DVD/CDRom IDE problem

[kazan]

I have an Intel D945GCCR Motherboard with Dual Core 2.66GHZ processor, Lite-On SHW-160PS DVDRW, Maxstor STM3200820A (ATA) HDD (180 gig). The motherboard has a single IDE connector and the Hard drive and DVD Rom are connected using a cable select cable with both devices set for cable select. My problem is I cannot get the DVD Rom to read any discs (CD or DVD). I have swapped out the cable select cable and I have swapped out the DVD Rom with another known good DVD Rom and another known good CD rom to no avail. Windows XP sees the device and it is displayed as a working device in windows explorer. When I open the device in windows explorer the new window shows as if it contains a blank disk.

This computer was working fine yesterday until I ejected a DVD during a boot up, after that this problem started. Interestingly enough, today when I swapped out the cable select cable, everything worked fine one time, I shut the computer back down, put the side panel back on, and the problem re-appeared. Now, once again it no longer reads any kind of disk but XP thinks everything is working fine. Hope I have given enough information to help someone diagnose this problem. If more information is needed let me know.

 

[eyeCpc]

Try setting the hard drive as master if at the end of the cable and the dvd drive as slave on the middle. Optical drives(EIDE) are generally fussy about being mastered or slaved depending on the position they are found on.

You will need to look at the rear of the drive(s)'s casing(s) to see the MA for master and SA or SL for slave and move the plastic jumper over to the corresponding pins. You shouldn't see any more problems readings disks if the cable and drive are good.

 

[kazan]

Okay, I finally tried that and it did not help my problem, here's a new wrinkle, I tried adding an external USB DVD rom and again, my operating system sees the DVD rom but will not read it. Is there anything in the operating system (XP Pro) that would allow the DVD Rom to be recognized but not read?? Sorry it took so long to try your suggestion but I have had some health issues.

 

[eyeCpc]

One trick for stubborn drives like optical and hard drives is to go into the device manager and open the DVD-CD drives section there. You right click on the effected internal drive and choose the uninstall option along with restarting the system for a fresh detection by Windows.

In that regard XP Pro is no different from the Home edition. The last build here saw both versions run there and had similar problems come up a few times with each. The usb drive not being available as well as internal points directly at a Windows problem.

With a known good cable as well as drive for the internal and now usb you can try running the system file checker if you have the Windows onhand. That will often correct some minor problems with system files by seeing any missing or corrupted somehow replaced. Simply type "sfc /scannow" at the Run prompt off of the Start menu.

If you still continue afterwards to have problems your options then are performing a repair or full reinstall of Windows. A repair install when that is available preserves all programs while seeing fresh copies of the main files replaced. Again try a few small things since that's generally the last resort.

 

[kazan]

All this would be great to try but when I run sfc /scannow it asks me to put in the Window Cd (which of course my system cannot read) so that is not going to work for me. Also notice that when I put the windows CD in and set the PC to boot up on CD it will not boot up on the CD, it just boots to Windows like no CD/DVD Rom is present. This is a very strange problem for me (and frustrating). I have built and repaired my own PC for about 12 years now and have not run into a problem such as this. I'm about ready to through this one out and build a new system which would be a shame since this one is only about 1 year old. I have checked the bios and nothing seems to be strange in the Bios.

 

[eyeCpc]

The sfc can be run at the recovery console along with other manual methods. You may be forgetting to press any key like the enter/return key when trying to boot with the cd there. You should the "press any key now to boot from..." message if the boot order is set for cd rom first.

If your board has a boot device menu option like pressing F8 or another F key like 4 or 11, 12 seen on the first post screen following the lights on the keyboard flashing you can choose the optical there saving a few trips into the bios. Also look over the bios setting while in there sometime to see usb support and options are enabled depending on the board there.

While Windows itself automatically sees usb 2.0 support check the bios settings as well as replacing the battery on an older board may offer something there. A need for a bios update if the programming nows has a glitch?

We looked at a possible Windows problem first to see if it was software. The swap of drives and cables rules out those items. A bug with the bios not reporting to Windows fully or correctly from loss of programming or a weak battery not maintaining the cmos could account for the oddity there.