got problems with a quantum couple

[FenixTx40]

I know, i'm talking about a little bit old hard drives, but that's what i got... a little time ago, i got a quantum fireball ex3.2a hard drive. 3.0gb ..well, that was nice, fast, and quiet hard drive... i was very very happy... suddenly i got a samsung hd, that was nice too.. 6.4gb more... nothing bad i though.. then a friend of mine sold me an old quantum se4.3a hd.. about 4.1 gb.... well.... here's my problem: i have to connect that hard drives (personal reasons) on my first bus (first ide channel) and the samsung & cd-rom on the second channel..... the issue is that when you connect both quantum hard drives... the bios takes a long while to "test" the hard drives (you know, it autodetects... then makes a little test, it moves the heads and so on)... i have to wait about 10 sec... then ... before the boot... the master hard drive(my 3.0gb)) reads the boot sector..... then there's a pause of about 15-20 sec... and then everything's fine..... my hard drives works as they should.. and no speed issue.....everything's in those two moments.... where i have to wait... & wait & wait... but if i just leave one of both hard drives connected they boot as they should...fast! no waiting time..... i don't know what's happening...but they should work together... they are from the same brand........
well. hope somebody can help me.
my first quantum hd. ex3.2a it's drive letter c:
the second hd se.4.2a it's drive letter d: & f:
and mi samsung hard drive (master on the second ide channel it's drive letter E:
all file systems are FAT32
i'm running win98se english language...

 

[edfair]

You might try the autodetect test in your BIOS, document the chs values and enter them into user mode and see if that makes any difference. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[FenixTx40]

Thanks EdFair, but i've tried, and all is the same thing.... the only difference is that now i don't see the "primary master... quantum fireball ex3.2a" auto-detect msgs..... obvioulsvy because they're not autodetecting, just using chs. but the issue is the small "test" that BIOS makes to the hard drives at startup......

 

[edfair]

Do you have the documentation on the drives? Early on , there was an additional jumper that flagged the controller that there was a slave present.
Don't know if that is an issue.
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.