Cd rom not reading

I have a compaq 5150. I was upgrading and removed the cd-r out of it, along w/ some memory. I went to format the hard drive and reinstall windows to sell it. But now the cd doesn't read, won't boot.

I have moved the cable around, the jumper is on cable select, booted up using a floppy to bypass windows.

It shows my cd on windows explorer and i can eject the cd from it. I have tried a different cd rom and still the same results, changed memory, everything but drop kick it.. LOL

ANY help would be appreciated.. Really would like to fix it, just because i want to know what caused it..

Thanks <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Try jumpering it for slave if its on the primary IDE or as master on secondary IDE.

That didn't work either.. added it as a slave w/ the hd.. Tried it as a stand alone as master,slave and cable select. None seem to want to read any cd. It will eject them that's about it.. So that tells me that the computer is at least recognizing it. Each time i moved the jumper the cmos changed saying that it had been moved..

I'll try anything else if someone has anything.. :p

Can you tell if a cd is spinning up when inserted?
I have a compaq here on the bench that refuses to acknowledge a cd is inserted unless the cdrom drive is outside the case. I think this particular drive is dying.

Yes.. Afraid the cd spins on startup and installation of new cd's.. but will not detect them.. This system "used" to boot up on system cd's... now it won't.. i'm clueless.. 8(

I work for a company that does hardware warranty for Compaqs and usually when it doesn't boot up to the recovery CD after ensuring the correct settings are in BIOS then we replace the MB and then no problems. If your unable to boot up to the quick restore CD then I would suggest something w/ the MB.. BTW, I hate 5000 and 7000 series Compaqs.. They are the biggest pain in the world :mad:

If the CD-ROM has a front panel play button, see if it will play a music CD. If it won't, a dirty laser lens or fault in the internal electronics is indicated, although this wouldn't explain why the other drive you tried gave the same symptoms. Was it known to be OK?

If a known good CD-ROM drive is recognised by the OS, but won't transfer data on the same IDE channel that a hard drive works on, the only thing I can think of is some older controllers needed to have Packet Interface compatability enabled. See if there is any ATAPI setting in the CMOS setup.

Same problem here...my CD Rom on My laptop will open up and i insert a cd in, sometimes it won't read the CD and sometimes it will...all the cds that i used to put into the laptop Cdrom used to run alot, now the CD Rom drive won't read them....very frustrating when i had to use two HP CDs to restore my OS and when i put the second CD in, it won't read it and gives me a no cd error. Could it be a dirty CD Rom lens? it couldn't have died since it read some CDs awhile ago.

I even tried this Kensington CD Cleaner and i worked the first time, now the CD Rom drive won't recognize it... :eek:

KuroiKaze, sometimes they need a little more than a lens cleaner. You need to take it apart and clean all the contacts on the ribbon cables inside it (use a white rubber), set the laser head (carefully) to the rearmost position in the drive (so when you turn on pc it travels forward) this will usually get non-readers to read again. Getting all the dust out at the same time is also recomended, use a soft, natural brush.

Well it turns out that I had a bad cd-rom. Odd though it would show up where I moved it to as master slave ect.. But either way got a known good cd-rom and it worked. geez.. talk bout a pain in the arz..

Here are the problems with my CDRom Drive....


1. The cdrom works
2. Sometimes it will read the CDs , sometimes it won't
3. I insert the cd in, and the cd makes a loud spinning noise inside the cdrom drive, then it calms down and starts spinning fast again......
4. when i open the cdrom drive, the cd is spinning real fast when i eject it..
5. I tried Keniston CD rom lens cleaner and Dustfree spray, doesn't help


Man, i got a Office XP , Visual C++ and Mcaffee Pro 6 i need to install.....