Preserved Topic: Problem reading CD-ROM drive

A friend of mine wants me to look at her computer, but I'm not good with hardware. Her CD-ROM drive (a Samsung cd-rom scr-3232) isn't reading any information on whatever CD she puts in it. She said she's tried multiple music CDs and games but to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be looking for to get it working?

Thanks for the help.

-Jestah
Cell 277

is the CD Drive even being recognized by the computer itself? .. I recently had this problem .. if and when you open it up .. leave the power supply to the CD drive pluged in while taking off any other connection .. if you press on the eject button on the front of the hardware .. and it doesn't open then the CD Drive is fried and she needs a new one


.::. cEll .::. 513

Is it possible to figure out if the CD-ROM is fried without opening up the case? I don't mind opening mine, infact I enjoy playing with it, but I don't want to be responsible for anything I touch that I shouldn't be touching. I searched the Samsung website but couldn't actually find the CD-ROM, she said it's an old computer though. Does anyone know where I can find drivers?

-Jestah
Cell 277

well if it not being recognized or not recognizing anything you put into the Drive(CDs) then it might already be fried .. but with the power supply being only connected if it doesn't open then it is fried and time for a new drive .. I had the exact same problem .. but only with my CD-RW .. so I had to buy a new one


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Thanks for the help RS. I suppose I'll ask for persmission and open it up and take a look at it.

-Jestah
Cell 277

before buying a new drive...

I'd try installing the drivers again. They could have become corrupted.
You go to the computer manufacturers website and can normally get the drivers. If not go to microsoft and they probably have them. All else fails go to google ..type in drivers and the make and brand of the cd drive and it should appear right up on the first page or two.

If she recently moved or even moved the computer you may want to check to make sure it's still hooked up inside. They sometimes jiggle loose and aren't making a good connection. .

see if the maker of the computer has an update or patch.

Oh and i've had a disk get caught in the drive before. Sometimes if you can just force that puppy open (which i had to do) you find that disk is not sitting in the holder right and has gotten jammed in there.

Lastly you can try taking removing the hardware from windows and then reinstalling it again. this can help too.

I'd exhaust everything before buying a new drive.

then again maybe it's just fried but truely i've never had one fry before..i've had all the above issues but not a fried drive for a cd rom.

Jestah .. np bro

ettie .. very good suggestion about exhausting everything first before having to buy a new drive .. that's what I had to do for my CD-RW .. spent 6 hrs trying everything .. before realizing the sucker was fried and it was dead .. but I love my new CD-RW .. it's pretty and works MUCH faster then the last one .. my first sign to when my CD-RW was fried was when my computer would freeze and I would reboot only to find that my CD Drives (neither of them) were being recognized by the computer itself .. so I would turn her off wait 15 minutes and restart her up .. and bam my CD drives reappear .. not to mention I could never burn anything any longer .. but I didn't change out my burner for over a year .. the problem got worse and worse as my computer wouldn't recognize my CD drives .. so I tested things and well the end result was a new drive


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[This message has been edited by RammStein (edited 10-30-2002).]

RammStein

in other words you are a cheep shite just like me *L*

ummmmm .. I guess .. LOL


.::. cEll .::. 513

Not very much luck with the CD-ROM drive. I first went through My Computer and clicked on her CD-ROM drive but it told me the drive wasn't accessable. I disconnected the drive from the computer but left the power and it opened just fine. I searched for the latest driver, installed that but no improvement. I searched Microsoft's Knowledgebase but couldn't come up with anything.

Grr computers. The world would be a friendlier place without them.

-Jestah
Cell 277

hmmmmmmmm...i have half a thought to give you an email address..but i'll have to do it tomorrow ..donno that i have his mail here...if you email me at leonarose@yahoo.com and give me your email i'll give him yours..it will be up to vinnie..from there...irish guy who is deadly with computer hardware. He can give you a play by play and tell you exactly what's what. good guy..lives in NYC.


I still have a feeling it's not dead..cause it opened...




[This message has been edited by ettie (edited 10-31-2002).]

Have you tried a new data cable?

viol...

you know sometimes it's just those obvious things...that just miss your darn conciousness *L*...there could be other issues too now that i think of it...*trying to remember what's connected to what in the guts*

I don't think it's on the hardware side .. I think it's on the software side .. the drive is surely not fried because it opened up .. sheesh .. question:

was it recognizing CDs before? and how long has this been a problem?


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we aren't using windows ME are we?


god in heaven something is tickling the back of my brain but i donno what it is...anyone got a black pill **L**


[This message has been edited by ettie (edited 10-31-2002).]

I had a problem just like dat a way back time eh..... It was with my CDRW though, and I had another CDrom drive lying around so I ended up hookin it up where the CDRW was and then hookin the CDRW up after it.

the first Drive didnt work, but the CDRW did so heh. I was happy.

And it finally fixed itself too. go figure.


                                     

ettie .. I asked him in ICQ .. he said the OS was 98se


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98..hmmmmmm...it will come to me..seems there were some issues on this too...last service pack...okay....

right now go to microsoft and download all the proper service patches and updates...it may just fix it..most folks don't do this one thing and its so important ..automatic updates are the be all to end all..took me a long time to understand this...

try that and then reboot not once but twice..see what happens...just walk through the issues

I just got a call from my buddy Vicky, apparently shes having some more problems with her computer. Her computer froze and when she rebooted she got a bunch of errors and she isn't able to boot into Windows. Here's some of the things thats being thrown at me:

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\DBLBLUFF.SYS

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\IFSHLP.SYS

The following file is missing or corrupted: WIN.COM

The following file is missing or corrupted: COMMAND.COM


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At this point she isn't able to boot back into Win98. I was thinking about installing my copy of Win XP since it was apparently me messing around with her computer that led to the problem. I would prefer to just fix the problem though.

Any thoughts?

-Jestah
Cell 277

I have already had these messages one time ago, in a notebook. I didn't find the reason but suddenly, as magically it came, it went away. It was sort of a random problem. Sometimes, when I turned on the notebook, it won't boot and messages like those would show up, but most of the times, it booted.
Since it was a notebook from the job, I didn't want to mess with it. After a while, I returned it to the IT department.
If this sort of problem began to show up in my system, I would start it over from the ground up, i.e., install a fresh new copy of Windows, after reformatting the HD (I know it's a pain, but it's what I'd do).

Thats what I was going to do, but I ran into a big problem ... no CD-ROM drive. I opened it back up and checked all the wires, but they're all connected perfectly. Now that I look at it I'm not entirely sure this is my fault. I must have rebooted the computer three times before I actually left the room.

Any thoughts?

-Jestah
Cell 277

xp is better anyhow...that's my thoughts...

Well, I went back to my room and grabbed a spare CD-ROM drive and plugged that in so I got that working but I was still getting the errors. I decided to run back to my room and grab a copy of Win 98se and copy the files from the CD to the HD, but that didn't work. So now I'm in the process of just reinstalling Win 98.


Grrrr

-Jestah
Cell 277

Hmmm...hate to butt in, or sound dumb, but has anyone checked the Bios options yet in the Setup? Maybe the CD-Rom isn't set to be noticed by the system? Just a thought...

[hanging my head]

I hope he checked the Bios .. I sometimes consider that a given .. opps .. check those Bios?


.::. cEll .::. 513

Well, I'm no hardware expert by any means. But I think that there are other underlying problems if the computer is spitting out those errors.

I'd just reformat the hard drive and start all over. That might be the wrong thing to do, but it sounds like Jestah is already doing that.

After I reformated mine, it ran so much smoother (then the hard drive fried )

Later,
C:\


~Binary is best~

LOL yea I checked the Bios.

That wasn't the problem, it just simply was the CD-ROM drive. Once I replaced her CD-ROM drive with a spare one I had lying around (don't ask why) I was able to read off the CD-ROM fine. I still got the missing file errors and attempted to copy them off the CD onto the HD, but that wasn't working. She hasn't had an error since reformating the HD and reinstalling 98. Er at least she hasn't had an error yet.

Gremlins maybe?

-Jestah
Cell 277