Computer CDROM Expertise...

[TerryinMD]

The Kenwood 72x Truex CDROM on my computer just decided to go south forever and I am a little miffed. Of course, it died a couple of months after its 1yr warrenty expired. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

I tried the obvious like swiching the power supply connectors, checking the seating of all of the power and EIDE connectors. Pushed all of the buttons, poked, probed, and swore at it. To no avail... /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

I went as far as taking the back off to see if any bugs may have crawled into it to cause a short (remember the origin of computer bugs). Bag the warning sticker since the warrenty expired. No bugs.

The new hardware wizard cannot "see" it and I can not force a discovery.

Any other possibilities?

Or should I go shopping? If so, any recommendations?

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

Is it still showing up in Control Panel-System-Device Manager? Is it showing up more then once?

Either way, remove it in Device Manager and reboot your computer. Hopefully, when it reboots, the OS will try to find the hardware. If you get the "Unknown Device", use your CD-ROM set up disk (you should have this disk handy).

The CD-ROM drive may have been lost in the BIOS. If you are familar with working in the BIOS, you'll figure it out. If not, reply here or e-mail me at home.

BTW, does the drive show up when your machine does the POST?

 

[TerryinMD]

Roy,

Neither!! /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

As far as XP is concerned, it does not exist. Was there less than a week ago and then, kaput.

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

By "Neither", I assume that means it's not in the BIOS (not showing up during POST) or in Device Manager...

In BIOS, you can try to Autodetect. As the machine first boots, you should see a message "Hit F1 to enter Setup..." or it may be "Hit Del..." to enter the BIOS. I don't know which BIOS you have, so once in SETUP you have to look around. If you have the manual for your MAINBOARD, read it first. The MANUAL will explain how to AUTODETECT your drives. If you don't have the manual and you've never worked in the BIOS, I suggest you take your computer in for service.
Since you already opened your case, did you try to reset the ribbon cable? It only has to be slightly awry to malfunction. If you have another ribbon cable, you could try that...the cable could be bad.

If you CD-ROM isn't showing up during the POST, it indicates more of a hardware problem to me. This isn't definately the case, but if it were driver related, I would think it would still show up (as a drive) in BIOS.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.kenwoodtech.com/>Kenwood Tech Support & Firmware Upgrades</A>
If you are still having problems, call Technical support at 1 (888) 730-4206.

 

[TerryinMD]

Roy,

I've reset ALL of the cables, but I haven't tried to replace the ribbon cable. Worth a shot.

You mention hardware problem. I believe that the CDROM just died and went to CDROM heaven. What other hardware issues may be present? Bad motherboard? Since I moved the power connectors around I think I've eliminated a bad power supply.

JM,

Thank you for the Kenwood info.

Terry

 

[looch]

As a test for the ribbon cable, unplug the one you're using for you hard drive and replace it with the one for your cdrom (assuming they're on different IDE channels). If your hard drive works then the cable is fine/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. If it doesn't work, lucky you! (I've never priced a ribbon cable but it can't be that much).

 

[DVerbarg]

This is a long shot ...

Did you download any new "fixes" for XP before this happened? There have many reports of various system glitches after fixes have been downloaded. My sympathies to those with XP ... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[TerryinMD]

DVerbarg,

Nope, none lately.

I haven't heard of any problems with any of the upgrades, but ya never know.... /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

A bad Mainboard is a possibility.
I've lost two, over the last several years. However, in both cases, the computer wouldn't boot at all.

 

[TerryinMD]

Ack!! If I have to replace the mainboard, it's P4 time.

Oh no... there go any new toys for awhile.... /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

Ack!! If I have to replace the mainboard, it's P4 time.

Oh no... there go any new toys for awhile

Terry, what is your machine now? A P III CPU? P II?
If it's a fairly recent P III, why go to the added expense of a P IV? You're looking at all new RAM, the mainboard and the CPU.

If your mainboard is bad, it's not that difficult to replace it and use your current RAM and CPU. Takes about 3-4 hours, then you'll have to tweak your applications...maybe reload some. It's best to format your hard drive and start fresh, though...that's what I would do.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, if the mainboard is kaput, you 'puter probably wouldn't boot at all.

Now, if you can plug your ribbon cable (from the CD-ROM drive) in another socket (if you have one open), and the drive still doesn't work, it is probably the drive itself. They aren't that expensive...32x to 40x should be quite adequate.

 

[TerryinMD]

Roy,

Thank you for the help.

I replaced the ribbon cable to the CDROM and it was not recognized by the OS. No lights are coming on so I think that the drive is dead. Somehow, the CDROM is not getting any power and I've checked and switched around the power connectors.

I've built both of my PCs. Both are Asus 440BX based motherboards. One is a 450Mhz and the other is 800Mhz. They are maxed out CPU wise. The next machine/upgrade will will be to get all of the next bells and whistles whenever that happens. Rather spend my money on other things, but if I must rebuilt - go for the gusto!!

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

Just out of curiousity, have you swapped drives from one computer to the other?
Since you have two, this can confirm the dead CD-ROM drive.

 

[TerryinMD]

Roy,

No, not yet. Thanks for the tip.

I can hardly get onto my machine at home. Two PCs and four people. My wife needs her's for work. The two girls need both machines to finish home work projects and 4-H workbooks.

I will try that out as soon as I can. I have a SCSI CD-RW on the machine so that has saved me some grief.

Terry