Problems replacing DVD-ROM

Re: Problems replacing DVD-ROM

2008-01-16T20:48:29Z

Might well have been the cable. As I recall the DVD and Zip are a bit far apart on these and it's easy for the connections to get just slightly pulled out and not work - it doesn't take much.

Re: Problems replacing DVD-ROM

2008-01-16T20:43:09Z

Should have been the first thing I checked. Thanks for reminding me.

When I was switching it out, I had looked and placed it in the same spot (CS) but the little thing was backwards. Would that make a difference? It was either that or the IDE cable was loose, because after pulling it back out, flipping the little thing around, then plugging everything back in, it works!

Thanks again for your expert help!

Message was edited by:
lakedaemon

Re: Problems replacing DVD-ROM

2008-01-16T19:12:05Z

Have you checked the Master/Slave jumper on the back of the drive? Because you have both the DVD and the Zip drive on the same IDE cable, this has to be set correctly. I am thinking that the DVD needs to be set to Slave, but check the one you took out first (since it's now been over 3 years since I touched one of these). The Jumper is a tiny black plastic piece that sits on a series of pins.

You should have no need for drivers for this - looking in the BIOS was a good idea, when you don't see a drive show up there, it tells you that the problem is hardware related, and nothing you do in Windows is going to help.

If it isn't the jumpers, definitely also double-check the IDE cable connection. If it continues not to show up in BIOS you can also:
- Unplug the Zip drive and see if the DVD now shows up.
- Try another IDE cable - either new or from a working pc.
- Finally, try putting this new DVD drive in another computer to make sure it is responding.

Dale

Problems replacing DVD-ROM

2008-01-16T17:11:39Z

I tried replacing the DVD-ROM that came with the Gates computer with a DVD/CD burner (The DVD burner is a Memorex MRX-525G) and the computer isn't seeing anything. I've looked in the BIOS and there isn't anything there, either.

When the computer is booted up, the light on the front of the drive blinks and when I push the eject button, it opens and closes, so I know it's getting power.

The computer was originally running 2000, then upgraded a few years ago to XP and has SP2.

I did remember to unlock the centurion guard before I started anything, and just in case, I also uninstalled all the computer profile restrictions, and logged in as the administrator.

I've tried having the computer scan few new hardware, with no results. Looking in the device manager, there's nothing listed for DVD/CD-ROM drives, so it just seems the computer isn't seeing this at all.

I've tried looking for drivers for this drive but memorex doesn't even list this particular model as one of their products, and google searching has not helped.

One other thing, while digging around I came across a message that says something like, no drivers installed for ata atapi devices. I've tried installing various ones I thought were generic to see if that would solve anything, but so far, nothing.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!