eMachines CD-RW/DVD-ROM problem Part 2

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Well, my fun continues with my eMachines combo drive. After 5 chat
sessions that led to hours of various steps, including using the restore
disk (to no avail, but much software reinstallation!), I finally
convinced them to send me a new drive. I installed it, and everything
initially worked great.

However...this afternoon I went to install some software off a CD and
the drive was completely useless. Although it read the disk (light
blinked, etc.), whatever it was doing didn't make it to the computer.
Checking around revealed the drive is not showing up under My Computer,
nor does it (or any CD/DVD listing) show up in Device Manager. In
addition, a Secondary IDE Channel does not appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI
controllers in Device Manager. In the BIOS, both IDE channels are
enabled, but only the hard drive in the master position on the primary
channel is detected, the 3 other channels are blank.

I emailed eMachines support, who said to go into safe mode and remove
the CD/DVD in Device Manager. I went ahead and did it (although I had
told them what I shared above), but even in safe mode and hidden view
off, there was no CD/DVD drive present to remove.

Any suggestions on what to do next? Thanks, John Hale

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

First, Yuck! What a mess. You never should have had to do a long restore
operation. Nice how the support techs unload hours and hours of work on people
because they don't quite know what they are doing. Also because the Windows
environment is hopelessly complex, rendering it very difficult to troubleshoot.

If your eMachines system is a Pentium 4 or Socket 478 Celeron or newer, the odds
are extremely high that it uses an Intel chipset. I would reinstall the Intel
chipset drivers, which may well bring the secondary IDE channel back to life.

I am assuming that you have Windows XP installed on the system, and the symptoms
you are seeing should NEVER happen with XP, which always installs some sort of
basic IDE drivers to make both primary and secondary channels operate properly.

The other routine things to do are to check cable connections and to check IDE
jumper settings, which you have probably done 43 times already. And check to
see that the secondary channel is enabled in the BIOS, then see if the BIOS
recognizes the drive.

Why not download a Windows 98 startup disk from bootdisk.com , make up the disk
and boot the system. Then see if the CD-RW/DVD-ROM is working under DOS. If it
is working, something is very wrong with the Windows software in your system.
If the drive is not working, then there is a pretty serious hardware problem
there, maybe a defective cable or worse yet a defective motherboard.

.... Ben Myers

On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 01:24:22 GMT, John Hale <nospamjshale3301@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

>Well, my fun continues with my eMachines combo drive. After 5 chat
>sessions that led to hours of various steps, including using the restore
>disk (to no avail, but much software reinstallation!), I finally
>convinced them to send me a new drive. I installed it, and everything
>initially worked great.
>
>However...this afternoon I went to install some software off a CD and
>the drive was completely useless. Although it read the disk (light
>blinked, etc.), whatever it was doing didn't make it to the computer.
>Checking around revealed the drive is not showing up under My Computer,
>nor does it (or any CD/DVD listing) show up in Device Manager. In
>addition, a Secondary IDE Channel does not appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI
>controllers in Device Manager. In the BIOS, both IDE channels are
>enabled, but only the hard drive in the master position on the primary
>channel is detected, the 3 other channels are blank.
>
>I emailed eMachines support, who said to go into safe mode and remove
>the CD/DVD in Device Manager. I went ahead and did it (although I had
>told them what I shared above), but even in safe mode and hidden view
>off, there was no CD/DVD drive present to remove.
>
>Any suggestions on what to do next? Thanks, John Hale

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

John,

I don't remember the first part of your thread, but the first thing I'd
try is a different IDE ribbon and a different power connector. I single
loose wire in the power connector can cause all-kinds of strange behavior.

good luck,

Mellow



John Hale wrote:

> Well, my fun continues with my eMachines combo drive. After 5 chat
> sessions that led to hours of various steps, including using the restore
> disk (to no avail, but much software reinstallation!), I finally
> convinced them to send me a new drive. I installed it, and everything
> initially worked great.
>
> However...this afternoon I went to install some software off a CD and
> the drive was completely useless. Although it read the disk (light
> blinked, etc.), whatever it was doing didn't make it to the computer.
> Checking around revealed the drive is not showing up under My Computer,
> nor does it (or any CD/DVD listing) show up in Device Manager. In
> addition, a Secondary IDE Channel does not appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI
> controllers in Device Manager. In the BIOS, both IDE channels are
> enabled, but only the hard drive in the master position on the primary
> channel is detected, the 3 other channels are blank.
>
> I emailed eMachines support, who said to go into safe mode and remove
> the CD/DVD in Device Manager. I went ahead and did it (although I had
> told them what I shared above), but even in safe mode and hidden view
> off, there was no CD/DVD drive present to remove.
>
> Any suggestions on what to do next? Thanks, John Hale

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Thanks for everyone's responses. Well, I may have simply had a loose
connection, although I had checked the IDE ribbon connections several
times, and the drive had worked fine earlier. I decided to try an HP CD
burner I had pulled from my old Gateway, and sure enough, after
installing it, XP immediately recognized it and the secondary IDE
channel appeared. I then put the eMachines CD/DVD drive back in,
expecting it to again be dead, but it now appeared again and worked
fine. Go figure.

John Hale wrote:
> Well, my fun continues with my eMachines combo drive. After 5 chat
> sessions that led to hours of various steps, including using the restore
> disk (to no avail, but much software reinstallation!), I finally
> convinced them to send me a new drive. I installed it, and everything
> initially worked great.
>
> However...this afternoon I went to install some software off a CD and
> the drive was completely useless. Although it read the disk (light
> blinked, etc.), whatever it was doing didn't make it to the computer.
> Checking around revealed the drive is not showing up under My Computer,
> nor does it (or any CD/DVD listing) show up in Device Manager. In
> addition, a Secondary IDE Channel does not appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI
> controllers in Device Manager. In the BIOS, both IDE channels are
> enabled, but only the hard drive in the master position on the primary
> channel is detected, the 3 other channels are blank.
>
> I emailed eMachines support, who said to go into safe mode and remove
> the CD/DVD in Device Manager. I went ahead and did it (although I had
> told them what I shared above), but even in safe mode and hidden view
> off, there was no CD/DVD drive present to remove.
>
> Any suggestions on what to do next? Thanks, John Hale

 

[Ed]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 04:52:16 GMT, John Hale
<nospamjshale3301@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>I then put the eMachines CD/DVD drive back in,
>expecting it to again be dead, but it now appeared again and worked
>fine. Go figure.

Sounds like a connection/connector problem now.....

Regards,
Ed