M2N SLI DeLuxe Set-up

R

rmcconn

New Member
HI Guys,
Need your expertise in setting up an ASUS M2N SLI DeLuxe board.

I'm upgrading from and A7N8X, and wish to retain the ATA hard drive and both IDE CD ROM and CDRW optical drive units.

As per the instruction book for HDD connection, I originally connected the hard disc to the mobo SATA 1 outlet, via a SATA / IDE adapter, and used the Primary IDE outlet for both optical drives (1 master, 1 slave) On booting up, the BIOS recognized the optical drives, but not the hard disc. Is this ok but simply an incorrect jumper issue ?

Having no HDD recognized, I then changed the configuration and connected the hard disc to the primary IDE outlet which the BIOS recognized, and the system booted to Windows. However, how do I connect up the optical drives ? The ribbon cable connectors are placed too close together to reach between the hard disc and DVD RW units, so they would act as master and slave, but even if they did, how would I then connect up the other CD Rom drive.

The ASUS instruction book informs me the mobo SATA outlets are for Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s hard disk and optical drive units, backward compatible with 1.5 GB/s. This suggests to me that I need a compatible HDD, and the one I have isn't useable.

I have to say, the A7N8X was a breeze to set up. this one is a bit more complicated.

All help sincerely appreciated.

Ron
 
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have you tried using the old IDE cables from your A7N8X setup? and just plug the IDE cables onto the motherboard like they were on the old setup?
I mean... its worth a shot, and it wouldnt hurt to try out i think :)
 
If it were so easy !!
The A7N8X has a primary and a secondary IDE MoBo socket allowing the primary to be used for the HDD, and the secondary for the opticals.

The M2N only has a primary, with 6 SATA sockets. When the primary is used for the HDD, the system recognizes the HDD and boots to Windows, but I don't know how to connect up the optical drives from the SATA sockets.

Ron
 
Oh my... you're right.. it jsut has 1 IDE connector.. :x
cant you put the HD on master, and 1 Optical as slave? i mean.. you can even put a HD in a 5.25" slot,.. so the length of the cable shouldnt be a problem.. ;)

as for connecting the optical's to the SATA slots... i think you have to set them to CS or master for that

Edit:.. no, i dont know how to solve your problem.. but i'll try to help nevertheless.. :o
 
The serial ATA to IDE converter has 3 connections.
A connector for the serial ATA cable
Connector to the IDE hard disc
Connector for a power supply cable

The serial ATA cable runs between the SATA 1 motherboard port and the converter.
The actual converter itself is plugged into the rear of the CDRW drive unit
A power cable from the main power supply unit is plugged into the converter power socket. I have 2 connectors which fit. One is labeled P7, the other P11. I have no idea what these mean, the supplied manual doesn't identify them.
In addition, the CDRW unit has a 4-pin power connector. I have tried booting up with this in and with it out, The CDRW drive is not recognized in either case.
Thanks for your response.
Ron
 
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Archangel.
Took your advice and moved the HDD to a 5.25 slot. Connected this as master to the DVD/RW slave and all is going well.
It looks like I'll have to make do with a single optical for the moment, but at least I'm up and running.
Thanks for your help.
I'll have to research this SATA stuff a bit more !!
Ron
 
do you have a picture of the Converter? or a brand and type name?

edit: also keep an eye on the HD's temp now,.. when you put it into a 5.25 bay, it can run very hot. ( i had HD's in those bay's in 2 pc's.. the old one ran very hot,. but the one i have now in the 5.25 aby runs cool.. just keep an eye on it tough.. but i guess its all right
 
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SATA opticals are rare. The PATA->SATA adapters may work but I'd rather use them for HDDs than opticals.
 
rmcconn said:
HI Guys,
Need your expertise in setting up an ASUS M2N SLI DeLuxe board.

I'm upgrading from and A7N8X, and wish to retain the ATA hard drive and both IDE CD ROM and CDRW optical drive units.

As per the instruction book for HDD connection, I originally connected the hard disc to the mobo SATA 1 outlet, via a SATA / IDE adapter, and used the Primary IDE outlet for both optical drives (1 master, 1 slave) On booting up, the BIOS recognized the optical drives, but not the hard disc. Is this ok but simply an incorrect jumper issue ?

Having no HDD recognized, I then changed the configuration and connected the hard disc to the primary IDE outlet which the BIOS recognized, and the system booted to Windows. However, how do I connect up the optical drives ? The ribbon cable connectors are placed too close together to reach between the hard disc and DVD RW units, so they would act as master and slave, but even if they did, how would I then connect up the other CD Rom drive.

The ASUS instruction book informs me the mobo SATA outlets are for Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s hard disk and optical drive units, backward compatible with 1.5 GB/s. This suggests to me that I need a compatible HDD, and the one I have isn't useable.

I have to say, the A7N8X was a breeze to set up. this one is a bit more complicated.

All help sincerely appreciated.

Ron
Click to expand...

I have a similar set up with the two optical drives connected to the single IDE. I have an extra ATA hard drive I adapted to run on a SATA port. Here is what I'd do. Did you install the SATA driver? If not do so. I don't know what kind of adapter you have for your ATA hard drive but mine has two power connectors on it. I wasn't sure how this adapter worked because I had no instructions for it. I tried each power connector separately. That didn't work. Both power connectors had to be hooked up then it worked fine. I would run your ATA hard drive off of the IDE to get to windows and make sure to install the SATA driver. Then power down and hook your ATA hard drive up via the SATA adapter/SATA port. Hopefully now with the SATA driver installed it will now recognize your hard drive on the SATA port and boot. Here is a pic of my ATA drive. The top drive. You can't see the details of the adapter real well but you can see the two legacy power connectors and the SATA cable going upwards.
coveroff3.jpg
 
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Diamondsleeper,
Thanks for your help.
I've installed the SATA driver now that the system is up and running, but haven't re-configured the HDD from primary IDE to SATA.
The converter I have has only one power input socket, but I can only give it a try and see where it takes me !! The manufacturers are so proud of it, they haven't bothered to give their name. I didn't realise adapters were so specialized.
Thanks again.
Ron
 
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Diamondsleeper said:
I have a similar set up with the two optical drives connected to the single IDE. I have an extra ATA hard drive I adapted to run on a SATA port. Here is what I'd do. Did you install the SATA driver? If not do so. I don't know what kind of adapter you have for your ATA hard drive but mine has two power connectors on it. I wasn't sure how this adapter worked because I had no instructions for it. I tried each power connector separately. That didn't work. Both power connectors had to be hooked up then it worked fine. I would run your ATA hard drive off of the IDE to get to windows and make sure to install the SATA driver. Then power down and hook your ATA hard drive up via the SATA adapter/SATA port. Hopefully now with the SATA driver installed it will now recognize your hard drive on the SATA port and boot. Here is a pic of my ATA drive. The top drive. You can't see the details of the adapter real well but you can see the two legacy power connectors and the SATA cable going upwards.
coveroff3.jpg
Click to expand...



the M2N-SLI should already come with the SATA drivers. I know my M2N-SLI Deluxe did, unless he has the regular M2N-SLI
 
All I know is I had to install the SATA driver from a floppy created with the driver CD that came with my M.B. on initial setup/fresh install of Windows XP Pro. (The F6 option during setup) It was the only way to get Windows XP Pro setup to recognize the SATA drives instlled on the M.B. :)
 
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