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Help with old IDE Controller/HD

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First post, by monkeyb

Posted on 
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Newbie

Hey guys,

Trying to put together a 386, and BIOS is complaining at boot time saying the IDE Controller failed.

I'm thinking about replacing it, but I'm wondering if the IDE cable may be at fault as well.

When I first tried fitting the IDE cable to the hard drive, the 20-pin was sealed off and wouldn't connect (EIDE/ATA newer form factor?) so I drilled a small hole into it, so that it would fit the old IDE drive.

Thus, I'm wondering if it's actually the controller, or the cable, or both? I can order replacement parts, but in the case of the cable, I don't know exactly what I would be looking for, since almost all modern cables appear to have the 20-pin sealed off.

Would it maybe be one of these? http://www.ebay.es/itm/ST506-MFM-Hard-Drive-D … 0UAAOSw~gRVr3fW

Any advice would be much appreciated 😀

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 2, by clueless1

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l33t

I think you just need to find an IDE cable with an open pin 20 (I remember having a few in my box). Here's a little bit of history on the (non) standardization:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confSig-c.html

Note that the red stripe should be the standard for orientation, not pin 20. I would think if you opened up pin 20 it would work properly, which leads me to agree with your question about the controller. Is it possible to find a controller that lacks a pin 20 male? That might be easier than finding a cable with an open pin 20.

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