Need help quick....new computer

Hey all,

I'm in the process of building my new computer. I've got the MSI K7N2-Delta and an Athlon XP 3200, in an ANTEC 660AMG case. The mobo only came with 2 Round cables, one for the Floppy, and the other for the HDD.
Question:
Can I put the HDD and the CD/CD-RW on the same cable? Or do I have to rip my old flat cable out of my old computer until I can get a new one for the CD/CD-RW?

Thanks,

PaveFE

 

You should be able to put a hard drive and a CD drive on the same cable. Just set the hard drive as master and the CD drive as slave.

 

Are you sure?

 

Unless the round cable is a serial ATA cable, then I am sure. If the CD drive can be plugged into the cable without any adapter, then it is the right type of cable. Plug the CD into the middle connector on the cable and the hard drive on one end. If the connectors are different colors (black, blue and gray), the blue connector plugs into the motherboard.

Note I said that this should work. Sometimes IDE devices have compatability issues, and don't work too well together. But usually, they do just fine.

 

As stated before there shouldn't be any problem but you might want to think about heading to the nearest store and buying another cable now to put the CD-RW on as (Secondary Master) in case you want at some point to add a DVD player (Secondary Slave), a second hard drive (Primary Slave), whatever, since it will make it easier down the road to add these things if the cable's already in place on the mobo during this build. A cable's just a few bucks and may save you headaches later.

Just a thought.

 

Ah never mind. I used an old flat cable for the time being and then I couldn't get the damn computer to load the OS. Sometimes I just hate these things.

 

One cold beer (substitute martini here), a good woman, a night of relaxation (hint) and start again tomorrow. Treat her right and she'll treat you right. At this point I mean both the Lady and the Machine.

 

I'll have to try that method. lol