can I just remove the power cable from my slave HD?

[goku1552]

I have 2 hard drives my main and my old slave that I want to remove but there is only one problem, the wide yellow ribbon cable goes from my MB down to my slave and is split from there and goes to my main HD.

now can I just unplug he power from my slave have it work out or should I move the the cable where it splits up to my main HD?

[Talby]

It's been a while since I have even used an IDE drive lol - best bet keep the main drive at the end of the cable, remove both the power and data from the middle drive then test by going into the BIOS and see if it detects the main drive normally.

If it does not you will have to check the jumpers on the main drive, if its set to CS (cable select) put it on M and vise-versa - it should work either way and I recall some drives needed to be changed.

[Ad Hominem]

If you remove power from your slave drive, it wont work anymore lol. Unless I'm reading you wrong. It shouldnt affect the master drive either way, I would leave the master drive alone. Just as long as your OS isn't installed on that slave drive.

I'm more curious what the hell hardware you're using in 2018 that uses IDE ribbon connectors.

[goku1552]

so I should keep the end of the ribbon connected to my main HD and remove the power and split from the slave? or move the split up to the main leaving the old main end open.

[Ad Hominem]

I'd leave the master drive alone, and only unplug the IDE split and power from the slave drive. Leave the end of the ribbon cable where it is, in the master drive.

They were still using the ribbon cable when I first started to build PC's which was a long time ago so I may be mis-remembering, but I don't think it matters what part of the ribbon cable is plugged into each drive. I think the jumper pins on the back of the drives are what dictates that. The master drive is probably already set to master so if you don't touch it it shouldnt matter.

What kind of computer do you have?

[goku1552]

I have......a potato.

Computer Information:<br>
<br>
Manufacturer:&nbsp; System manufacturer&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Model:&nbsp; System Product Name&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Form Factor: Desktop&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
No Touch Input Detected <br>
<br>
<br>
Processor Information: <br>
<br>
CPU Vendor:&nbsp; GenuineIntel&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CPU Brand:&nbsp; Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual&nbsp; CPU&nbsp; E2160&nbsp; @ 1.80GHz&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CPU Family:&nbsp; 0x6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CPU Model:&nbsp; 0xf&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CPU Stepping:&nbsp; 0xd&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CPU Type:&nbsp; 0x0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Speed:&nbsp; 1799 Mhz&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
2 logical processors&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
2 physical processors&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HyperThreading:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FCMOV:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSE2:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSE3:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSSE3:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSE4a:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSE41:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
SSE42:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
AES:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
AVX:&nbsp; Unsupported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
CMPXCHG16B:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
LAHF/SAHF:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
PrefetchW:&nbsp; Unsupported <br>
<br>
<br>
Operating System Version:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
<br>
Windows XP (32 bit)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
NTFS:&nbsp; Supported&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Crypto Provider Codes:&nbsp; Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0 <br>
<br>
<br>
Video Card:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
<br>
Driver:&nbsp; Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
DirectX Driver Name:&nbsp; igxprd32.dll&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Driver Version:&nbsp; 6.14.10.4885&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
DirectX Driver Version:&nbsp; 6.14.10.4885&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Driver Date: 2 26 2014&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
OpenGL Version: 1.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
DirectX Card: Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 9<br>
VendorID:&nbsp; 0x8086&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
DeviceID:&nbsp; 0x2772&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Revision:&nbsp; 0x2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Number of Monitors:&nbsp; 1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Number of Logical Video Cards:&nbsp; 1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
No SLI or Crossfire Detected&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Primary Display Resolution:&nbsp; 1024 x 768&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Desktop Resolution: 1024 x 768&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Primary Display Size: 12.60&quot; x 9.45&quot; (15.75&quot; diag)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 32.0cm x 24.0cm (40.0cm diag)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
<br>
Primary Bus Type Not Detected&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Primary VRAM: 128 MB&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Supported MSAA Modes Not Detected <br>
<br>
<br>
Sound card:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Audio device: Realtek HD Audio output <br>
<br>
<br>
Memory:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; RAM:&nbsp; 2039 Mb<br>
<br>
<br>
Miscellaneous:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
UI Language:&nbsp; English&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Media Type:&nbsp; DVD&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Total Hard Disk Space Available:&nbsp; 228926 Mb&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Largest Free Hard Disk Block:&nbsp; 60350 Mb&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
OS Install Date: Feb 26 2014&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
Game Controller: None detected&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
VR Headset: None detected

sorry about the nbsp crap, memo screwed up.

[Talby]

The E2160 was awesome in it's day, you could hit 3ghz on those with minimal effort on the right board, good times...

I was actually using my old system that is pretty similar (an E4600 @ 3ghz, 2gb ram, HD4670 1gb vram) just last week when I was visiting my parents. It's not bad running linux, and it doubles as an HTPC for a crudy old 720P noname brand LCD TV and plays the old source games well enough.

[Ad Hominem]

Hawt dawg, thats a blast from the past! Really cool that it's still running after all this time, although I wouldn't want it as my daily driver. I remember thinking how cool it was to have a dual core system. Like young me's mind was blown about it. XP was one of the better windows out there too.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Talby:

The E2160 was awesome in it's day, you could hit 3ghz on those with minimal effort on the right board, good times...

Wow. that's almost doublt the base clock. Using an aftermarket cooling solution? Or was intel just not pushing their stuff hard from the factory? Or did they put out a higher end model that was basically the same but clocked higher?

[goku1552]

well I don't think it's running right. I believe there is a problem with my slave drive because every now and then (lately when trying to download or be on steam) the drive makes a concerning noise.

it "whurrs" up than a "click" and then a "creak, creak, creeeaak" sound.

and when I look it up in the error log it says something about the "D" disk, which is my slave drive.

I'm hoping that disconnecting the slave will fix this problem and I can enjoy steam problem free for the next 3 hours and 40 minutes before they cut support.

[Ad Hominem]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von goku1552:

well I don't think it's running right. I believe there is a problem with my slave drive because every now and then (lately when trying to download or be on steam) the drive makes a concerning noise.

it "whurrs" up than a "click" and then a "creak, creak, creeeaak" sound.

and when I look it up in the error log it says something about the "D" disk, which is my slave drive.

I'm hoping that disconnecting the slave will fix this problem and I can enjoy steam problem free for the next 3 hours and 40 minutes before they cut support.

Hard drive might be reaching it's end of life. Is it original to the rests of the PC, or is it newer?

[goku1552]

ok small (or big) problems here. since i disconnected my slave i noticed a few problems that are going on.

1. it takes 2 minutes for XP to load up on the loading screen (the one with the moving bars).
2. the curser sometimes lags and is slow.
3. the red light on the fron of my computer is always on instead of just random blinking.
4. it takes 30 seconds to register a right click on the desktop.
5. chrome is slower than normal.
6. programs/games are slow to launch.
7. songs are skippy.
8. when powered off the orange light is off, while the green light is on.
8.5. when on both the green AND orange light are on (the orange is blinking randomly)
9. steam takes 2 minutes to get to the login window after double clicking the shortcut.
10. it takes forever to download a 95mb update on steam.

anyone have any ideas why my computer is now 10+ times slower after disconnecting my slave?

could it be the splitter ribbon? should i move my main HD to the split and not the end?

[Ad Hominem]

Wow that really seems very odd for just disconnecting a hard drive. It's like you're losing a lot of performance, but I'm not sure how that would happen after removing a hard drive. I don't remember if XP has a performance monitor that would let you view your CPU and RAM usage, but I would be curious to see what % of your systems are being used at, because it almost sounds like something is using up all your system resources.

Is there any indication what each light on the front of your PC is supposed to indicate? I assume one would be power indication and another would be HDD activity, not sure about a third. My guess is that green is power, orance is hard drive activity and I'm not sure what the red would be for.

I wonder if Windows was using part of the hard drive you removed as a page file for when your system is low on ram.

How full is your master hard drive? Is your CPU being used at nearly 100% by some process?

I guess as a sanity check, you could reconnect the slave drive to see if that fixes your issue. That would narrow it down from being a performance thing on system resources. My best guess is that the page file was being stored on the slave drive and there isn't enough room on the master drive, or Windows has been set to manually configure the pagefile to a location that no longer exists.

[goku1552]

under the task manager my CPU usage is about 0-10% sometimes more, and under Processes the CPU has 00 at everything except System Idle Process which is sitting at 90-99.

the red light on front just has a cylander symbol below it, i dont know what that means.

and my master is sitting at 48.9 GB free out of 149 GB free.

[Ad Hominem]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von goku1552:

under the task manager my CPU usage is about 0-10% sometimes more, and under Processes the CPU has 00 at everything except System Idle Process which is sitting at 90-99.

the red light on front just has a cylander symbol below it, i dont know what that means.

and my master is sitting at 48.9 GB free out of 149 GB free.

Ok so the cylinder is the hard drive activity light.



Can you verify that your pagefile is configured to be on the remaining master hard drive?

Start Button -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System -> Advanced tab.

Under the "Performance" section press "Settings" button.

Under the "Virtual Memory" section press the "Change..." button.

I don't remember that menu in XP but basically just looking to see that you do in fact have a page file on your remaining master drive.

[goku1552]

"paging file size for selected drive"

"drive C:"

is that it?

[Ad Hominem]

Yea that's it. Is it set to be managed by the system or is it set manually to a fixed value? Or is the button selected to have no page file?