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Building a machine with ASUS P5WDG2. Have built 4 or 5 ASUS machines over past 10 years. Can't figure out where or how to connect the CDROM. Do I need to add an I/O card for the CD?

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A concise, practical addendum to the thread (building on 's hardware list and 's suggestions) with steps and tradeoffs for getting a CD/DVD drive connected and for installing Windows from it.

Common, workable options

  • Fit a SATA optical drive to a free SATA port. For a Windows XP install the usual requirement is that the board present the SATA controller in IDE/compatibility mode so the setup program can see the CD; if the controller is in AHCI/RAID mode, XP will only see disks after loading third‑party drivers (F6 during text setup from floppy) or after slipstreaming those drivers into the install media. Vista is generally more tolerant of SATA/AHCI out of the box.
  • Add a PCI IDE controller card. Many inexpensive cards provide a secondary IDE channel and an Option ROM so the system can boot from an IDE CD/DVD attached to it. This is a reliable, low‑effort fix when the onboard IDE channel is already occupied.
  • Use an external USB DVD drive or move a PATA device into a USB enclosure. Most BIOSes expose USB CD/DVD devices as bootable removable media; this avoids driver fiddling during XP setup.
  • Rework jumpers or remove/migrate noncritical PATA devices so the CD-ROM can share the single IDE ribbon (one channel supports two devices), if that fits the existing device mix. PATA-to-SATA adapter dongles and some eSATA arrangements can work, but they can be flaky with optical drives.

Practical install checklist (XP era)

  • Confirm the BIOS detects the optical drive before attempting to boot from it.
  • If the board is in AHCI/RAID mode and XP setup doesn't detect the drive, either supply the controller drivers via F6 on floppy or create install media with the SATA drivers integrated.
  • After Windows is installed in IDE/compatibility mode, install the motherboard SATA/AHCI drivers and then, if AHCI is desired, follow the driver vendor’s documented procedure before switching the BIOS mode (changing mode without the correct driver active can prevent booting).
  • Ensure a proper SATA power connection is available for any added drive, and verify whether an external eSATA port is actually treated as bootable by the board’s BIOS.

These approaches reflect what mentioned about expansion cards and the tradeoffs between convenience and driver work. For a straightforward XP install in this kind of build, USB external DVD or temporarily freeing the IDE channel are often the quickest paths; slipstreaming or F6 is the cleaner route if keeping AHCI/RAID is important.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for dcc

That motherboard supports both PATA and SATA, if there is some confusion as to which you have look at article for the differences.

If I have misunderstood your post, please provide more details, you haven't provided a very much information to go on.

Member Avatar for Spi

That motherboard supports both PATA and SATA, if there is some confusion as to which you have look at article for the differences.

If I have misunderstood your post, please provide more details, you haven't provided a very much information to go on.

Connector is the standard PATA ribbon cable / Insulation Displacement 40 contact type with one middle pin blocked. This cable came with the P5WDG2 motherboard kit and says "CDROM Cable."

Member Avatar for Spi

BTW -- I use both PATA and SATA, but mostly SATA. Previous motherboard in that chassis was an ASUS PSCH-SR/SATA. There are 4 SATA hard drives, 2 PATA removable Hard drives, a Zip drive, a CDROM and an AT style floppy.

Member Avatar for Spi

BTW -- I use both PATA and SATA, but mostly SATA. Previous motherboard in that chassis was an ASUS PSCH-SR/SATA. There are 4 SATA hard drives, 2 PATA removable Hard drives, a Zip drive, a CDROM and an AT style floppy. The floppy was a special 3.5 inch AT compatible from Irvine Data Systems.

Member Avatar for Spi

P.S.S. I forgot to mention -- I first built that machine many years ago with an ASUS P4C800E. Then upgraded to PSCH-SR/SATA. Now I am upgrading with the P5WDG2. CPU is an INTEL Core 2 Quad QX6700 "Kentsfield." There are 4 SATA hard drives, an ASUS EN7600GS graphics card.

Member Avatar for dcc

Now it makes sense. That motherboard only has one IDE socket, and you have plugged two PATA hdds in there and now don't have any place to plug in your CD-ROM.

My suggestion? If you have four SATA hdds then you should have enough space to transfer the information from the PATA drives and eliminate the old drives. Or you could install them in an exterior enclosure and connect them via a USB port. Extension cards are going to make the speed of the optical drive dependent on the PCI bus speed.

Member Avatar for Spi

Thanks Doc. I forgot to mention that I had a zip drive and two removable hard drivces in that setup as well. I'll have to do without them for a while. That machine was more of a beast than I realized; but then, I built it about ten years ago when my mind was really sharp.

Member Avatar for dcc

That link is either temporarily down or out of date.

Glad to hear that you found a solution, there are several options in this case.

Member Avatar for Spi


Glad to hear that you found a solution, there are several options in this case.

I would appreciate it if you would elaborate the options --
Thanks, Spi

Member Avatar for Spi

I have found a SATA cdrom (Also very inexpensive ~ $20), namely the ASUS|DVD-E616A3T. Has anyone used this to install Win XP from CDROM?

Member Avatar for dcc

I can't see where it would be any problem, it's tried and true technology.

Member Avatar for Spi

OK -- Thanks for the encouragement. I just hope that Windows XP or VISTA recognizes the CD and will boot from it! I have never tried to install Windows, booting from an External SATA CDROM before.

Member Avatar for Spi

"I can't see where it would be any problem, it's tried and true technology."

I forgot to mention that the only place I can attach the CDROM on the P5WDG2 motherboard is on an External SATA port as all the internal ones are all used with hard drives.

Member Avatar for Spi

"I can't see where it would be any problem, it's tried and true technology."

Which are you stating as being "tried and true technology" --

1) SATA
2) CDROM
3) SATA CDROM
4) Booting VISTA from an SATA CDROM

Member Avatar for Spi

I can't seem to get a response. Let me try again:

1) Has anyone ever used a SATA CDROM?
2) Has anyone ever booted Windows from an SATA CDROM?

Member Avatar for dcc

A CD-ROM is a CD-ROM whether it SATA or not.

Member Avatar for Spi

A CD-ROM is a CD-ROM whether it SATA or not.

I quite agree! The question is not an existensial one! I was asking whether or not Windows XP will recognize it and load the windows CD from it. There are only certain qualified devices which the Windows XP Installer will recognize.

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