Picture isn't loading, but I'm guessing it's an 80-wire cable? They have an intentional break in one of the lines between the host end (that plugs into the motherboard) and the first drive connector.

jmarsh wrote on 2024-09-23, 15:43:

Picture isn't loading, but I'm guessing it's an 80-wire cable? They have an intentional break in one of the lines between the host end (that plugs into the motherboard) and the first drive connector.

can you see the image here? https://ibb.co/5G6RqSn

No, it's just a broken image.

The break is in pin 34. This pin is supposed to be shorted to ground in 80-pin connector that attaches to the mainboard. This indicates the presence of an 80-conductor cable. Pin 34 is not supposed to be grounded at the device connectors. Possibly your cable is built using a host connector (blue) that does not just short pin 34 in that connector to ground, but also grounds pin 34 in the cable, which might cause pin 34 to be grounded at the devices if the wire is not interrupted. Pin 34 should be connected between the two devices on the cable, so the "master" device can report whether the system (consisting of a "master" and a "slave" device) passed the on-drive controller POST.

Anyway, whether this is an intentional factory bodge to fix up pin 34 problems, or this is random damage, an interruption of pin 34 between the two devices and the host does not impede IDE operation. The cable is still fine for every IDE/ATA use case, as long as you connect the blue connector to the mainboard / controller.

To help out future browsers, I assume this is what the OP means by "hole".