IDE Error after replacing CD/DVD drive in Toshiba Satellite

it could be a lot of things...  I would first check that the drive works on another system.  If thats not an option i suggest you unplug all the other ide devices and plug only the drive in question in and see what the bios has to say about it.  That would elliminate any conflictions.  Windows assigning a drive letter could be a lot of things, I wouldn't put much creed into it.  I dont believe most laptop dvd drives have jumpers to set the ide config.  It's supposed to plug and play.  You can check the bios settings for any options surounding that drive.  Although I dont think you will find much.  A dvd drive is a pretty basic thing and should work out of box.  Ofcourse there is the posibility is that the drive itself is bad.  That is why it would be nice to have another system to test in.  Where you were having trouble with the previous drive it is posible that (likely if you cant get the drive to work on that system doing any of the previous suggestions) the ide controller inside the laptop or the power supply to that drive is bad.  The only way to tell would be to plug in a drive you know works.  Or send it back to the manufacturer.  Unfortunatly, with a laptop there arent many options for an average user to test the internals.

Many, if not most, laptop optical drives do not have master/slave/CS jumpers or switches.   (I've looked at the three drives that I have -- and NONE of them have such a switch.)   They are instead shipped with a default setting of Cable Select.

In the case of your Toshiba, the drive needs to be set as Master.  Unfortunately, there is no jumper to do that.   In some cases, there is a firmware revision for the drive that will set it to what you want ==> this is for the DRIVE and NOT the computer.   You didn't say what you replaced the Matsushita with, so I couldn't determine if there is such an update for your drive => you may want to check the manufacturer's web site and see if you can find one.

But there's another way.  Pin 47 of the 50-pin interface for these drives is the Device Config (CSEL) pin.  If you ground this pin, the drive will be set as Master.   Pins 43, 44, and 45 are all grounds - so you can simply short pins 45 & 47 and you'll have a Master device.   This is NOT hard, but it IS delicate.   While it's possible to do this on the connector end, it's a LOT easier to do it "inside" the drive, which requires removing the drive's cover.   Just be very cautious and you should have no problem with this => just solder a thin copper wire between those two pins and you're ready to go.   If you're not skilled at soldering, find a friend who is -- this is a fairly delicate "operation."

The following site (in German, but has good pictures) shows what you need to do:  
http://www.dschen.de/laptop_brenner/

A glob of conductive paint between the two pins will probably work also, if you're not keen on soldering it.

i'd check the bios settings and set them to their default values. worth a shot n no soldering.

dB