External CD-RW will not read disk

Facts of the case: Due to much cluttering over the years,
recently formatted the hard drive on an old Dell Dimension
R450. Reinstalled W98 from Dell OEM disk (mainly to keep
the not-otherwise-supported OEM sound card running) then
installed ME. That part I finally mastered.

Also connected via USB port is Hi-Val H445EU-15R which,
when I first installed it a couple of years ago, ran fine.
Now, Windows recognizes the drive but the "Please insert a
disk into Drive F" is as far as things go. Drive wheezes,
whistles, and what not but refuses to read the disk. It
will obey the "Eject" command.

I've removed the drive (via device manager),
uninstalled/reinstalled (I think) the driver(s) from the
Hi-Val OEM floppy, etc., etc.

For no reason that I can think of, the CD-RW revived long
enough to burn a couple of CDs then just as suddenly
stopped functioning again. Windows explorer/device MGR
continues to recognize the drive and says the device is
functioning properly, which it obviously is not.

Any ideas?

joeinphx

Try cleaning the drive with a standard audio CD cleaning disc. If it still
fails to work correctly it will probably need to be replaced.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x]
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"joeinphx" wrote in message
...
Facts of the case: Due to much cluttering over the years,
recently formatted the hard drive on an old Dell Dimension
R450. Reinstalled W98 from Dell OEM disk (mainly to keep
the not-otherwise-supported OEM sound card running) then
installed ME. That part I finally mastered.

Also connected via USB port is Hi-Val H445EU-15R which,
when I first installed it a couple of years ago, ran fine.
Now, Windows recognizes the drive but the "Please insert a
disk into Drive F" is as far as things go. Drive wheezes,
whistles, and what not but refuses to read the disk. It
will obey the "Eject" command.

I've removed the drive (via device manager),
uninstalled/reinstalled (I think) the driver(s) from the
Hi-Val OEM floppy, etc., etc.

For no reason that I can think of, the CD-RW revived long
enough to burn a couple of CDs then just as suddenly
stopped functioning again. Windows explorer/device MGR
continues to recognize the drive and says the device is
functioning properly, which it obviously is not.

Any ideas?

joeinphx