my computer
- Thread starter rybo3
- Start date
oldguy
Always Broken
- Dec 26, 1999
- 9,411
- 0
being able to crash a computer faster then anyone take my advice with a grain of salt
I just did a complete wipeout of our system and couldn't get the scanner to work so I went to
My computer then to
Control panel into
Systems and then to the tab Device manager
Then I found the link in the tree to my problem. from there windows did the rest to take me online and found the driver I needed
I just did a complete wipeout of our system and couldn't get the scanner to work so I went to
My computer then to
Control panel into
Systems and then to the tab Device manager
Then I found the link in the tree to my problem. from there windows did the rest to take me online and found the driver I needed
Mike Hubert
Member
- Apr 22, 2001
- 164
- 0
CD drivers tend to be fairly generic, you can probably just remove the CD driver and reboot and let it re-add the device.
It seems unlikely that both drives would die at the same time. Are both drives on the same IDE cable? If so try a new IDE cable if you still get nothing from either drive then perhaps your IDE controller died for some reason. If you fear that's the case you could confirm it by hooking one of the drives up on the same IDE cable your HD is on but don't forget to set the jumper on the back of the drive to the slave setting.
- Thread starter
- #7
thanks for the reply, chili. i have a couple questions for you. what is the IDE cable?
what is a IDE controller?
both drives must have some power to them because i can open them to put a disk in, so i'm thinking it wouldn't be a hardware issue, would it?
also, both drives did not die at the same time. my cd-rom died 1st, right about the time i upgraded to xp pro. then about 4 mo. later my cd-r quit working.
what is a IDE controller?
both drives must have some power to them because i can open them to put a disk in, so i'm thinking it wouldn't be a hardware issue, would it?
also, both drives did not die at the same time. my cd-rom died 1st, right about the time i upgraded to xp pro. then about 4 mo. later my cd-r quit working.
The IDE cable is the ribbon cable running from the back of the drive to the IDE controller (plug on the motherboard). Do the drives work at all and are just not listed as drives in my computer or your control panel? I had an issue with XP pro at one time where my drives disappeared from the control panel but if you inserted a disc that had an auto run on it the cd-rom would still fire up. I don't recall off hand what I did to fix it other than hit the windows update site and make sure you are current on all your patches and service packs.
I had a similar problem with my cd burner but it was because it was hooked up as slave on the IDE Cable and the jumper settings were set to primary. There is a seperate wire to power the unit so if the light is on and the drive opens, but theres no sign of any data exchange between the drive and the computer then it is most likely software configuration or the IDE cable/controller as Chili said.
You should not have to pay for an IDE cabel as there are a zillion laying around any computer shop, just ask or grab one out of a junker on the side of the road :). Unless its one of the newer Ultrua ATA cables but even so, a standard IDE cable will work for testing. Be advised, the cables pin 2 is marked with a red tracer on the end wire, note where that red end is as it has to be put back the same way with the new one on the MB, on the CD drive, the red end always goes twoard the power connector.
The IDE controller is built into the chip set on the Mother board but its possible you need a BIOS upgrade for the chip set to work right with XP pro. Did your burner work at all with XP? XP pro has burning software and drivers built into it that should pick a standard burner up no problems.
You said it was clicking, sometimes its possible for the gear to get messed up on the tray track, especially if you gave it a hard shove. The best way to re set it is with the puter powered off, straighten out a paper clip and put it in the small hole in the front of the CD device, its a small round hole and a paper clip fits in it fine and give it a gentle nudge, this should manually open the CD tray, pull the tray all the way out. If its off you should here a bit of grinding as you pull the tray out toward the end and that would be the gear jumping the teeth as it gets set back to the open position. then shove the tray back in and power it up and test the door button to check how it works.
Othere than that, you can buy a HP or other cleaning CD and try that in there, but hey, thease things do go bad so you may be SOL. The best thing I can think of to eliminate the IDE channel is like Chili said and try to hook your CDs on the Hard drive IDE one at a time jumped as slaves.
The IDE controller is built into the chip set on the Mother board but its possible you need a BIOS upgrade for the chip set to work right with XP pro. Did your burner work at all with XP? XP pro has burning software and drivers built into it that should pick a standard burner up no problems.
You said it was clicking, sometimes its possible for the gear to get messed up on the tray track, especially if you gave it a hard shove. The best way to re set it is with the puter powered off, straighten out a paper clip and put it in the small hole in the front of the CD device, its a small round hole and a paper clip fits in it fine and give it a gentle nudge, this should manually open the CD tray, pull the tray all the way out. If its off you should here a bit of grinding as you pull the tray out toward the end and that would be the gear jumping the teeth as it gets set back to the open position. then shove the tray back in and power it up and test the door button to check how it works.
Othere than that, you can buy a HP or other cleaning CD and try that in there, but hey, thease things do go bad so you may be SOL. The best thing I can think of to eliminate the IDE channel is like Chili said and try to hook your CDs on the Hard drive IDE one at a time jumped as slaves.
Yes the cables from the old PC will work. They do just plug in but they need to be oriented correctly, most boards and drives have a setup where it is impossible to plug them in incorrectly but there are some that you could plug them in backwards. Based on how this thread has gone I might suggest your going to be in over your head and it may be wise to simply pony up and get the PC looked at by a professional.
- Thread starter
- #20
problem solved!
what i did was take out the current cd-rom drive, and replace with my old cd-rom drive. my computer picked it right up, and it works, plus, now my cd-rw works too. i also but a new ide cable from the old cd-rom to the motherboard.
do you think the cable was bad, or do you think the cd-rom drive is bad? i will check it out later. i have to go to work now.
anyways, thanks everyone for your help. i probably couldn't have done the job without it.
thanks again,
RYBO3
what i did was take out the current cd-rom drive, and replace with my old cd-rom drive. my computer picked it right up, and it works, plus, now my cd-rw works too. i also but a new ide cable from the old cd-rom to the motherboard.
do you think the cable was bad, or do you think the cd-rom drive is bad? i will check it out later. i have to go to work now.
anyways, thanks everyone for your help. i probably couldn't have done the job without it.
thanks again,
RYBO3
