80GB: ECS P5ST-A Ver 1.0a 11/05/97-SiS-5598-(P5ST-A)C-00

BIOS update, EIDE card, or overlay software? (FAQ Hard disk recognition)
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KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

When drives are Master/Slaved, the controller in the Master is used. Perhaps the older controller did not like the newer drive for some reason.
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jamsah
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:37 pm

KachiWachi wrote:When drives are Master/Slaved, the controller in the Master is used. Perhaps the older controller did not like the newer drive for some reason.
Dear KachiWachi,

Perhaps. Although, I do not think you have read all my posts.
Basically the problem is.
1)The new HDD did not like the floating middle connector.
The old drive, however, was HAPPY with either:
2) slave (new HDD) connected to the middle connector where slave IS detected correctly with No errors, a key to hit 'To Continue' booting etc.
3) Or slave not connected (middle connector floats) where slave is NOT detected/ignored. That's, master boots up and goes to work as normal and as a single master HDD- exactly the same way as if two connector IDE cable used where slave is not present!

But then, the older controller is doing things differently for the two drives' master/slave arrangements. Mysterous!
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NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

KachiWachi wrote:When drives are Master/Slaved, the controller in the Master is used.
That's not quite right, I'm afraid. There's an old Conner document describing how it used to work on some early IDE drives here which tells you that for most commands the DRV bit would determine which drive responded; but that the slave drive did signal to the master in certain circumstances using the Host PDIAG and Host DASP signals. This document discusses four different ways of using these signals... no wonder there used to be compatibility issues!!
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
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KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

NickS -

That's kinda what I was refering to, since he mentioned that the new drive didn't like being in the slave position on the cable. :roll:

Maybe the older drive has some sort of termination problem, so that when the new drive was placed in the chain, things didn't work right.

No matter...just as long as everything works now. :)
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jamsah
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:37 pm

KachiWachi wrote:NickS -

That's kinda what I was refering to, since he mentioned that the new drive didn't like being in the slave position on the cable. :roll:

Maybe the older drive has some sort of termination problem, so that when the new drive was placed in the chain, things didn't work right.

No matter...just as long as everything works now. :)
Aah. This is what I said:
1)The new HDD 'MASTER' did not like the floating middle connector.
That is, when I disconnect the slave (old drive) from the middle connector.
2) The old 'MASTER' drive, however, was/is HAPPY with new HDD slave connected to the middle connector where this slave IS detected correctly with No errors, a key to hit 'To Continue' booting etc.
3) Also, the old 'MASTER' drive was/is HAPPY with new slave HDD NOT connected (i.e middle connector floats) where slave is NOT detected/ignored. That's, The old master boots up and goes to work as normal and as a single master HDD- exactly the same way as if two connector IDE cable used where slave is not present!

You, see I NEVER 'mentioned that the new drive didn't like being in the slave position on the cable.' If anything, the OPPOSITE!
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