The delay comes about when an ATAPI driver interrogates an IDE channel and finds an ATAPI device. The driver must then interrogate both the master and slave channels to determine whether one or two ATAPI devices are present. The ATAPI spec calls for a 30 second time out on the requests. If there are two ATAPI devices or an ATAPI device and a non-ATAPI device (such as an IDE drive), the responses will come in a second or so and the system will continue. However when there is only a single ATAPI device on the controller, a full 30 second timeout will occur on the unused channel.
Possible cures for this problem include installing a properly configured IDE drive on the unused connector on the offending controller's cable. Changing the CMOS setup so that the drive is set to NONE rather than AUTO is another possibility.
Return To Index Copyright 1994-2008 by Donald Kenney.