# IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed...memory check won't work? GQ 3121.



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

I was one of the crazy insane people who went to Fry's early in the morning and picked up those $99 computers. It had a 40 GB hard-drive so I replaced with a 160GB Maxtor. Then I noticed it gave me a IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed after it detected my HD and then booted as normal. Will it affect my performance?

Another thing I noticed is at times, after it detect my CPU at the bootup, it would hang and suddenly be at the Windows XP loading screen. It saids something like Sempron 2200+ CPU detected... Then where it should continue to do a memory check and detect my HD and DVD, it doesn't do that and freezes there. 

I hope it's just a the memory and not the motherboard. I do notice it's VERY slow at times...slower than my 1GHz or even the P3s I use to have. Of course it only had 128MB RAM which I will upgrade VERY soon. Could that be the source of the slowness or could it affect it THAT much?

Any help is appreciated.


----------



## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

For $99 a speed demon is not going to be what you get. Still maybe somethings can be improved. More RAM will make a difference. As far as the message do you have a 80 wire IDE cable or 40? Same end connectors. It can affect your performance.


----------



## Majixlt (Jan 5, 2005)

Try reseting the Bios to set up defaults if it has that option

Good luck


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

norton850, I really don't know but when I bought it, it had only a 40GB hard-drive so I just unplugged that and plugged in the Maxtor.

Speed demon?, that's for sure but I remember my 2100+ was much faster than this. Of course, this one is a 2200+ Sempron versus my own 2100+ Athlon XP. But assumed it's somewhat similar performance...I hope.

Here is the link to the exact computer:
http://www.outpost.com/product/4199563


----------



## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

With the IDE cable that you have hooked up make sure that all connections are tight. You might want to try a different cable and if you do make sure it is the 80 wire type. The connectors on the 80 wire are colored (black,blue and gray)


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

Thx for the help. Do you happen to know what is the cause of the occasions where in the startup, it detects my CPU and then there it should show how much memory I have, it just doesn't do anything and suddenly after a while, is at the Win XP Pro loading screen.

Other times, it is fine showing the amt of mem, HD/CD detected, then that no 80 cable message and goes to the Win XP Pro loading screen.


----------



## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Well it could because the cable is not 80 wire or its a bad cable. In the BIOS setup you should run the hard drive autodetection to make sure its not holding on to any old hard drive settings.

If you only have a 40 wire cable the drive will be limited to 33MB/s tranfers versus 100 or 133MB/s thats possible with the 80 wire cable.

128MB of RAM with Windows XP will indeed result in less then ideal performance.


----------



## winbob (Aug 2, 2004)

DF,

If there isn't a 80 wire cable, then the drive that came with the box was not a speedy one. The newer ones..for sure 100/133 (can't remember if it included the 66's) required the 80 wire cables.

With the 40's, all the wires are signal carriers (potentially). With the 80's, there is a ground wire between each signal wire to prevent bleed over. Bleed over can affect signal integrity, cause errors, and slow down performance.


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

How do you know what is the difference with the 80s and 40s cable? All of them seem to have a both side to one side. I changed it and it still shows that error.

How about the memory situation...where it detects it and sometimes not.


----------



## winbob (Aug 2, 2004)

DF,

If you compare the two cable types it is easy to see the difference. The wires in the 40 are much heavier (and there are 40 of them). The 80 cable has much finer wires (and you guessed it there are 80 of them).

Also the 80 wire cable generally has the MOBO end plug blue while the others are grey.


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

Tried that and it still has that message. I tried a few other cables. I took one from the WD 200GB HD I bought for my XBOX. It's ATA/100 but I believe the cables should have been 80 pin.

Perhaps if I buy the rounded cables, will that perhaps fix the problem?

Thx.


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

I ran across a very similar problem a while back. What I found was that the mobo had the usual 2 IDE ports, however only one of them was for use with the ULTRA specifications (seems like the mobo connector was blue or red). Anyway. whoever assembled the computer actually had the hard drive cable attached to IDE 2 which apparently was not rated for ULTRA. Once I swapped the connection the error disappeared and performance improved.

Just thought I'd throw that out at you. 

Good luck.

Kilowatt


----------



## winbob (Aug 2, 2004)

DF,

I'm thinking that when you said, " but I believe the cables should have been 80 pin." It was just a slip of the tongue...the *connectors* are *not* 80 pin, but the cables are 80 *wire*.


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

For one thing, I know my computer is really slow. It's a slower Sempron 2200+ with only 128mb of RAM (upgrading this week). However it is painfully slow where I think something is definitely wrong.

What I do notice is when I boot up...at times after displaying the CPU installed, where it should display how much memory I have right away, it hangs for a while. After a while, it shows 127XXXKb memory installed/checked or whatnot and proceed to loading up Windows XP. Other times, it's fine.

Anyway I can check my memory w/o having to do those bootdisks, I don't have any.   

Any suggestions?

Mobo: ECS 741GX-M
CPU: Sempron 2200+
Memory: TwinMOS 128MB PC2700


----------



## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

You'd get crashes running windows if the memory was bad.. I believe it's just dreadfully low on memory, and having to use virtual memory/ swap space on the hard drive.. This is killing it's performance, more so if the drive is badly fragmented and of the slower 5200rpm variety.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I've merged both of your threads so we don't have to ask the same questions over again. Please keep posting to this thread.


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

But the problem is it hangs during the memory check...that's the odd thing about it righ after the bios detects the CPU.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You still haven't clarified the 80 pin cable questions.


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

That 80 pin situation was resolved. What my BIOS really said was my secondary IDE didn't have a 80 pin cable, the one for my DVD. So I just changed it and tis was fine. Your BIOS will check for the IDE 0 and IDE 1, which I did have a 80 cable for my HD but not for my DVD.


----------



## winbob (Aug 2, 2004)

Dafob,

I've got to ask a crazy question. You didn't replace the preinstalled "Lindows" with XP did you???


----------



## DaFOBulous1 (Oct 9, 2004)

I did actually but I didn't think it would be a problem especially when it starts before booting. I actually changed the HD with a 160gb. But the 80 cable is solved. It's just told me my IDE 1 which controlled my DVD rom didn't have a 80 cable so I just changed that. NPs.


----------

