My cd rom has stopped reading disks!!!

[mayney]

Basically I got to my computer today, and put a disk in and nothing....it had stopped reading disks..
so I thought my cd drive was fried...I went out and bought a SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD combo...I needed a new drive anyway..
It still dosent read disks...it recognizes the drive, and knows what it is...everything except reading disks..
Help!!! I need my computer!!

[geeksRus]

did you change the data cable when you installed the new drive? you mite also set the new drive as slave and try it on the same channel as the hard drive temporarily.

[mayney]

Thanks for your help.....can I ask, my drive is set as the master I believe....what jumper settings make it a slave? (looking at the back of the drive the cap is currently on the right )
Ive ben told I should get a 5.25” USB External Drive Enclosure
...would this work?
Thanks,
Colin

did you change the data cable when you installed the new drive? you mite also set the new drive as slave and try it on the same channel as the hard drive temporarily.

[geeksRus]

usually there is a label on the top of the CD drive that tells you which pins to put the jumper on...sometimes it is even stamped rite into the metal above the jumper block. MA for Master...SL for Slave, etc. yes, an external enclosure would work, but may be a little slow if your computer duznt have USB 2. did you use the new flat gray cable that should have come with your new drive? be sure that the cable is installed correctly.

[mayney]

Right Ive tried several things...
I have tried connecting the new drive to my c drive which has windows on it...but generally Im confused about the master/slave thing, as on the back of my harddrives there is no labels for the master and slave settings and Ive tried it a few wasy, but when I disconnect one drive the other dosent work....
wish to God I could just show you dudes my comp for 5 minutes.......
I could take a digital pic!

usually there is a label on the top of the CD drive that tells you which pins to put the jumper on...sometimes it is even stamped rite into the metal above the jumper block. MA for Master...SL for Slave, etc. yes, an external enclosure would work, but may be a little slow if your computer duznt have USB 2. did you use the new flat gray cable that should have come with your new drive? be sure that the cable is installed correctly.

[mayney]

Well Ive given up and Im going to ge the 5.25” USB External Drive Enclosure
Do you think this will definately work?

Right Ive tried several things...
I have tried connecting the new drive to my c drive which has windows on it...but generally Im confused about the master/slave thing, as on the back of my harddrives there is no labels for the master and slave settings and Ive tried it a few wasy, but when I disconnect one drive the other dosent work....
wish to God I could just show you dudes my comp for 5 minutes.......
I could take a digital pic!

[confus-ed]

Basically I got to my computer today, and put a disk in and nothing....it had stopped reading disks..
so I thought my cd drive was fried...I went out and bought a SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD combo...I needed a new drive anyway..
It still dosent read disks...it recognizes the drive, and knows what it is...everything except reading disks..

Do you have a bootable windows cd ?* We can establish if all the wiring & jumpers are ok & the unit itself, by trying to boot from the CD - all you need to do is to change the boot order in bios to cd first & put your windows cd in the drive, if it boots to setup everything is ok & its 'windoze madness' (s/w somehow) - if not we are sure its hardware.

*Even if you don't, you can boot from a 98 boot floppy {you can get a copy on the net if needed} & read any old cd to test this way.

[mayney]

Do you have a bootable windows cd ?* We can establish if all the wiring & jumpers are ok & the unit itself, by trying to boot from the CD - all you need to do is to change the boot order in bios to cd first & put your windows cd in the drive, if it boots to setup everything is ok & its 'windoze madness' (s/w somehow) - if not we are sure its hardware.

*Even if you don't, you can boot from a 98 boot floppy {you can get a copy on the net if needed} & read any old cd to test this way.

Hello!, actually Ive already tried that and it dosent boot from my windows disk...
The cable is still the one I had from when I bought my computer 5 years ago...but would it all of a sudden malfunction like that? Like a burnout or something?

[confus-ed]

Hello!, actually Ive already tried that and it dosent boot from my windows disk...
The cable is still the one I had from when I bought my computer 5 years ago...but would it all of a sudden malfunction like that? Like a burnout or something?

So definately, if you've already tried that (its a pretty reliable test btw), hardware wise something isn't right - so on the subject of IDE cables - do they suddenly fail ? - well yes they can - all those tiny thin wires can get very brittle over time & activity like changing drives will only speed up any likelyhood of the cables snapping internally (you can't see any apparent damage usually, but you can test with a multi-meter{a good one!} to see)..

We didn't get onto how this is physically wired up - but maybe you have two cables ? you said this ..

..I have tried connecting the new drive to my c drive which has windows on it...but generally Im confused about the master/slave thing..

So as long as you make one device master (probably your harddrive is set as this already) & the other as slave (generally CD units 'behave best' this way) you only need one wire to work this out .. as instead of using a seperate cable, share the one connected to your IDE drive, as it ought to have two connectors ..(It mayn't, but I'd pressume from what's said so far )

[mayney]

Ok regarding this....Ive tried a few things..

So as long as you make one device master (probably your harddrive is set as this already) & the other as slave (generally CD units 'behave best' this way) you only need one wire to work this out .. as instead of using a seperate cable, share the one connected to your IDE drive, as it ought to have two connectors ..(It mayn't, but I'd pressume from what's said so far )[/QUOTE]

Basically I have two hard drives...and as daft as it sounds, Im not sure whioch one my op system is on...that is I literally dont know which hard drive is my c and which one is d...so, I made one the master and then hooked up my cd rom to it....and windows didnt start....so I assumed that that was the d , storage drive...so I hooked thew cable up to the other drive...and the screen came up saying missing files...
Windows cant possibly need both drives to boot can it?

[confus-ed]

..and as daft as it sounds, Im not sure whioch one my op system is on...that is I literally dont know which hard drive is my c and which one is d...Windows cant possibly need both drives to boot can it?

It can .. it depends how its been set up - this is making it hard ! - try just connecting the cd with your windows disk in & it set to boot from cd in bios, (depends on the bios but generally ..) it should let you start still from the cd without a hard disk there ..

In Noo's reply above I still can't see the picture for ide cables (only a red x) - so I'll show you some more cable pictures -

40 sense cable for older harddrives & cd's


80 sense cables recommended for any ata66+ device (i.e. 'modern' ide hard drives)

& repeat that you want to be using one like the top one , 40 sense, (just confirm you are, then I can shut up about it ! ) & didn't you get a new one anyway with your drive purchase ? (you can buy them anyway at most pc places from about £7 )

[confus-ed]

and put a disk in and nothing....it had stopped reading disks..
so I thought my cd drive was fried...I went out and bought a SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD combo...I needed a new drive anyway..
It still dosent read disks...it recognizes the drive, and knows what it is...everything except reading disks..

So after all of that we are right back to 'this above' ? .. so it was never a hardware issue at all .. but some windozey problem !

(if its now booting fine with this jumper/cable layout from cd .. leave it be ! )

Let's have a recap .. we now are sure the cdr/dvd is physically alright as we can now sucessfully boot from a cd (well I think we could all along !?!) & it shows with a drive letter in 'my computer' as well as in 'device manager' & there's no yellow '!' or red 'x' or any '?' entries lurking in there ?

What burning or virtual drive software might you have ? & can you remember anything about 'suddenly not working' ? (automatic updates on or off - as sudden background updates can muck things up !) or did you add or remove any software around that time ? ..

[mayney]

[QUOTE=confus-ed]So after all of that we are right back to 'this above' ? .. so it was never a hardware issue at all .. but some windozey problem !

Hello!!!
actually at the moment, it is not booting from the cd rom,(and this is with the cables switched).....when I try to boot from the cd rom...and I went ionto setup and sected adapticd as boot priority..I get a flashing cursor at the top left, and stays there until I take the disk out, then wondows boot sfine...
The issue here stmes from the day I got to my computer (the 9th) and it just suddenly decided not to read disks anylonger...just like that....and Im wondering what the hell could do that...something , somewhwere has buggered up. I thought it may be windows, but surely if it dosent boot from the cd rom then it has to be hardware.....erkkk comuters are wonderful and then they break and I might as well be an early human with a club and an impressive collection of napped flints!

[confus-ed]

...actually at the moment, it is not booting from the cd rom,(and this is with the cables switched).....when I try to boot from the cd rom...and I went ionto setup and sected adapticd as boot priority..I get a flashing cursor at the top left, and stays there until I take the disk out, then wondows boot sfine...

Right - cd rom isn't working - I miss read this bit:-

so I switched the cables and it booted finecd rom still dosent work...so, we can rule out cables I think...

So you mean by this bit that you swapped the cable on the hard drives for the one previously joined to the cd & it still will boot from hard drive either way around, but makes no difference to the cd ?

& did you keep the cables attached at the motherboard end, or swap them over ? - if you try that, that'll confirm both controller channels on the motherboard are working which is a possible reason for this - though it sounds more & more like you got another duff or incompatibale cd ..

If you have access to another machine, if you think you've got the master slave thing worked out, you could test your new unit in that .

If the unit is definately then alright & we are by then sure of cabling, the last possibility is a bios flash for the moterboard to clear up any incompatibility issues with newer drives.

[mayney]

Right - cd rom isn't working - I miss read this bit:-


So you mean by this bit that you swapped the cable on the hard drives for the one previously joined to the cd & it still will boot from hard drive either way around, but makes no difference to the cd ?

& did you keep the cables attached at the motherboard end, or swap them over ? - if you try that, that'll confirm both controller channels on the motherboard are working which is a possible reason for this - though it sounds more & more like you got another duff or incompatibale cd ..

If you have access to another machine, if you think you've got the master slave thing worked out, you could test your new unit in that .

If the unit is definately then alright & we are by then sure of cabling, the last possibility is a bios flash for the moterboard to clear up any incompatibility issues with newer drives.

Hello..........well guess what? You may have been right...I took the drive back to the shop...its buggered, and was buggered whan I cought it! Amazing, what are the chances....anyway, Im going back tomorrow to get a new one...(Couldnt afford to get anouther at the time...neeeded the refund!!)
Ill keep you posted, and hopefully I wont need any more help....(which I am very grateful for by the way)Thanks mate,
Colin

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