On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 11:47:03 -0700, xavier wrote:


Aye Christian lad, I think you're right!

I didn't know that when I posted but someone emailed me to correct my
ways.

I'll open it up and look for the other connection. I presume it's one of
those 40?pin things

Yes - there are usually two (sometimes four on posh mobos).

Extra info: If your motherboard is newish (say last 2 years) and your disk
is newish (ditto) then you might need a different type of cable.

The key thing is - if the disk is ATA100 or ATA133 capable (100MHz or
133MHz wire speed) *and* the motherboard can support this - then you must
use 80 core cable.

It still has 40 pin plugs though. To get the higher speed, every second
core is a ground wire and are bonded to a common bus in the "special" plug.

You can use 40 core cable but either the drive won't negotiate full bus
speed or if it does it will be unreliable.

BTW - such cable must be installed the right way round (correct end to
motherboard) and hang the disk off the far end, not the middle connector -
leaving a free end can get weird problems due to signal reflections.

HTH

Timbo