dajmo

A IDE controller can hold 2 Drives, The First connector of the Ribbon Cable is for the Master, the Middle Connector for the Slave. Windows 98 should be on the Primary motherboard IDE Controller as Master unless it is broken I guess. Then in the pecking order is the Secondary IDE controller of the Motherboard. Then a PCI IDE Controller has the Number 1 IDE controller, and the number 2 IDE controller, each of course has the same Master, Slave setup as far has the Ribbon Cable. If you watch the Post screen you will see the bios detect each IDE controller in that order as the computer boots. That is probably why the Drive letters where probably changed. I did the final test and am confident that the problem is solved. it didn't seem to matter untill I installed the 5th drive. the ata-100, has 2 ribbons [2.drives ea.]for some reason I needed to put the 2 drives on the ribbon nearest to the rear of the computer. and a single on the middle of the next ribbon[i didn't check another position of this one] thanks for this latest inf, I will keep it on file,,,may come in handy

wds "98 SE, I added a 5th hard drive, and it is read and working fine, but when ever I re-boot the drive letters change. The main OS drive and the slave on that ribbon DON't , just the 3 I have on the ATA - 100 controller card. they seem to rotate progressivly. I think I read somewhere that you could only have 4 eide drives on wds"98, does anyone know a way around this?[besides going external]any info would be appreciated, thanks!