IDE devices keep disappearing.

[ExpertKing]

I have a spare pc that I would like to a setup as a server or a firewall etc. Main problem is that the damn IDE drives keep disappearing.

Cables seem to be fine and the battery. I was wondering if it could be the power supply , rails etc.

Anyone experience any similar problems?

[eretsua]

i have a similair problem where occassionaly my harddrives just dissappear from the system and after a reboot usually re-appear. in my case it's most likely my motherboard giving out.

so it could be your mobo as well but the powersource is also a likely candidate. you can ofcourse, if they are of a similair type, try to switch cases (or just the powersupplies) of your main computer and spare and see if the problem persists. should give some clairity of where the problem lies.

[ExpertKing]

Cheers for the reply , I managed to get openbsd on the system and then removed all bar one IDE . Seems to be fairly stable now.