ATA cable question need help!!!

[wicked1981]

Well another computer question well not computer but XBOX but same thing. According to a site it says that you can speed up your xbox by replacing the ata cable that it comes with. According to the site it says the xbox comes with an ata 33 so replacing it with an ata 100 or 133 will increse speed by up t 30%. So my brother decided to open up his box (he has 2 and 1 no longer has warranty) and replace it. Well everything is fine until we replaced the cable the new cable is not long enough, well it is but its weird. The blue connects to the motherboard the gray to the dvd/game player and the black to the hard drive. Well there is tons of slack from the blue to gray but not enough slack to reach the hard drive (black).... The mother board is close to the dvd drive but its a long way from the hard drive to the hard drive. If you are lost Ill post pics. My question is why is the cable different? Is there different types we can buy. There are 3 connectors one on each end and one like in the middle the new ata cable the one that supposed to be in the middle is like way higher so it dosent reach. Any ideas? Is there a different cable I can buy where its in the middle?This is the "stock cable" notice the connection is almost in the center. the New cable connection is higher.

Attached files

[wicked1981]

here is what it looks like when connected. slack on one side and not long enought to reach hard drive.

Attached files

[Mr. Poopypants]

Just flip the cable around. As long as you don't have the twist in the cable for primary or secondary, it will run off the jumper settings. If you plug the section that you said goes into the motherboard into the hard drive, it should work.

[wicked1981]

Well we flipped the cable and now the xbox will shut itself off then turn on again shut off then display an error light. took off the hard drive (to make it reach and plugged it in the corret way and it worked fine but flipping it gave it an error. Any ideas?

[Kazig]

Most computer suppliers/builders have, or can get longer cables

[agbhyde]

you have to have the one blue/marked wire on the same side as the stock was, just like in a real computer m/b and h/d. But, most new cables, h/d, and m/b have the notch in the actual connector, so this might not be the problem

[Mr. Poopypants]

Quote, originally posted by wicked1981 »So flipping will not throw it off?No, you should be fine.

[wicked1981]

When I flipped it it stopped working. I need a longer cable and according to Kazig they sell longer ones so I guess thats what I will have to do.

[Mr. Poopypants]

That's weird. I have flipped the cable in computers before and it worked fine.

[wicked1981]

Quote, originally posted by Mr. Poopypants »That's weird. I have flipped the cable in computers before and it worked fine. Yeah it told me something was wrong as soon as I turned it on. I turned it on shut itself off then came back on then off then on then off then on it stayed on then gave me a red light indicating something was wrong. Weird.

[Herb]

Quote, originally posted by wicked1981 »Yeah it told me something was wrong as soon as I turned it on. I turned it on shut itself off then came back on then off then on then off then on it stayed on then gave me a red light indicating something was wrong. Weird.One thing you need to do is to follow what is refered to as the "Pin 1 Rule"Pin one on a cable is always side with the red stripe. It has to be on the same side as Pin 1 on whatever device you are connecting it to, whether it be a hard drive or a motherboard.On the connector on your motherboard, or hard drive there should be a marking identifying where Pin 1 is. If you can't find it, the other thing you can do is to look on the bottom at the solder points. Pin 1 will always be the square solder point.Typically on a hard drive, pin 1 is usually closest to the power connector, but you still should check to be sure.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Quote, originally posted by Herb »One thing you need to do is to follow what is refered to as the "Pin 1 Rule"Pin one on a cable is always side with the red stripe. It has to be on the same side as Pin 1 on whatever device you are connecting it to, whether it be a hard drive or a motherboard.On the connector on your motherboard, or hard drive there should be a marking identifying where Pin 1 is. If you can't find it, the other thing you can do is to look on the bottom at the solder points. Pin 1 will always be the square solder point.Typically on a hard drive, pin 1 is usually closest to the power connector, but you still should check to be sure.This is true, I never even thought of that, because pretty much every drive and every cable have a notch in them that does not allow them to be put in backwards. Thanks for picking that up herb, I forgot all about it.