How to Build Your Own PC - Save A Buck And Learn A Lot  9  Chapter 6: Connecting Components       9  Connecting the Ribbon Cables

Installing the CD-RW Ribbon Cable 1 Installing the Hard Drive IDE Cable

Next up, we’ll examine the hard drive IDE cable. Depending upon the layout of the connectors on your mainboard, it might be easier to install the hard drive cable first. Order doesn’t matter, as long as everything gets plugged in properly. For example, if the cable from the floppy will go across the sockets for the IDE cables, you can install the floppy cable last. Sometimes ribbon cables will push and shove amongst themselves for space. That’s normal. By now, you’re an expert on connecting ribbon cables.

A cable for a hard drive probably came with both your hard drive and with the mainboard. Don’t throw out the extra cable. Rather, keep all your extra parts and manuals together. This will make future repairs easier. You can usually use either ribbon cable.

These 40-pin IDE connectors have 80 connectors today (Don’t ask me how. It’s magic! Actually, each pin has a dedicated ground). Some older IDE hard drive cables might not work with newer IDE drives. If your hard drive instructions say you must use the cable that came with it, go ahead and use that one.

Today, one end of the hard drive connector is usually blue and the other black or gray. Connect the blue end to your mainboard. Connect the gray end to the drive.

The same tricks you used with the floppy cable are used to properly orient the hard drive cable.

The hard drive ribbon cable will have a red stripe down the side with Pin 1. And, Pin 1 is usually identified in the manuals for both the hard drive and the mainboard.

Also, the cable is likely to have a notch that will match up with a cut-out notch in the drive and a similar cut-out notch in the mainboard socket for the IDE connector. Often, there is a missing pin at the top center of the connector.

Installing the CD-RW Ribbon Cable 1 Installing the Hard Drive IDE Cable