|
On the optical drive problem: Egad. I can't say why this just arrived but I'd get it out of the picture before moving forward.
Easy test. Pull the optical IDE cable(s) from the mobo and see if booting improves. (assuming BIOS set to autodetect) If it's better, hit the drives with a hammer until they behave...
What exactly are the drives? Master, slave, at end or middle of cable? Anything else at all on the cables?... the usual stuff.
Bad magic like this is usually caused by an IDE device being jumpered wrong or just not releasing the select line. When you hear people complain about problems using multiple opticals it's often that one or both of the opticals aren't quite right in the head.
__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
|