OT: hardware question
Vaughn Treude
vltreude at deru.com
Wed Oct 15 21:16:08 MST 2008
Jason Spatafore wrote:
> If you're attaching the CD-ROM's with the same cable or on the same
> IDE channel, I would suspect the cable or channel on the motherboard.
>
> Does the problem go away if you use a different cable?
> Does it go away if you connect to a different bus?
>
Changing the cable didn't fix it.
Yep, I'm in the habit of setting the jumpers, as a lot of my hardware is
old. :-)
I suspect you're right about the bus.
Vaughn
> Have you tried connecting the CD-ROM to the same cable as the hard drive?
> Did you make sure you set master/slave instead of relying on cable
> select settings? (Which don't work in such old hardware.)
>
> Anyway, may things could be the root cause. I hope these suggestions
> help.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Lisa Kachold <mailto:lisakachold at obnosis.com>
> *To:* Main PLUG discussion list
> <mailto:plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 13, 2008 10:55 AM
> *Subject:* RE: OT: hardware question
>
> A 300 MHz is going to be a tad slow. The current requirements for
> FreeGeek recycled equipment are 500Mhz and the older equipment
> works great for most users. After all what are we doing but
> browsing?
>
> The best tool in my bag is a Big TACK or twisty wire with the
> plastic bitten off at that base, to insert into the tiny CDROM
> hole and release the drive bay door.
>
> It's the "Hal 9000 drive bay door problem"...."I am sorry Dave, I
> can't do that..." Arthur C. Clark
>
> http://wapedia.mobi/en/Obnosis ||
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obnosis | Obnosis.com (503)754-4452
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> > Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:42:03 -0700
> > From: vltreude at deru.com
> > To: plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: Re: OT: hardware question
> >
> >
> > Vaughn Treude wrote:
> > > Hello, everyone. Here's an OT question that is at least
> > > computer-related. :-)
> > >
> > > I'm trying to resurrect an old 300 MHz PC I was using to run
> an ISA
> > > scope card, and to run an old test suite that only works on -
> get ready
> > > for this - Windows 95. (It worked fine for that.) I was having
> trouble
> > > with the CD-ROM drive. I replaced it with four others from my
> "old
> > > hardware" supplies in my closet, and none appeared to work.
> The drives
> > > would power up and the BIOS would recognize them but none
> wanted to
> > > eject the tray. (Actually, one one of them, the tray would
> work a couple
> > > times and then be stuck closed until I cycled power.) Could
> all these
> > > drives be bad, or could it be that the old generic 300W power
> supply was
> > > flakey?
> > >
> > > I happened to have a relatively new Antec supply; I'd swapped
> it out on
> > > a newer machine on which I'd suspected supply problems. Well, the
> > > problem wasn't the supply, but I was too lazy to return the
> new supply
> > > to Fry's, so I kept this one as a spare. So I thought, good
> opportunity
> > > to test my theory.
> > >
> > > Turns out that is is an old PC Chips M565 motherboard, sort of
> an AT/ATX
> > > hybrid. It has both types of power connectors, so was able to
> hook up
> > > the Antec. Then I discovered that the little switch connector
> on the
> > > corner has NO remote power switch pins. It has suspend, reset,
> turbo
> > > LED, etc. But no pins marked power or PS or RPS. I even
> downloaded the
> > > manual, which was no help.
> > >
> > >
> > Never mind, I re-read the manual. Supposedly the suspend switch
> input
> > can work as a power switch, if you hold it down for several
> seconds.
> > That didn't work, of course. I like to think I'm being frugal by
> > reclaiming old PC's, as I did with this one a few years back. But -
> > there's a reason computer hardware is cheap. :-)
> > Vaughn
> >
> > > So this is weird. They _have_ an ATX power connector, but no
> switch
> > > pins. The Antec has a rocker switch on the back, but switching
> that does
> > > nothing, as I expected. Do I now have to swap the old supply
> back in and
> > > hope the problem was something else? (Like four bad drives?
> Perhaps the
> > > IDE2 port is malfunctioning and somehow confusing the drive?
> Maybe,
> > > though I was actually able to access the CD during the brief
> time the
> > > tray worked on one of them.)
> > >
> > > Or is there some sneaky way to make the Antec power up?
> > > Thanks for any help I can get from the hardware hackers among us.
> > >
> > > Vaughn
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> > >
> >
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