When my HDD (Seagate ST31200) is coupled with a cd or dvd drive, it develops terrible problems. I finally worked out that part of the problem is the XP downgrading my Primary IDE channel issue, and got the fix for that from this forum. On deleting my Primary IDE channel my HDD is back up to speed ... for a very short time.
It doesn't take long for the downgrading to occur again. Whats more, my HDD seems to switch on and off again randomly... it makes a single beep as it does when the computer powers up and down, and the whole system pauses for a few seconds.
This occurs in any IDE configuration and with all drives I've tested, including 2 CDROMs, 1 CD-RW and a new Benq 1640.
If left as a single solitary drive, there are absolutely no problems with the hdd. I've tried switching IDE cables as well.
For now I'm stuck with leaving my shiny new burner in my g'friend's machine . If anyone has any ideas what might be happening I'd be much appreciative.
System is a 1GHZ Athlon, on a Asus KT7A mobo. Is rock solid (when no CD/DVD drive is in sight).