so i don't mean to be curt, but i bet we all know how frustrating this kinda thing can be, I really appreciate all your help.. im going to buy an ide now, fingers crossed..
had the same problem yesteday, turned out to be the jumper. I have a maxtor hdd had it connected as second hdd, jumper was put on :|:': , but it should have been ::|':
the stickers on the drive are really dumb, since both :|:': and ::|': say slave, but only one really works.