"no 80 pin IDE cable installed"

[Whitebread]

I get this error after the computer posts. I just installed a new 36 inch cable which has 2 drives on it. the drives work, but I still get this error. Could it be caused by a bad cable? And could it cuase random freezes?

 

[jackofalltrades]

Sounds like a bad cable to me! just my .02 worth though

 

[unhappy_mage]

A 36-inch cable is out of spec. Thus, problems.

 

[dbwillis]

Yeh, isnt the spec 18 inches?

 

[dandragonrage]

No such thing as an 80 pin IDE hard drive cable. If you mean 80 CONDUCTOR (BIG difference) cable, then maybe you used a 40 conductor cable...

 

[Gorankar]

You prolly have a 40 conduter cable installed.. Still ok to use them for cd/dvd roms, but newer 66/133 hardrives need the 80 conducter cable or they will get throttled down to ata33 speeds.. instead of ata66 or ata133..
You can get ata133(80 conducter) cables that are longer than 18 inches but they are out of spec.. Some people use them without problem and others end up having issues..

 

[Whitebread]

Ok, well I'm only using the cable for DVD roms, but I guess it was also causing instability problems. I guess I have to spend MORE money........ugh.

 

[Whitebread]

Will this calbe suffice?

 

[defakto]

Do you have an optical drive on the cable as well? If so this also can cause the 80 wire warnging.

 

[Whitebread]

I have a DVD-RW drive and a DVD-Rom drive on teh cable.

 

[dandragonrage]

Yes, that cable will work.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Go into the bios and see if you can alter the ATA 80 pin/wire cable detection.
You may have the option to disable it or set it to host, device or both.
If so try different setting and see what works.

Luck.............

 

[Whitebread]

Thanks guys, I will try changing BIOS settings.

 

[pettybone]

Its not a big problem, actually its not a problem at all, for me at least. I bought a new dvd burner for one of my older machines and used the new cable that came with it. Its an older motherboard and there might be an option in the bios. The computer I get the error on isn't my main computer and it doesn't give me any problems, so I havn't tried to fix it.