If you installed it into a PC that also has integrated controllers, make sure that those controllers are disabled or you may have a conflict if they both try to operate the same channel number. They usually use IRQ 14 and IRQ15, and some devices may conflict with these, such as SCSI host adapters and network cards. Watch out for sound cards that have built in IDE controllers that may be enabled even if you don't want them. Read the directions and make sure that the controller on the sound card is disabled so it does not conflict with other hardware, if you are not using it. Most Sound Blaster and compatible sound cards do have these controllers.
Bus mastering drivers can cause problems with older controller cards.
They just may not work properly at all. See here for more on IDE bus mastering driver problems . It is possible that there is a configuration or jumpering problem with one or more IDE devices that is causing this problem. I would follow this troubleshooting section that talks about how to diagnose a hard disk that cannot be detected , because many of the causes of that problem and this one are the same. You might want to troubleshoot the motherboard .