This is a complicated problem I have.

My SATA drive works in my PC but only some of the time.

I know for a fact that it doesn't often work when my DVD-RW is plugged in and I suspect that's due to a lack of sufficient power from my PSU. I know for a fact it <i>can</i> work with my DVD-RW plugged in but it rarely does.

I also know that it isn't guaranteed to work when my DVD-RW drive is not plugged in. I have no idea why. I have the dirvers installed correctly and the BIOS is fine, everything is fine.

In fact, I have been happily using my SATA for ages and then needed to burn a CD and had to plug the DVD-RW back in. I knew this would prevent me from using my SATA but I went ahead and did it. Now that I have unplugged my DVD-RW, the SATA still won't work.

Now I am in a dilly of a pickle because the Device Manager isn't showing any wanings for the device (usually it does and displays an "error code (10)" or whatever). The device is plugged into the correct sockets on the motherboard but the PC fails to pick it up for some reason.

I've been having these problems since day 1 and ideally I'd like someone to explain to me why this happens and how I can get around it. It is very frustrating.

How powerfull is your power supply box? You might want to borrow a better one for testing..

It's an Antec 420W I believe.

The power shouldn't be the problem... I'm not overloading my system.

Maybe the SATA port on your motherboard is glitchy. It happens. Try changing it to a different one.

You can't do that with SATA. It needs to be in the SATA 1 slot. :rolleyes:

Really? I have a SATA disk and I moved the cable to the other port. Got rid of that bluescreen problem I made a thread about some week ago.

Really?

Apparently. According to the manual and all that.

Any other ideas?

Apparently. According to the manual and all that.

Any other ideas?
You could still try and plug it into a different SATA port.
I don't think it could cause any harm other than not being recognized.

Other ideas:
Try a minimal system by unplugging/removing all hardware except for the CPU, RAM and graphics.
Then boot up, restart and add a new piece of hardware and boot up again.

This once was the only way to get a cheap soundcard to be recognized by windows after setting up a new system.

You could also try and plug in your DVD drive at different stages to see which hardware part causes the trouble or if it makes a difference if you plug it in before or after your SATA HDD.

I don't even have my DVD drive plugged in at the moment. I have done everything I should have.

Windows now registers that the drive is there, but I still get an error code 10. I have no idea what that is. I'll try and find out now, I guess.

Edit: It turns out this error code is for when a USB hub has been unplugged, or something. Bah, (and I hasten to add) WTF?

BTW, have you tried plugging in your DVD drive on different IDE channels?
Channels 0 and 1, each have two connectors.

Speaking of that, make sure your DVD drive is jumpered correctly either as master or single drive.

From what you've told me, Stef, I think it sounds like a hardware problem. You'll have to do some more swapping and long time testing to see if either the SATA controller or hard disk are faulty. It could just be a compatability issue. You may wish to see if Samsung are aware of it and if there is a firmware update available.