Hi,

I'm building my first computer and I'm having a problem with it. It's a "SATA, Biostar TForce6100-939 Socket 939 Barebone Kit / AMD Athlon 64 3200+ OEM / 2x 512MB DDR PC3200 / CPU Fan / ATX Mid-Tower Case / 450 Watt Power Supply."

All the parts are installed. I checked, double checked and even triple checked that all connectors were in the right ports.

I was ready to install Windows so I connected my monitor, keyboard and mouse. When I tried to open the DVD drive (BenQ DW1650), it wouldn't open when I pressed the button so I couldn't go any further.

I contacted the manufacturer about it, and explained how I connected it. I used the slave ribbon cable that came with my motherboard, connecting the blue end to the DVD drive and the black end into IDE1. The Master cable wouldn't fit because it's not wide enough. I was told to put a jumper on the pins in the next port. There are a total of 4 pins in that port. I don't have any jumpers so she's going to send me one. My first question is, do you think that using the jumper will solve the problem of the DVD drive not working?

I was also told that I shouldn't use the slave (14-pin) IDE cable that came with my motherboard, that I should buy a 14-pin IDE cable. My second questions is, would using a different 14-pin IDE cable make a difference?

Denise

If the drive doesn't open, its either got a stuck tray, its got a mechanical failure inside it so far as the drive mechanics are concerned, or its got no power going to it. On rare occasions CD units refuse to work if they've got another drive on the same cable's set to the same priority level - that is, if they're both set to master or slave.

There is no such thing as a 14 pin cable, you are probably referring to a 40-way IDE cable. While CD units will work on 80-way IDE cables as well, in theory the amount of data throughout should go up, but in practice the units can't send it that fast anyway, so a 40-way cable is more than enough. Anyway that's irrelevant.

If the drive is under warranty even with the presence of a jumper and it still doesn't work, don't mess about, send it back for replacement.

Ok, thanks Neil. I think I'll do just that. It's still under direct warranty and I have the receipt so I should have no problems.

Thanks again . . . Denise