Also,
Some cables are not keyed and if you plug the cable in backwards...the drive goes POOF!
I found this out the hardway. I had just purchased a laptop to standard IDE adapter and it didnt come with any instructions and it wasnt labeled as to which way it plugged into the laptop drive. a client was standing there and i plugged in his laptop drive taking a wild guess at which way it went and just as i was hitting the power switch, the client tried to warn me and poof went his drive. no smoke or anything but his drive was toast instantly. I had to buy him a new drive!
I made sure to mark which way the drive went in that adapter so it wouldnt happen again.
Any chance you could have hooked up that cable backwards, even for a second???
Zc