Linux Mint Forums

This is akin t some problems we've had with mixed IDE and SATA
Here's a link to an explanation
http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... annot_boot
That is not your problem but you need to know about it just in case
If you can put the IDE disk and the CD player on separate cables
If this is not possible

the ribbon cable in my computer has two plugs, a "master" plug and a "slave" plug

Use another cable because if this is really true the cable is a special one only to be used with special equipment - the IDE controller must be built to use cable select
Get yourself a normal cable
Remember the long section of the ribbon cable nearest the motherboard
Put the hard disk at the far end and set it as Master (avoid having a hdd as anything but master)
Put the CD in the other connector as slave
Check BIOS for bootsequence and use UUID as described in the link above - you're good to go
PS Cable select is some crap that only a few computer manufacturers, notably Compaq, has used