CD-RW drive just stopped working alltogether

novascotian100 · 01-23-2005, 12:13 PM

Hi there - I'm a little new to this! I just ran into a problem with my CD-RW drive. I have windows Me, and a few months ago by CD drive just stopped working alltogether. I unplugges the IDE connection, and the power supply, restarted and given a few attempts of doing that it started working again. Then it would stop again on and off until last night, when it has stopped and seems to have stopped for good. Right before it stopped this time, the light came on and would not go off, even though nothing was in the drive. When I restarted it was not there

I have no listing of the drive in my device manager, and no matter what I do I cannot seem to get my computer to recognize the drive.

I tried a new IDE cable, and did a system restore, tried a different power supply, but no luck. I don't know much about this but figure either:
1) my cd drive is pooched
2) there is a problem with my motherboard where the CD drive plugs into it

My CD drive is plugged into my secondary IDE - the secondary IDE appears in the device manager but no cd drive. I have my hard drive plugged into the primary one, that's all I have (other than the floppy drive)

I was going to buy a new CD drive and try it, but I thought if the problem was bigger than just the drive, I had better figure that out first.

Any help any one can give me would be greatly appreciated.
(PS I have updated Norton so I don't think it's a virus but I guess oyu never know).

Thanks

Scott

**johnwill** · 01-23-2005, 06:53 PM

It sure sounds like the drive has died. CD-RW drives are cheap, I'd try yours in another system, but I suspect it's toast.

novascotian100 · 01-23-2005, 07:15 PM

Thanks for getting back to me. I think I'll go with a new drive...I was thinking though, if the drive had died wouldn't the computer still recognize it as existing? It seems as if the drive just disappeared off of the computer alltogether -that's why I was afraid that maybe if was something more complicated...and more expensive...! Is it possible that the drive malfunctioning would cause it to appear this way? Thanks a ton.

Scott

**johnwill** · 01-24-2005, 06:02 PM

It's very possible that the drive would simply vanish if it dies, I've had hard disks and optical drives do that exact dance.

01-23-2005, 12:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
novascotian100 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2 OS: Windows Me	CD-RW drive just stopped working alltogether Hi there - I'm a little new to this! I just ran into a problem with my CD-RW drive. I have windows Me, and a few months ago by CD drive just stopped working alltogether. I unplugges the IDE connection, and the power supply, restarted and given a few attempts of doing that it started working again. Then it would stop again on and off until last night, when it has stopped and seems to have stopped for good. Right before it stopped this time, the light came on and would not go off, even though nothing was in the drive. When I restarted it was not there I have no listing of the drive in my device manager, and no matter what I do I cannot seem to get my computer to recognize the drive. I tried a new IDE cable, and did a system restore, tried a different power supply, but no luck. I don't know much about this but figure either: 1) my cd drive is pooched 2) there is a problem with my motherboard where the CD drive plugs into it My CD drive is plugged into my secondary IDE - the secondary IDE appears in the device manager but no cd drive. I have my hard drive plugged into the primary one, that's all I have (other than the floppy drive) I was going to buy a new CD drive and try it, but I thought if the problem was bigger than just the drive, I had better figure that out first. Any help any one can give me would be greatly appreciated. (PS I have updated Norton so I don't think it's a virus but I guess oyu never know). Thanks Scott Last edited by novascotian100; 01-23-2005 at 12:32 PM.

01-23-2005, 06:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	It sure sounds like the drive has died. CD-RW drives are cheap, I'd try yours in another system, but I suspect it's toast. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-23-2005, 07:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
novascotian100 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2 OS: Windows Me	Thanks Thanks for getting back to me. I think I'll go with a new drive...I was thinking though, if the drive had died wouldn't the computer still recognize it as existing? It seems as if the drive just disappeared off of the computer alltogether -that's why I was afraid that maybe if was something more complicated...and more expensive...! Is it possible that the drive malfunctioning would cause it to appear this way? Thanks a ton. Scott

01-24-2005, 06:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	It's very possible that the drive would simply vanish if it dies, I've had hard disks and optical drives do that exact dance. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience