rybo3

Member
Jun 13, 2002
86
0
does antone have a link to somewhere to find cd-rom/r-rw drivers? both my drives quit working(i.e. won't recognize a disk being in the drive), but my device manager says they are both working properly.

any help would be great. thanks
 

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
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
 

rybo3

Member
Jun 13, 2002
86
0
got the new drivers, to no avail. when you but a disc in, the drive just clicks, and then it say please insert disc into drive. i can't hear any spinning or movement when i put a disc in.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
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.
 

rybo3

Member
Jun 13, 2002
86
0
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.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
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.
 

125 rider

Sponsoring Member
Oct 1, 2000
408
1
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.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
There are no settings on an IDE controller. If by settings your referring to the jumper settings, these are on the back of the drives. If your drives worked before and have stopped it's very unlikely a jumper setting issue.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
Originally posted by rybo3
so it should just be a problem with a ide ribbon cable. if i replace those, i should be good to go.

I would never make that assurance. It could be one of a million different things causing your problem. I'm just trying to give you some suggestion on where to start to look.
 

JasonJ

Member
Jun 15, 2001
1,150
1
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.
 

rybo3

Member
Jun 13, 2002
86
0
would the IDE cables from my old computer work?( p2 333mhz) do you just plug them in, or do you have to change any settings. i don't know how to set my drives up as slaves.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
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.
 

rybo3

Member
Jun 13, 2002
86
0
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
 
Top Bottom