinking that something was wrong with the new NEC I added. In the Primary position the NEC sounded fine and the Sony sounded poor in the secondary position. So, I determined that the Sony or the NEC is not the problem. Both will play a DVD with a decent picture but again the audio in secondary pos. is poor. I talked to Dell support and I was told that it is because the there is no Secondary IDE controller installed. This didn't make sense to me. I paid $750 for a computer that will only play good audio in one driver but by adding a second driver I'm only allowed good audio out of one of them. The sound card onboard is an Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated Audio. Dell had me download a new driver to no avail. Please help. Thanks, Nick

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

If their was no secondary IDE "controller" (It's a lie, controller is on the DVD \ HD, it's actually a host but wont worry about this) you would have nowhere to plug the drive in.

Sounds like it could be a bad cable, their only a few dollars at any PC store, make sure to get an 80 pin.

 

[Biscuitlover]

Chris, Just for further info. If I look in the Device Mangaer under IDE ATA /ATAPI Controllers and click the + sign I see: Intel(R)82801FB FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers-266F, Intel(R)82801FR SATA AHCI Controller, Primary IDE Channel but nothing that says Secondary IDE Channel. Thanks, Nick

 

[EricB]

Chris, Just for further info. If I look in the Device Mangaer under IDE ATA /ATAPI Controllers and click the + sign I see: Intel(R)82801FB FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers-266F, Intel(R)82801FR SATA AHCI Controller, Primary IDE Channel but nothing that says Secondary IDE Channel. Thanks, Nick

if you have a hard drive and two dvd-roms, you have a secondary ide controller, unless you have a raid car

try dj chris's advice

try uninstalling both ide channels and reboot the computer .
if will install the driver with dma enabled. see if it work.

go into your sound settings and enable digital audio too.

 

[Biscuitlover]

Eric, haven't replaced the IDE cable yet but I'm not sure how to go about your suggestion. How do I uninstall the IDE controllers and how would I reinstall? I don't know what dma is. Thanks, Nick

 

[EricB]

 

[EricB]