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Compaq SFF en desk-pro with Floppy and CD drives, with windows 98, run in dos mod. (help)

T

Tom Roche

New Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2023
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5
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Ireland
Hello, I am a very new member, i only created this account to ask a tech question. I have an old Compaq small form factor that belongs to my dad, i have some old games installed on it already, but wish to install more, which are on CD rather than floppy, but, the CD drive's IDE cable has been removed, and my father doesn't remember why, so it has been removed for a long time, this means, we have currently no way to install CD games onto the machine, as we don;t (as far as we know) have a replacement IDE cable, it is also an awkward pin number, not the standard 40 or 44 pin, but a wide 50 pin, one that's long and not as wide as he 40 pins. so it has been hard searching for it online so far, as it is an unusual IDE, i am looking for either help in finding such cable, to replace with. Or, if yuo far more knowledge-d people know of work arounds for this problem, that will allow me to install any files onto the computer using CDs to install from. The main reason i am wanting to do this is to install some few CD boxed games my dad owns and maybe burn the driver files for a SoundBlaster Live card we have, onto a CD to install from.
Please give me help with solving these problems.
 
Welcome to the forums!

Some pictures and/or specific model numbers would help.

I’m assuming the CD-ROM drive is the slim, laptop style, is that right?

If you search for the model number of the CD-ROM drive on eBay, maybe you’ll find an example of a drive that still has the cable attached and maybe you can see a part number of something. Or perhaps someone had a service manual that lists part numbers.
 
jafir said:
Welcome to the forums!

Some pictures and/or specific model numbers would help.

I’m assuming the CD-ROM drive is the slim, laptop style, is that right?

If you search for the model number of the CD-ROM drive on eBay, maybe you’ll find an example of a drive that still has the cable attached and maybe you can see a part number of something. Or perhaps someone had a service manual that lists part numbers.
Click to expand...
Sure. It's got the slim CD drive. Here is the front of it.
 

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Tom Roche said:
Sure. It's got the slim CD drive. Here is the front of it.
Click to expand...
Here is more pics of the CD Drive.
The part no. For the CD Drive is No. 3141181-406.
 

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Did you do a search on the product number? Are you sure its IDE?

Can you expand/open the parts, as shown on the diagram, and take pictures of the connector on the CD-ROM and the motherboard? This may be a SCSI interface?

Do you have another computer with a CD writer? This CD-ROM in the picture is not a writer. You mention wanting to burn a CD so I am not sure what your plan is. Some more information would be helpful. The model of the Compaq? Are you the original owner? Have the owner's manual?

Seaken
 
Sure sounds like it may be a SCSI drive with a 50 pin connector. A picture of the connector would be most useful.
 
Careful! I've got a SFF HP e-PC with a CD drive that uses a 50 pin 2mm connector. It's IDE and the power comes over those 50 pins--there is no separate power connector. Here's an example of the cable used:

www.ebay.com

CablesOnline 4 inch 50-Pin Mini IDC 2.0mm Laptop Ribbon Cable, FS2-04 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for CablesOnline 4 inch 50-Pin Mini IDC 2.0mm Laptop Ribbon Cable, FS2-04 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
I did a bit of searching to try to identify @Tom Roche's machine, and while I may not have found the right machine, what I found certainly all seemed to talk about IDE and not SCSI.

Out of curiosity, then, do those 50 pin interfaces have the same spacing as a 44 pin 2.5" IDE hard drive's connector?
 
Sorry about the delay in getting back, here are some more photos of the machine specifically the IDE socket
 

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As twolazy pointed out this is a consumer Compaq. So it won't be SCSI. I have no idea now.
 
Chuck even mentioned he’s got an SFF with a similar (or probably identical) connector. IDE and power.

Seems like this is solved.

OP just needs to buy the correct 50 pin, 2.0mm cable. Maybe that’s where things are getting into the weeds. Standard IDE uses a 2.54mm pitch. The cable Chuck linked to (and the one I linked to) has a smaller 2.0mm pitch.
 
Tom Roche said:
It's not 40 pin, it's a 50pin, my dad has 40 pin connectors and they don't fit.
Click to expand...

Allow me to repeat. I said "Looks to me like a standard 40-pin IDE connector and a small 2mm IDE connector for a compact CD-ROM. "

I stated that there were two IDE connectors. A 40 pin and a 50 pin. The upper one is standard 2.5mm IDE, which also has a white power header next to it. The lower one is 50 pin 2mm IDE. Note that the blank pin is the same in both--the 10th position from the rightmost edge.
Screenshot_2023-07-18_14-50-15.png
 
Since there is likely power involved, make sure that you plug the cable in the correct way around. A generic cable might not be keyed.
 
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