Thread: First Build DVD Drive Problem

Hi all. I'm having a big problem building my own system. It's my first time attempting it and this is the spec I've gone for:

Motherboard :- Asus P5W DH
Graphics Card :- Sapphire X1950XTX 512MB
CPU :- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM :- Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 800Mhz C4 2GB Match Pair
Hard Drive :- Western Digital 250GB Caviar
Case :- Thermaltake Mambo Case NO PSU
PSU :- Thermaltake TR2 500 Watt PSU
DVD-RW :- Samsung SN202 Drive £15

It's all assembled and nothing I can see is wrong but the DVD drive is not detected. It's powered and the light flashes so I assume there's some comunication with the DVD drive but in BIOS the only thing detected is the Hardrive (as slave).

So far I have tried:
- checking the DVD drive is set as master
- changing the boot priority in the BIOS menu (along with various other option combinations in the vain hope of getting the DVD drive to be detected)
- I have also tried different CD ROM IDE cables and exchanged my DVD Drive in case it is faulty.
Still nothing works.

All I can think is that the Samsung SN202 Drive is incompatible or that there is a problem with the primary IDE socket on the motherboard. To this end I am going to try a different DVD drive and try and find one which connects using SATA.

Other than this I have no ideas so any advice will be much appreciated!

Genttini

This site has some good information regarding drives not been recognised.
It is for HP and Compaq computers, but it may give you something to go on.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07146

Thanks for the help. I've tried everything suggested there so I either have a faulty motherboard, incompatable DVD drive or faulty IDE cable... or maybe I've bent a pin somehow :S Ah well I shall keep at it, hopefully trial and error will help me get it right.

Cheers

Genttini

Shot in the dark here but... click on Win XP Fixes on left then click on Restore CD/DVD Drives to Explorer. http://dougknox.com/

If you think you have a faulty motherboard IDE connector you could buy a cheap PCI IDE connector and try connecting your optical drive to that.