Problem with 2.5 to 3.5 hdd p-ata adapter

[micio]

Hi all,
i'm trying to attach my 2.5" P-ATA hdd (from my dell) into my house pc (3.5" P-ATA). I bought one of those adapters from 2.5" to 3.5" (look here to get an idea http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2365/adattatoreuj6.png) but something strange happens. When turning on the pc the 2.5hdd is not correctly recognized. Actually, sometimes the BIOS (award bios with gigabyte 848P motherboard) sees it as a 16MB hdd, some other times it doesn't see it at all. I tried to boot windows XP from the pc's hdd, and then try to analize the hdd with some tool and they say the 2.5 hdd is more than 500 thousand GB :|
The hdd i'm talking about is a Fujitsu MHV2040AH 40 GB, with ATA password enabled. I thought the problem could be because of the ATA password, so I tried with an unlocked 2.5" hdd (a Hitachi DX23BA-10, 10 GB) and i do get the same error. So I tried on a older computer, and I get the same strange happenings?

Anyone of you already got the 500 thousand GB odd capacity? Do you know why that happens? My opinion, after my trials, is that the problem is in the 2.5"->3.5" adapter. Any guess?

Thank you for your help

 

[Nodsu]

The adapter does nothing but connect wires from one plug to another. So unless there is some physical damage, the adapter should Just Work.

Do you have a jumper on the adapter to se master/slave? Some IDE controllers have problems with standalone slave devices.

Try with another IDE cable connected to another IDE channel.

 

[Samstoned]

I use those all the time with no master slave issues
make sure when plugged in that the circuit board is even on both side
if not you plugged in backwards may cause damage to HDD
use the 2nd ide channel

 

[micio]

The adapter does nothing but connect wires from one plug to another. So unless there is some physical damage, the adapter should Just Work.

Do you have a jumper on the adapter to se master/slave? Some IDE controllers have problems with standalone slave devices.

Try with another IDE cable connected to another IDE channel.

On the adapter there are no jumpers, as there are no jumpers on the hdd which means (according to the description on the hdd itself) that it is set in master mode. I'll try changing cable (but it should work as i normally use it) and channel.

I use those all the time with no master slave issues
make sure when plugged in that the circuit board is even on both side
if not you plugged in backwards may cause damage to HDD
use the 2nd ide channel

The hdd is correctly inserted in the circuit board and i'm using the hdd. The fact that sometimes it recognised the hdd, some others not... i think it's because the hdd does oscilates a bit in the adapter. But when it recognised it, why does recognition programs tell me that both harddrives are 500,000 GB?!?

 

[Samstoned]

could be something about the origin format of the drives as stated the adapter is just a trace wire circuit its the OS or mother board bios thats at issue