cd rom problem

I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the CD
Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old drive I
had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power but I cant
get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My Computer of Windows
Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions and still no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want to
do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any advice
is appreciated.

tom

You need to try to determine whether this is a WinMe issue or a 'faulty'
CD-ROM and/or associated cabling/connections

Boot, using your WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk in the A: drive.
Select option 2. Start computer with CD-ROM support.

Let the screen information scroll until you eventually see a line which
should report a drive letter for your CD-ROM. You should be aware that the
drive letter may not necessarily the same letter as you would expect to see
in Windows.

For example, you may see the CD-ROM becoming the E:, so the screen should
show:
Drive E:= Driver MSCD001 UNIT 0
Your CD-ROM Is Drive E

When the boot disk finally settles down, you will be presented with an A:\
prompt.

Now put a 'good' data CD into the CD-ROM and at the A:\ prompt, type "E:"
(no quotes and note the colon after the letter E) Then Press Return.

Now, at the E:\ prompt, type "DIR /P" (no quotes and note the space) Then
press Return.

You should see a listing of the CD contents.

Come back with your results. Give EXACT errors reports - if any

Mart



"Tom C" wrote in message
...
I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the
CD Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old
drive I had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power
but I cant get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My Computer
of Windows Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions and still
no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want
to do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any
advice is appreciated.

tom

Make sure it's visible and enabled in the BIOS.

John

Tom C wrote:
I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the CD
Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old drive I
had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power but I cant
get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My Computer of Windows
Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions and still no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want to
do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any advice
is appreciated.

tom

After I done dir/p on the "D" drive it came up with a list of 15 files and
no directories. Some of the files are
ATTRIB.EXE....DEBUG.EXE....EXTRACT.EXE....FORMAT.E XE....SCANDISK.EXE...ands
SYS.EXE, just to name a few. However I know that the CD I have in the drive
has 3 directories with a total of 28 files.
Could it be a virus or some kind of spyware ?
I appreciate your help.. tom



"Mart" wrote in message
...
You need to try to determine whether this is a WinMe issue or a 'faulty'
CD-ROM and/or associated cabling/connections

Boot, using your WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk in the A: drive.
Select option 2. Start computer with CD-ROM support.

Let the screen information scroll until you eventually see a line which
should report a drive letter for your CD-ROM. You should be aware that
the drive letter may not necessarily the same letter as you would expect
to see in Windows.

For example, you may see the CD-ROM becoming the E:, so the screen should
show:
Drive E:= Driver MSCD001 UNIT 0
Your CD-ROM Is Drive E

When the boot disk finally settles down, you will be presented with an
A:\ prompt.

Now put a 'good' data CD into the CD-ROM and at the A:\ prompt, type "E:"
(no quotes and note the colon after the letter E) Then Press Return.

Now, at the E:\ prompt, type "DIR /P" (no quotes and note the space) Then
press Return.

You should see a listing of the CD contents.

Come back with your results. Give EXACT errors reports - if any

Mart



"Tom C" wrote in message
...
I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the
CD Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old
drive I had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power
but I cant get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My Computer
of Windows Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions and still
no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want
to do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any
advice is appreciated.

tom

After installing the drivers from the boot disc, i looked in the bios. For
the Primary Drive 0 it has the hard drive listed. For the primary drive 1,
secondary drive 0 and secondary drive 1 they are listed as off.
It doesnt give me an option to enable the cd rom.
Actually when i go to boot sequence it says the cd rom is not installed. I
am not sure how to install it other than the boot disc. I dont have any
other software with the drive. Is there away to install the cd rom? Would a
new drive have a better chance of working? Would reformatting correct the
problem,?
Thanks for the help...tom


"John John" wrote in message
...
Make sure it's visible and enabled in the BIOS.

John

Tom C wrote:
I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the
CD Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old
drive I had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power
but I cant get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My
Computer of Windows Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions
and still no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want
to do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any
advice is appreciated.

tom

DON'T FORMAT THE HARD DRIVE! Even if you did it would do nothing to
make the CD drive show up, and your friend would be pretty upset at
loosing all her data for nothing! Check the data and power supply
cables, make sure that they are properly seated and connected. Try a
different power connection/plug in the pc, try a different data cable.
Maybe the IDE channel on the motherboard is defective, try slaving the
CD on the other IDE channel, or for testing purposes temporarily place
it by itself where the hard drive is. If you cannot see the CD drive in
the BIOS no amount of fiddling around with Windows or DOS will make it
show up. In your other post you mentioned that the directory on drive D
(while in DOS) showed unexpected results. That is because in DOS drive
"D" became a RAM drive. Try looking for drive E and higher instead.
What is the Dell model number and what is the BIOS revision number? I
may be able to find troubleshooting information/utilities on the Dell
site for you.

John

Tom C wrote:
After installing the drivers from the boot disc, i looked in the bios. For
the Primary Drive 0 it has the hard drive listed. For the primary drive 1,
secondary drive 0 and secondary drive 1 they are listed as off.
It doesnt give me an option to enable the cd rom.
Actually when i go to boot sequence it says the cd rom is not installed. I
am not sure how to install it other than the boot disc. I dont have any
other software with the drive. Is there away to install the cd rom? Would a
new drive have a better chance of working? Would reformatting correct the
problem,?
Thanks for the help...tom


"John John" wrote in message
...

Make sure it's visible and enabled in the BIOS.

John

Tom C wrote:

I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because the
CD Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an old
drive I had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting power
but I cant get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My
Computer of Windows Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three positions
and still no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I want
to do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i have. Any
advice is appreciated.

tom

Tom C wrote:

After I done dir/p on the "D" drive it came up with a list of 15
files and no directories. Some of the files are
ATTRIB.EXE....DEBUG.EXE....EXTRACT.EXE....FORMAT.E XE....SCANDISK.EXE...ands
SYS.EXE, just to name a few. However I know that the CD I have in the
drive has 3 directories with a total of 28 files.
Could it be a virus or some kind of spyware ?
I appreciate your help.. tom

Tom,

Not Mart but what you are seeing is the contents of the RAMdrive created
in memory when you booted from the Win Me boot floppy. This suggests that
your problem is either with the drive itself, either that a cable has
become disconnected or that it has gone to join the great scrapheap of
broken computer bits in the sky, or that the controller on the motherboard
to which it is connected has failed.

Your problem is primarily a hardware problem and nothing to do with the
operating system you are using. I think your next step would be to open
the case, check the connections to the drive and perhaps try connecting it
to another controller.
--
Mike Maltby

Mike M wrote:

Tom C wrote:

After I done dir/p on the "D" drive it came up with a list of 15
files and no directories. Some of the files are
ATTRIB.EXE....DEBUG.EXE....EXTRACT.EXE....FORMAT.E XE....SCANDISK.EXE...ands

SYS.EXE, just to name a few. However I know that the CD I have in the
drive has 3 directories with a total of 28 files.
Could it be a virus or some kind of spyware ?
I appreciate your help.. tom


Tom,

Not Mart but what you are seeing is the contents of the RAMdrive created
in memory when you booted from the Win Me boot floppy. This suggests
that your problem is either with the drive itself, either that a cable
has become disconnected or that it has gone to join the great scrapheap
of broken computer bits in the sky, or that the controller on the
motherboard to which it is connected has failed.

Your problem is primarily a hardware problem and nothing to do with the
operating system you are using. I think your next step would be to open
the case, check the connections to the drive and perhaps try connecting
it to another controller.

And if I might add, verify the Master/Slave/Cable Selet jumper settings
on the CD-ROM to determine if it corresponds to the cable position.

John

Further to Mike and John John's replies, I wonder if you've got the IDE
connector upside down, especially as it is the second drive you've tried -
coincidence?

Take a look at the following page :-

http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/howto/instdvd.htm

and note especially the IDE cable instructions under figure 3 - and check
that the connectors at BOTH ends (ie the motherboard) are pushed firmly
home.

Mart


"John John" wrote in message
...
Mike M wrote:

Tom C wrote:

After I done dir/p on the "D" drive it came up with a list of 15
files and no directories. Some of the files are
ATTRIB.EXE....DEBUG.EXE....EXTRACT.EXE....FORMAT.E XE....SCANDISK.EXE...ands
SYS.EXE, just to name a few. However I know that the CD I have in the
drive has 3 directories with a total of 28 files.
Could it be a virus or some kind of spyware ?
I appreciate your help.. tom


Tom,

Not Mart but what you are seeing is the contents of the RAMdrive created
in memory when you booted from the Win Me boot floppy. This suggests
that your problem is either with the drive itself, either that a cable
has become disconnected or that it has gone to join the great scrapheap
of broken computer bits in the sky, or that the controller on the
motherboard to which it is connected has failed.

Your problem is primarily a hardware problem and nothing to do with the
operating system you are using. I think your next step would be to open
the case, check the connections to the drive and perhaps try connecting
it to another controller.

And if I might add, verify the Master/Slave/Cable Selet jumper settings on
the CD-ROM to determine if it corresponds to the cable position.

John

I got one of my cd roms to work by adding an extension to the cd rom power
cable and moving the drive so that I could get the ide cable to reach, but
it did work.
I am going to have to find an extension cable for the ide ribbon, or get a
longer ribbon. I have several ribbons but they are all close to the same
length, way to short.
I believe that the IDE 2 on the mother board has gone bad. I am learning as
i go, but nothing i plug into IDE 2 is recognized. I would assume that it
looks at the IDE 1 first because when i plugged into IDE 2 it didnt see
anything. However when I plugged the cd rom into the IDE 2 with a new power
and ribbon it didnt recognize it. Everything works on the IDE 1 daisy
chained together. I am going to get another cd rom drive and longer ribbon
or ribbon extesion and i will let you know later if i got it fixed.
I appreciate your help with this..have a good day...tom

"John John" wrote in message
...
DON'T FORMAT THE HARD DRIVE! Even if you did it would do nothing to make
the CD drive show up, and your friend would be pretty upset at loosing all
her data for nothing! Check the data and power supply cables, make sure
that they are properly seated and connected. Try a different power
connection/plug in the pc, try a different data cable. Maybe the IDE
channel on the motherboard is defective, try slaving the CD on the other
IDE channel, or for testing purposes temporarily place it by itself where
the hard drive is. If you cannot see the CD drive in the BIOS no amount
of fiddling around with Windows or DOS will make it show up. In your
other post you mentioned that the directory on drive D (while in DOS)
showed unexpected results. That is because in DOS drive "D" became a RAM
drive. Try looking for drive E and higher instead. What is the Dell model
number and what is the BIOS revision number? I may be able to find
troubleshooting information/utilities on the Dell site for you.

John

Tom C wrote:
After installing the drivers from the boot disc, i looked in the bios.
For the Primary Drive 0 it has the hard drive listed. For the primary
drive 1, secondary drive 0 and secondary drive 1 they are listed as off.
It doesnt give me an option to enable the cd rom.
Actually when i go to boot sequence it says the cd rom is not installed.
I am not sure how to install it other than the boot disc. I dont have any
other software with the drive. Is there away to install the cd rom? Would
a new drive have a better chance of working? Would reformatting correct
the problem,?
Thanks for the help...tom


"John John" wrote in message
...

Make sure it's visible and enabled in the BIOS.

John

Tom C wrote:

I am working on a friends Dell Computer. She brought it to me because
the CD Rom would open and not go back in. I replaced the drive with an
old drive I had in another computer. Now it stays in and it is getting
power but I cant get the computer to see it. It is not showing up in My
Computer of Windows Explorer. I did try the jumper in all three
positions and still no luck.
I did have to use the generic cd rom driver from a windows 98 boot disc.
Could that be the problem?
I was going to get her a new cd rom drive but now I am not sure if I
want to do that. Especcially if I cant get the drive working that i
have. Any advice is appreciated.

tom