DvD-RW installation problem

[possumboy]

I have encountered a strange problem and hopefully can find some help here. I'm putting together my new comp (ASUS A8N-Sli deluxe) and purchased a Maxtor SATA 200gb hd and a NEC dvd-rw drive. The HD is recognized, but I can't get the dvd drive to work correctly.

The specific problem is:

When the power is plugged into the drive, it powers up and and will open, etc. When I connect the ribbon cable to the drive and the motherboard the device no longer has power. Whenever one end is unplugged, it again has power. I've tried plugging it into the 2nd IDE, the primary IDE and have the same problem regardless. I currently have the jumper set on the drive to master and have the blue end of the ribbon cable plugged into the motherboard and the black part into the dvd drive. I do not have an ATA hdd, so no other devices are plugged into the cable nor are any other IDE devices connected to the motherboard.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong or how I can fix this problem?

[krupted]

i would first try setting the drive to cable select, also try a different cable if you havent already.

also, i hope youre not trying to unplug and replug these things with the pc powered on, you dont exactly say how youre doing that

[possumboy]

No, I'm not plugging/unplugging while powered up.

Currently, I have the jumper set to cable select and have it plugged into the mobo (2ndary ide plug) and the dvd device.

The mobo came with 2 cables (one is color coded and plugs into the primary ide slot (blue, grey, black) and is labeled HDD, the other is labeled cd-rom and has all plugs the same - black).

I am using the latter of those cables and have it plugged into the 2ndary ide slot. When the ribbon cable is plugged in, the device has no power. Unplug the cable (yes I turned it off ) and the device has power. All I can do is shake my head in disgust, because I have tried both cables, used the jumper on all 3 (slave, master, cable select), both ide slots and every time the result is the same.

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Maybe you have the cable plugged in upside down, or perhaps the IDE cable is faulty?

[possumboy]

The cable(s) is/are not plugged in backwards. I also have tried 2 different 80 wire ribbon cables and this morning I tried an older 40 wire ribbon cable. I still get the same result. I'll be on the phone with ASUS this morning to their tech support to see if they have a clue.

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Have you tried clearing the CMOS? Maybe the motherboard's IDE controller was set to something unusual before you got it.

[krupted]

yeah im not sure what elese it could be, if your mainboard is ok and so is the default cmos, it would lead one to believe the drive is deffective....

you wouldnt have one of those handy external usb enclosure lying around would ya? for $30 you could verify problems like this....

[possumboy]

I connected another drive I had here (cd-rom) and got the same result. I took the cable and the dvd and hooked them up on another computer and they worked fine. Then, I took the hard drive out of this computer and plugged it in.... same result. None of the IDE devices were recognized.

I went into the bios settings and made sure the IDE devices were enabled, etc.

I contacted both ASUS and newegg. I sent the motherboard back today for a replacement.