You could try the Inside Security Rescue Toolkit: http://www.inside-security.de/INSERT_en.html
Download the image burn it onto a disk and keep it - it's a good set of tools to recover damaged hard disks.

It recognizes them via Autodetect. In the BIOS it says all three HDDs are present.



It is a Samsung SP2514N, 250 GB. I checked their website and it has some tools, of which I'm not sure yet which one is for what. I'm gonna check it out if I need it. First, I'm gonna see if it has something to do with your:



I see the drive in Windows, but here's the situation on the jumpers:

SATA HDD
Samsung HD753LJ
750 GB
jumperpins: 4
jumper: no
Bootdisk: yes

SATA HDD
WDC WD2500JS-60MHB5
250 GB
jumperpins: 8
jumper: no
Bootdisk: no

IDE HDD (this is the problematic one)
Samsung SP2514N
250 GB
jumperpins: 8
jumper: yes (master)
Bootdisk: no

I suspect I'm doing something wrong with the jumper settings.

If you think its the jumper, move it to CS (cable select).
I feel that it will make no difference as if you have the jumper wrong then windows wont see the drive at all.

I found out something else: my DVD-RAM drive is also IDE connected and it has errors too. When I burn a videofile to a CD or a DVD, it shows blockiness beyond viewing pleasure. As it is IDE too and also a SCSI device, I think the two problems are connected, but how?

To make matters more complicated: when I just finished installing the new PC, I burnt some CD's which were flawless. Now they are so blocky you don't want to watch them. ?????

Ah, so the IDE is not the boot HD. Now, I'm going to assume here that the DVD burner and the IDE HD
are on the same IDE channel. If this is the case, then check the jumper settings for both drives
to make sure the HD is set to MASTER with SLAVE PRESENT and the burner to SLAVE. Another possibility
is also the IDE cable is bad. Since both drives seem to have a problem you may want to switch out
the cable with a spare and see if that works. The IDE HD should not need a driver (windows provides that)
and looking at the SAMSUNG site, I couldn't find any special software for formatting. The software they did
have looks like diagnostic software (the HUTIL program for DOS).

Good luck!

Yes, the IDE HDD and the DVD burner are on the same cable.

I never changed the jumper settings, but this IDE HDD never was the master (a different HDD had that honour), and the burner always was the slave, so only the HDD jumper setting could be wrong. But, like posted before, I do see the drive in Windows...

Gonna try out a different cable tomorrow. I used the cable which came with the mainboard, and, like I posted above, the DVD burner used to work correctly with it.

Sounds like it's the jumpers to me, I'd certainly believe that over a faulty cable if you're seeing the drives

Some others think that if I see the drive it can't be the jumpers, or am I reading things wrong?

Nevertheless, thanks for the tip: I'm gonna experiment with the jumpers and if that doesn't work, I'll change the cable.

Weird thing remains that the burner burned 1 CD flawless and then started to act up.

OK, test done.

I checked the jumper settings, and the HDD is set as master and the DVD burner is set as slave. My cable is connected with the burner at the end and the HDD in the middle on the same IDE cable. I know this means the burner is the master when you put Cable Select, but I didn't put Cable Select.

I couldn't find anything in the BIOS about it, only that it would automatically detect IDE devices, which it doesn't show in the list of storage devices (at least the IDE HDD should show up there along with the two SATA drives, imo).

But, at starting up, I can see an IDE PATA disk being detected, also Samsung. So I suspect somewhere in the system the disk IS detected, but not completely or something.

Changing cables didn't change the blockiness in the images I burnt to DVD. Weird aspect about this is that ripping a DVD goes fine, but burning it to a disc goes wrong.

The HDD is formatting now, but as the DVD burner didn't show any change after putting in a different cable, I suspect this to come out like before, ie, it can't finish/complete formatting.

I'm lost on this subject now, anyone any bright ideas? The only thing I'm sure about is that it must have something to do with the IDE string, as everything else i working fine.

edit: I just thought of something. Could it be possible that I installed some driver which is interfering with the IDE channel or corrupting the IDE port on my mainboard? This would explain why I first burnt one DVD correctly and afterwards they were faulty: in between I have installed many drivers to get other things going.

If this might be the case, how to uninstall the drivers? I can't find an uninstall on the disc they came from and I'm not sur which driver it could be.

I must admit that I didn't follow this thread from the start, but did you try your discs in another PC?

No, I didn't. I don't have a spare case to try it out. But, as there are three possibilities, I'm deducing them one by one.

The problem lies either with:

1) The devices themselves
2) The mainboard
3) The cable connecting the two

We can easily dismiss option 3, as I have tried out two different cables. I'm still not sure whether to blame the IDE port on my mainboard, or the other two devices, but I'm leaning towards blaming the mainboard.



I was right about this, it couldn't finish formatting indeed. But, there's a change anyway: I can see the drive, it got its new name, I can put files on it again. BUT: when played back, the files show the same blockiness as they do when burnt to DVD/CD.

What is it????????????

Sounds like a driver issue to me.

Do I need a driver for the IDE port? I can only find SATA drivers.

Or is it this one: Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver V8.2.0.1001 for Windows XP? I can't find any driver with the word ÏDE"in it

Did you try playing the files with other tools? I would also suggest you trying them in another PC or standalone.

Try what elchupacabra suggested first.

It's been a long time since I last fumbled with my PC. The only drivers I needed for a fresh re-installation were: graphic card, sound card and motherboard.
If nothing helps: try to update the driver of your motherboard.

Have you tried it the correct way round?
That configuration isn't "correct" and IIRC can cause problems with UltraDMA :
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/c ... e80-c.html

wait for windows 7 in 2010 http://windows7news.com/

I have tried playing them in my standalone, that's how I found out they were f*cked up

Have tried playing them in VLC, but it makes no difference.



Tried it just now, doesn't make a difference: images are still blocky when played back.

Oh, and I'm not gonna wait two years to *maybe* solve this shit.

Well, I should think not!

Digging more into the HD, I found this:



also:



So, as far as drivers go, you don't need them because Windows provides them
for you. You could try out the HUTIL program if your HD is showing up as mode 5
and try setting it to mode 6.

More things to try eh?

I'll try HUTIL tomorrow, but if it helps, it will only help the HDD. The DVD burner problem will remain.

Until now, everyone I asked at work from the IT department is puzzled, as am I myself.

PS: to make things clearer, this was a reaction to vm's suggestion