Matt Parker wrote:
On the jumpers on the drives you should see M/S/CS (master/slave/cable select). This will mean that the devices negotiate their IDE master/slave status between themselves automatically. You'll need to set all the channels to "auto" in the BIOS as well.
Note that for CS to work: - All drives must support it, and have it selected - The motherboard must support it - The IDE cable must support it
At the first sign of trouble (and I usually don't even wait for that ) I always scrap CS and specify M/S as desired.
Also note that some drives differentiate between "master - only drive" and "master - slave present", so check those jumpers.
Symptoms of getting it wrong are not usually as simple as "it doesn't work". Sometimes it'll half-boot, sometimes the drives types (eg manufacturer details) will be shown as garbage in the BIOS screens, sometimes it'll work - and all those symptoms can apply to the same PC with the same hardware.