[V0lt]

Okay, here's my problem-

I can't access my cd rom drive in windows. The drive does appear in My Computer, but when I click on it, it only says 'device is not ready' (and before you say anything, I do have a cd in). I can access the drive in DOS, however when I boot from a floppy, so I know it's not a harware problem.

I have a CD-RW drive, and that is still functional, but the read speed is very slow and I can't play music with it since there is only one spot on my sound card for the wire that comes from the CD drive.

Any ideas?

 

[merlin]

did you check in device manager for any clues ? how about updating drivers for that drive...when did this problem start ? did you reinstall windows?

please post back

 

[V0lt]

I already checked the device manager to see if it conflicted with anything and it said it was working properly. I already tried uninstalling the device manager entry for it, but it just appears again at the next boot.

The problem came up without any warning, and the last time I reinstalled windows was last year (the CD drive has worked the entire time until now).

 

[Doonz]

check you power supply....there is enough power to detect the drive but not enough to power the laser and have the drive respond....probley why the writer is getting slow as well!!


Spend some money on a bigger power supply it would probley fix more problems then you realize

 

[V0lt]

Thanks for your advice... I'll open the hood tonight and pull some cables to see if it's the power supply. Also a quick question, on an average system, how many IDE devices can you have at the same time? (I currently have 2 HDs, a CD-Rom, and a CD-RW)

 

[Doonz]

its all according to your needs....but you probley have the most avrage set up...as long as your power supply can handel the work load...hence what might be your problem

 

[Uranium-235]

cdrom could be bad.

oh make sure thiers a cd in the drive

is your bios detecting it too?

 

[merlin]

I think doonz is on the right track...Your psu might be working right and your cd rom is going bad...just gets enough to spool up and then quits...try to find a spare...also make sure that IDE cable is the right type...

 

[SacoPaco]

Uranium-235, dont you think he has already checked if there´s a CD in the drive? ¬¬
Ahm, also... I think 90% of the problems posted in these forums could be explained with the phrase "maybe the " X "is damaged." If they come here, is because they´re searching for other kind of answers

 

[merlin]

SacoPaco, welcome to the forums friend....
thank you for constructive criticism, always appreciated. And also we appreciate when you offer your thoughts on what the solution, in your opinion would be...didn't notice that in your post. Please try to post one next time. Although Uranium-235 might of missed to read some of the posts, he offered help.. Other kind of answers, the right ones do get posted...we just need time to troubleshoot and figure out what the problem really is...After all, most of us have other jobs/errands/duties to do and tend to the problems posted here as much as we can, for free... Anyways, If you have a comment on how the forum is run, there is a forum for that too, techSupportNet network comments .

Thank you, hope you enjoy your stay...

 

[Doonz]

In Breaking new

A "Hacker" turned wizard snapped yesteday and bought up all the deep fried cream filled twinkies in PA...


Just kidding about the hacker part...good answer though!!

 

[V0lt]

Okay, to clear up a few things-

The CD drive is detected by bios, and when in DOS, it CAN be accesse, which is why I thought it might be a problem with a driver in Windows. CD is in the drive, also. But the thing is, this sytem configuration has worked for a year or so now, and just stopped working as I had my other issue (see http://techsupportforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=3166 ), which in the end was fixed by an hour's worth of registry editing (Kazaa modified the Winsock 2 entries to point to it's new dot net thing, screwing up everything that tried to access the internet). Does the PS usually degrade in performance after a while?

 

[SPEEDO]

merlin

Here! Here! Good Show........................

Oh BTW did you check to see if DMA is enabled for the drive, And that a drive letter has been allocated to the drive in device manager.

 

[slim_jim]

You said you could access the drive in dos but failed to say if it works or not?

also are you using burnt copies?

may be the motor is failing

remove the cd rom,remove the top cover,reinstall without cover, put in a cd and see if it spins.

 

[merlin]

remove the cd rom,remove the top cover,reinstall without cover, put in a cd and see if it spins.

a sign of a true tech and a tinkerer...I would be careful when removing the top and reinstalling the drive back in...I did the same thing, just to see if it would work and I knocked it out of allignment...it started making these queezy noises and was spinning lobsided and all...

 

[V0lt]

By 'access' I meant I could run programs on the CD when I boot from the Windows 98 disk into DOS.

remove the cd rom,remove the top cover,reinstall without cover, put in a cd and see if it spins.

This will be my last resort as I tend to break CD drives very quickly when I take them apart

 

[twas]

merlin

Here! Here! Good Show........................

Oh BTW did you check to see if DMA is enabled for the drive, And that a drive letter has been allocated to the drive in device manager.

Fox, hi ya.

Haven't seen a response to this post by Speedo.

:ufo: :ufo: :ufo:

twas


ps - Of course some people think that I'm as blind as I am crazy.

 

[V0lt]

oh, sorry about that. Yes, DMA is enabled, and it has a drive letter (F)

 

[twas]

Fox,

My usual solution for this type of problem includes the use of a "Digital Precision Adjustment Tool" aka 2 1/2lb Stainless Steel Ball-bean Hammer", but before we get out the old DPAT I think we sure try one or two more things.

So, if you could furnish the following info. on all drives (HD's,
CD-R, & CD-R/W's installed on your PC:

From the Bios --> Drive Name Primary/Secondary Master/Slave

From Device Mgr. --> Drive Name, Drive Assignment Letter, DMA

From the CD-R, CD-R/W drives the Jumper configuration.

I know you know how to get the info. from the Device Mgr., if you have trouble getting All the settings try the following post:

http://www.techsupportforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=24131#post24131

:ufo: :ufo: :ufo:

twas

 

[V0lt]

Okay, here's what I got:

IDE-CD R/RW 8x4x32
-target ID:1
-logical unit #: 0
-Firmware revision: G1.9
options:
disonnect: checked
sync data transfer: unchecked
removable: grayed out
int 13 unit: grayed out
auto insert notification: checked
DMA: unchecked
Current frive letter is F:

NEC CD-ROM DRIVE:28G
-target ID:0
-Firmare revision: 3.24
-Logical unit number:0
options:
disconnect: checked
sync data transfer: unchecked
auto insert notification: checked
removable: grayed out
int 13 unit: grayed out
DMA: checked
Current drive letter is E:

under HD controllers, there are three entries:

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Dual IDE Channel Settings: Default

Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
No settings tab

Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
No settings tab

Under disk drives, there are three entries:

GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE01
No options checked with only "Removable" and "DMA" un-grayed

Current letter assignment: C:

GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE02
Same options situation as previous drive
Drive letter is D:

In BIOS:

Fixed Disk 0:WDC WD400BB-32CXA0-(PM)
Fixed Disk 1:IBM-BPTA-371360-(PS)
ATAPI CD-ROM:NFC CD-ROM DRIVE:28G-(SM)
ATAPI CD-ROM:R/RW 8x4x32-(SS)