CDROM Drive Can't Read Any CDs

[newties]

CDROM Drive:

Model: Acer 640A-243
Serial number: 9128D3724393273821PCL000

CDROM Drive is connected to primary IDE slot on the motherboard, using a cable with the cable's middle connector connected to the CDROM Drive.
The cable's end connector is connected to a HardDisk Drive. The other end goes to primary IDE slot on the motherboard.

The connections are such that, red strip of the cable is aligned nearest to the Power Plug of the CDROM Drive, and same thing applies to the HardDisk Drive.

The CDROM drive has its jumpers set to Slave/ SL. The HardDiskDrive has its jumpers set to Master.

In BIOS setting, detection of all the primary and secondary, as well as master and slave, are all set to Auto.

BIOS has been unpdated/ flashed with the latest version of BIOS.
The motherboard is M748LMRT, by PC100 company.

When I boot my computer, The startup will recognize and
successfully detect the Primary Master and the Primary Slave. They would be listed in the black startup screen.

As I enter my Windows 98SE, if I go to the Device Manager, the CDROM is listed as ATAPI CD-ROM DRIVE-40X. It has no yellow exclamation mark or any other marks.

However, the CDROM drive will not read any CD.

It can open, by manually pressing its eject button. It can close,
either by pushing it back, or pressing its eject button, or pressing its play button.
As I place a CD and I close it, the green LED in front of the CDROM lights up for a few seconds.
However, there is no seek, there is no spinning.

When I open my Windows' My Computer, the CDROM Drive is still showing in its original status picture, no change of name or icon/ picture. When I click on the CDROM Drive, it says:

" D:\ is not accessible. The device is not ready. Retry or Cancel. " Clicking Retry button brings the same message.

This happens with every CD I try.

I off my computer, and connect the CDROM Drive to Secondary IDE slot, with the CDROM Drive's jumper set to Cable Select/ CS.

I startup, the computer recognize my Primary Master as HDD and the Secondary Master as CDROM Drive.

The Windows in the Device Manager shows the same thing: ATAPI CD-ROM DRIVE-40X without any exclamation marks.

Same problem exist: It will not read any CD.

Does anybody know how to solve this problem?

I tried moving this CDROM onto another Motherboard and with another HDD, but same problem. CDROM Drive Firmware has been updated with the latest version too.

Thanks in advance for ur advice. Sorry if this post is too long, I try to elaborate as clearly as possible.

 

[jono199]

How old is the CD drive?

It could be that its just given up on life, or that the new firmware you put on is having issues with 98SE somehow.

Have you tried a different CD drive in that PC?

 

[newties]

This CDROM Drive is rather old, I don't remember exactly but it's at least several years old.

I tried another CDROM Drive on this same Motherboard and same HardDiskDrive with same WIN98 SE, and it can be recognized and it can read CDs. But in the Device Manager, it is listed with its brand name, like LG something. For my problematic CDROM Drive, it is always listed as ATAPI CD-ROM DRIVE-40X. Made me wonder whether it is hardware related or software related problem.

 

[joshd]

its prolly just broken

new one cost next to nothing these days anyway.