New IDE Controller

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I am trying to upgrade an older computer with a newer, bigger hard drive and, at the same time, add on a faster PCI Ultra 133 IDE controller card to run the new drive. I have tried two different controller cards that are supposed to be SCSI RAID and IDE controllers. The info on both cards states that they can be used as IDE controllers only (no RAID).

The problem I have is that I can’t get the computer to boot with the hard drive connected to the PCI card. When I connect the drive to the motherboard connector the computer will boot. I don’t have a “boot SCSI” option in my BIOS and there is no BIOS update for this computer that has it.

Is there anything I can do to get the computer to boot from the add-on card? If not, does anyone know of an add-on PCI controller card that will act as a boot device?

Thanks.

John

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John,
What kind of cards have you tried? What manufacturer?
I have a Promise Ultra IDE SCSI card and it requires separate software to be loaded to enable it.

OR
Why not just get an IDE add on without RAID?
Check out ULTRA IDE

Lots of choices and fairly inexpensive.

Also, some cards require a 40 pin, 80 WIRE cable for it to be recognized properly.

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Bob,

Thanks for the reply.

“What kind of cards have you tried? What manufacturer?” — I have tried a Sabrent card and an Adaptec card.

Why not just get an IDE add on without RAID? — I have tried to find one, but all of the ones available seem to be made for RAID–even the one your link points to.

Also, some cards require a 40 pin, 80 WIRE cable for it to be recognized properly. — The Sabrent card came with an 80 wire cable and it doesn’t make a difference with either card.

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As I understand your question, you have two configurations:

First: a hard drive on motherboard IDE controller 0, a CD drive on motherboard IDE controller 1 – works fine.
Second: nothing on motherboard IDE controller 0, a CD drive on motherboard IDE controller 1, a hard drive on PCI IDE controller – BIOS does not detect the hard drive at all.

Is it correct? Or the problem is that a hard drive is recognized properly but does not appear on BIOS booting devise list?

Try to disconnect all devices from both motherboard IDE controllers and look whether BIOS recognize devices on PCI IDE controller.

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——————————–
——-even the one your link points to.
——————————-
I thought the first one on the list, the Promise 2ch Ultra ATA133 had no mention of RAID?

The fifth one, StarTech.com had no mention of RAID and also specifically mentioned being able to be used for the boot disk?

There may have been more but I stopped looking after finding the first two.

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OOPS….you are correct. Must have gotten my eyes crossed when looking at that late at night. I will look into a couple of these. Thanks.

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