PC wont boot with all devices connected

[Martal]

So my problem is this :

My computer started to hang at the MOBO splash screen. Didn't let to go into to the BIOS or anything. So i did some searching. I reseted my CMOS, and came across a thread somewhere where they suggest to remove the HDD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM. i did that, then it let me into the BIOS and stuff. Then i thought started to add drives. Everything ok with the optical drives but when i added the HDD it hung at the MOBO screen again. I thought, ok, the HDD is jacked. I tried another HDD, same thing. Then i removed my 1 of my optical drives and added the HDD and it booted up fine. What is the matter here? This is an older system so its running a PATA hdd, could there be a jumper issue? The optical drive and the hdd are on separate IDE cables though. Anyway, im stumped. Any help would be appreciated.

ps. i love my tag

[Fugitive]

Yeah, make sure the jumpers are set properly. I had this kind of problem when I was upgrading my system recently until I realized that both the new hard drive and the DVD drive were both set to Master on the same cable. Even if they're not on the same cable, it might not like it if the drive is set to Slave, or maybe Cable Select doesn't work in that environment for some reason.

[rei]

Or your USB devices could be shorting out.

[MatthewF]

Or the IDE controller is jacked. Does it boot up fine on either of the 2 IDE ports on the mobo? Or does it only work when a drive is plugged into one?

[Martal]

Or the IDE controller is jacked. Does it boot up fine on either of the 2 IDE ports on the mobo? Or does it only work when a drive is plugged into one?

Sorry, what do you mean by ''either of the 2 IDE ports''?
The problem seems to occur only when there are a total of 3 devices plugged into the IDE port. When i have for example my HDD on one cable and my optical drive on another, its fine. When i add another optical drive, doesn't boot. However, when i add the second optical drive to one cable and then yank out the other entirely, boots fine

[Murph]

Yeah, that sounds like jumpers. Make sure that both devices on one cable aren't set to "master," or it'll cause exactly what you're talking about. One should be set to "slave," or both to "cable select."

[unbongwah]

Set the device at the end of an IDE cable to "master" and the device in the middle of the cable to "slave." [EDIT: in my experience, "cable select" doesn't always work right, especially with optical drives, IIRC. So best to set them manually.] Also, put the optical drives on one cable and your HDDs on the other. Make sure your BIOS is set up to auto-detect your IDE drives.

That should do the trick.

[MatthewF]

Ok, yeah, agreed on the jumpers then. I didn't realize you were running a slave/master setup. Doing the above will probably fix it.