IDE cable question, pin #20 missing in one device and present in the other...

hi,
i have a slimline DVD drive installed in a 1U server (Dell poweredge
750). it has an adapter card to convert the 50 pin drive interface to
IDE 40 pin. my motherboard IDE connector has no pin #20 (for the key)
but the drive/card connector has all pins present. does anyone know
what kind of cable i should use?
i tried punching a hole in pin #20 in an 80 wire IDE cable, so that it
could fit the drive/card, but the BIOS still won't recognise the
drive. i also tried pulling out pin #20 on a spare adapter card so
that that a normal IDE 80 pin cable could fit the card, same result
"IDE CD-ROM not found".
the bios is set to 'auto' for the primary IDE channel. there is no
secondary IDE, and no other IDE devices, the HDs are SATA. when i
look in the BIOS, it reads 'unknown device' under the IDE channel.
the power is connected fine and the drive ejects etc., but it doesn't
work in the bios or windows.

thanks for any tips
tim

Tim_Mac wrote:
> hi,
> i have a slimline DVD drive installed in a 1U server (Dell poweredge
> 750). it has an adapter card to convert the 50 pin drive interface to
> IDE 40 pin. my motherboard IDE connector has no pin #20 (for the key)
> but the drive/card connector has all pins present. does anyone know
> what kind of cable i should use?
> i tried punching a hole in pin #20 in an 80 wire IDE cable, so that it
> could fit the drive/card, but the BIOS still won't recognise the
> drive. i also tried pulling out pin #20 on a spare adapter card so
> that that a normal IDE 80 pin cable could fit the card, same result
> "IDE CD-ROM not found".
> the bios is set to 'auto' for the primary IDE channel. there is no
> secondary IDE, and no other IDE devices, the HDs are SATA. when i
> look in the BIOS, it reads 'unknown device' under the IDE channel.
> the power is connected fine and the drive ejects etc., but it doesn't
> work in the bios or windows.
>
> thanks for any tips
> tim
>
Pin20 is a spare and is used for the key. It sounds to me that you have
a SCSI DVD drive, so either the interface or the drive is bad. Do you
have any type of IDE drive to try on the machine in an attempt to narrow
this down?

hi pen. thanks for the reply. it's definitely an IDE/ATAPI drive.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=328570
the motherboard is totally stripped down, typical dell, and there is
only a floppy power supply, so that would make it difficult to test a
hard drive, or even a full size CD drive. the adapter card i'm using
looks a bit like this: http://www.pccables.com/00507.htm
i reckon the drive itself should be fine because it's brand new and
the LED light comes on momentarily at boot up. it spins up too with a
disc inside, but no joy with the BIOS. grrr Dell!!
thanks.
tim


On Jul 10, 6:35 pm, pen <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> Tim_Mac wrote:
> > hi,
> > i have a slimline DVD drive installed in a 1U server (Dell poweredge
> > 750). it has an adapter card to convert the 50 pin drive interface to
> > IDE 40 pin. my motherboard IDE connector has no pin #20 (for the key)
> > but the drive/card connector has all pins present. does anyone know
> > what kind of cable i should use?
> > i tried punching a hole in pin #20 in an 80 wire IDE cable, so that it
> > could fit the drive/card, but the BIOS still won't recognise the
> > drive. i also tried pulling out pin #20 on a spare adapter card so
> > that that a normal IDE 80 pin cable could fit the card, same result
> > "IDE CD-ROM not found".
> > the bios is set to 'auto' for the primary IDE channel. there is no
> > secondary IDE, and no other IDE devices, the HDs are SATA. when i
> > look in the BIOS, it reads 'unknown device' under the IDE channel.
> > the power is connected fine and the drive ejects etc., but it doesn't
> > work in the bios or windows.
>
> > thanks for any tips
> > tim
>
> Pin20 is a spare and is used for the key. It sounds to me that you have
> a SCSI DVD drive, so either the interface or the drive is bad. Do you
> have any type of IDE drive to try on the machine in an attempt to narrow
> this down?

Tim_Mac wrote:
> hi pen. thanks for the reply. it's definitely an IDE/ATAPI drive.
> http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=328570
> the motherboard is totally stripped down, typical dell, and there is
> only a floppy power supply, so that would make it difficult to test a
> hard drive, or even a full size CD drive. the adapter card i'm using
> looks a bit like this: http://www.pccables.com/00507.htm
> i reckon the drive itself should be fine because it's brand new and
> the LED light comes on momentarily at boot up. it spins up too with a
> disc inside, but no joy with the BIOS. grrr Dell!!
> thanks.
> tim
>
>
> On Jul 10, 6:35 pm, pen <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>> Tim_Mac wrote:
>>> hi,
>>> i have a slimline DVD drive installed in a 1U server (Dell poweredge
>>> 750). it has an adapter card to convert the 50 pin drive interface to
>>> IDE 40 pin. my motherboard IDE connector has no pin #20 (for the key)
>>> but the drive/card connector has all pins present. does anyone know
>>> what kind of cable i should use?
>>> i tried punching a hole in pin #20 in an 80 wire IDE cable, so that it
>>> could fit the drive/card, but the BIOS still won't recognise the
>>> drive. i also tried pulling out pin #20 on a spare adapter card so
>>> that that a normal IDE 80 pin cable could fit the card, same result
>>> "IDE CD-ROM not found".
>>> the bios is set to 'auto' for the primary IDE channel. there is no
>>> secondary IDE, and no other IDE devices, the HDs are SATA. when i
>>> look in the BIOS, it reads 'unknown device' under the IDE channel.
>>> the power is connected fine and the drive ejects etc., but it doesn't
>>> work in the bios or windows.
>>> thanks for any tips
>>> tim
>> Pin20 is a spare and is used for the key. It sounds to me that you have
>> a SCSI DVD drive, so either the interface or the drive is bad. Do you
>> have any type of IDE drive to try on the machine in an attempt to narrow
>> this down?
>
>
Seems to me your only choice is to try the drive and adapter elsewhere.
Do you have access to a machine with IDE ports?

> Seems to me your only choice is to try the drive and adapter elsewhere.
> Do you have access to a machine with IDE ports?

i bought some new IDE cables which i'm going to try out at the weekend
in the datacenter. if that doesn't work i'll bring the drive back and
test it on a different computer as you suggest. thanks for the
advice.
tim