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!

[NooNoo]

No, I don't

The key here is you add one, and the other goes.





Here is a photo of the jumpers. Usually on most cd roms, the jumpers are all the same - here is a drawing to make it clearer.



The master drive and slave drive are set by using the jumpers. Set one to master, the other to slave.

Now there are two types of ide cables. One is 80 wire and often has a blue connector for the motherboard end. The other type is 40 wire and is the type needed for cdroms - a 40 wire is pictured below.



Make sure you have the right type of cable.

When you have checked you have everything plugged in right, boot to windows and check in device manager. Are there any ! on any devices?

If not, get a few different types of cd and see if any of them read - post which work and which don't.

[mayney]

Hi mate, thanks for helping me, I shall try this tonight, and get back to you pronto...Ill document everything I do or witness...!
I cant see your pictures though, would you mind emailing them?
[email protected]
I really just want this thing fixed, my work is at a standstill....
Thanks,
Colin

No, I don't

The key here is you add one, and the other goes.





Here is a photo of the jumpers. Usually on most cd roms, the jumpers are all the same - here is a drawing to make it clearer.



The master drive and slave drive are set by using the jumpers. Set one to master, the other to slave.

Now there are two types of ide cables. One is 80 wire and often has a blue connector for the motherboard end. The other type is 40 wire and is the type needed for cdroms - a 40 wire is pictured below.



Make sure you have the right type of cable.

When you have checked you have everything plugged in right, boot to windows and check in device manager. Are there any ! on any devices?

If not, get a few different types of cd and see if any of them read - post which work and which don't.

[mayney]

[Thats wierd, as soon as I post i can see them...ok forget the emailing of the pictures! I think the strange thing about all this is, I leave my computer, dont touch it, I come back the next day, andall of a sudden it wont recognize disks....
now as you know I bought the new drive, do you think there is any chance that the first cd rom malfunctioned, and it just so happens I bought a second malfunctioning one? (it was 2nd hand)

[NooNoo]

err yes, even if you bought it new, the chances of getting a bad drive out of the box are better than winning the lottery!

But did you change the ide cable? Often a dicky cable can cause all kinds of mayhem.

[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 )