iBook G3 Hard Disk/ Optical Drive "Jumper" Configuration

1 post / 0 new
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 10 months ago
Joined: Apr 11 2012 - 07:27
Posts: 75
iBook G3 Hard Disk/ Optical Drive "Jumper" Configuration

So after putting up with a dying 30Gb hard disk in my ibook for about a month (with the hard disk getting sadder and sadder by the day) I finally decided to bite the bullet and open up the machine. So after going through the whole process of replacing the hard disk I booted the machine to test the new disk only to find that the iBook could not find the disk. So I pulled the machine back apart and checked all my connections, nope all fine. Next I checked the jumper configuration information on the two drives, both had the exact same configuration information (Both the same model drive but in different capacities). So, getting fed up I hit the IRC here and asked there and whilst waiting for a reply it hit me that perhaps the Hard Disk wasn't at fault here. So with that in mind I went a swapped the optical drive for a generic PC drive, hooked it up and it booted fine. So I powered it all down and swapped back to the stock optical drive and changed its "jumper" switch to the same setting as the generic drive, hooked it all up again, and it booted.

So, now after reading that novel on how I got into this situation I am going to put to you this question:

Why do two drives with identical settings that vary only in capacity act totally differently in the same computer?

Drive Info:

| Capacity | 30Gb | 80Gb |
------------------------------------------
| Manufacturer | Fujitsu | Fujitsu |
------------------------------------------
| OEM | Apple | Apple |
------------------------------------------
| Model | MHS2030AT | MHT2090AH |
------------------------------------------
| Jumper | Pre-Config | Pre-Config |