I need some help with CD drives (Vanity)

February 12, 2005

[Howlin]

I put a music CD that came with a book into my computer last night, played, and now my computer won't recognize either my CD or my CD writer.

I've tried everything; Norton, Restore, rebooting.

Does anybody have any suggestions about what I might try now?

[Phsstpok]

Yes. I'd go for the chip set.

On Dell's download site for your system it will be labeled:

Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility

Here is your system configuration, as shipped, for reference. Anyone else see anything in this config? It's been working, I assume, for almost two years.

Howlin, have you changed any hardware since you got this?

System Type:	Dimension 8250
Ship Date:	2/24/2003
Dell IBU:	Americas

Quantity	Parts #	Part Description
1	0W912	ASSEMBLY, CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), NETWORK INTERFACE CARD/CONTROLLERS, DIM8250
1	1W392	PROCESSOR, 80532, 2.4G, 512K, 533, SOCKET N, C1
1	4P608	MOUSE, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, 2BTN, WHEEL, OPTICAL, LOGITECH
1	7N242	KEYBOARD, 104, UNITED STATES, SILITEK, LOW COST, MIDNIGHT GRAY
2	0W443	RAMBUS INLINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 533MHZ, 64X16, 4C
2	9578D	CARD (CIRCUIT), MEMORY BOARD, MEMORY, PRINTED WIRING BOARD, CONTINUITY, RAMBUS
1	0R533	CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, SB0203
1	2X480	COMPACT DISK READ WRITE, 680M, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, 48X, SAMSUNG, CHASSIS 2001
1	5740C	CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
1	8W112	MODEM, V.92, INTERNAL, DATA FAX VOICE MODEMS, TIN, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
1	8T412	COMPACT DISK DRIVE, 680M, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, 48X, SAMSUNG, 148C, CHASSIS 2001
1	8Y483	CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, NV17, FULL HEIGHT, COST REDUCED, DIMENSION
1	5U692	FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, SAMSUNG, CHASSIS 2001
1	0X439	HARD DRIVE, 60GB, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), 1N, 7.2K, WD-XL40
1	1Y224	KIT, SOFTWARE, WKS-STE2K3, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1	8W383	KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, WXPPSP1, COMPACT DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Did it look like the insulation could have been cracked, or two wires shorting out....might be hard to tell....

[Cold Heat]

Try the chip drivers, if no effect I would unplug one drive or the other,reboot and see. then do the other one and reboot. If the remaining drive starts working, you have found your problem, a bad cd drive.

[Revel]

When you get a chance...

Power down....

Un hook one drive at a time(The ribbon cable) and power up.

Then See if the drive still connected will work. When plugging a connector back in then Make sure all of those pins are aligned before you push it in.

[Howlin]

I looked at everything under Device Manager; the two CD drives were the only thing with anything (yellow !!)

[Phsstpok]

The system may not recognize that the chip set is having a problem only that it can't see the CD drives it thinks should be there. That is consistent with some errors I've encountered with corrupted drivers.

Unfortunately I'm beginning to fear that one of her CD drives is physically damaged.

[Howlin]

Okay. Now that I know how to open it, I'm in there!

Which one should I unplug first? Does that matter?

[SeaBiscuit]

"there's a little "dent" right in the middle of the connector"

Could be she's talking about the small tab to prevent putting the ide in the wrong way, very old cables/pc's didn't have this.

[Howlin]

I touched it from the back (side away from me) and it really felt like a pen or something with a small point could have done it -- in on one side, out on the side next to me.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

NO, but how are you doing that and still talking to us?......

Don't stick you hands in a machine that has power on it.....

[Cold Heat]

NO, either one, but make damn sure you replace the pin connector exacty as you took it off. Do not get it backwards.

[Revel]

Nope...Does not matter Which one you do first.

[Howlin]

No.

Only peripherals are a USB connection for Logitech marble, one for MS Natural Keyboard, an Olympus camera, and a HP printer.

They all work fine.

[Howlin]

I haven't done it yet.

[Cold Heat]

in on one side, out on the side next to me.

Interesting.....try that drive first.

[SeaBiscuit]

"If the controller malfunctioned, would it not be likely that it too,would be flagged. It is in the list on the system hardware page where her drives showed error returns."

There are two controllers, primary and secondary. could be just a registry (.INF file) problem, hence chipset reinstall. If the actual Chipse, dual ide controller were damaged then most likely nothing would work.

[Cold Heat]

Could be old cable damage comming to roost, but I can't be sure.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Safety instructions.....

Power off the machine and pull the power cable from the socket,,,,computers have capacitors that can hold an electrical charge for some period of time....so wait a minute or so before getting your hand into the innards... you ought to have an anti-static band to give a good grounding of any static electric your movement might have built up.... walking on carpet ....etc./...all of these instructions are precautionary...

[Howlin]

Maybe I wasn't clear: it's in the connector cable between the motherboard and the CD drives BEFORE they divide. (I am almost positive.)

[Phsstpok]

OK then, chip set drivers then the 'binary test' of disconnecting the CD drives one at a time.

you may have to change the jumpers on one of the CDs to change it from "slave" to "master," but that shouldn't be necessary to simply see if the yellow exclamation point (which us "insiders' call a BANG, by the way) goes away.

You know, after all of this advice from all of us experts, we'll probably find out that your child put a crayon into one of the drives after listening to the Billy Joel CD and that there is where the problem lies.

I'm frankly surprised that no one asked if the PC was turned on (though I saw at least one "are you logged in" post).

Frankly, the worst question I ever got from a user was "which one is the ANY key?" as in "press any key to continue." I actually have had that one three different times, though not in a whole lot of years. That really goes back to the pre-Windows DOS days.