cable select simply reads pin 28 and if the drive is on the end of the cable it sets it master if its on the middle it sets it slave

Nice work guys, so is everything back up and running? Try to keep your PC off that wobbley desk too. Since many of the components in your PC are all sockets and plugs, it won't take much to shake them out of position. I once had a customer who kept kicking his PC under the desk, and wondered why I had to keep reseating the graphics card!

yes everything is back to normal thanks a lot

Marked as Resolved.

The problem came back tonight. While I was browsing the internet my PC froze up. So I turned it off and when I turned it back on it didn't recognize either HDD. So I opened the PC up and decided to use the other IDE cable for my HDDs. That worked but I think when I gave the PC a little bump windows froze up after loading my background but before displaying the start menu. The next time I turned it on I had the same problem. Also my card reader doesn't work any more. Its plugged directly into the motherboard.

well, I disconnected the IDE cables again and its working now. Im being very careful not to shake the desk at all and I'm going to get a new desk ASAP. Do you think this means that my HDD controller is damaged a bit or does it either work or not work? Also my card reader works now for some reason. I tried to use it once monday afternoon and it didn't work.

Sounds ot me as though your have a ad connection somewhere. I'd buy brand new IDE cables to be honest. At least you could rule them out then.

That would either a) rule the problem out for very little cost or b) possibly solve your issue.

Components » Cables » IDE - Overclockers UK