BIOS Can't See CD-ROM Drive - Hardware Problem?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

From: "Dick K" <rfk2REMOVE@THISbtinternet.com>

| My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
| Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
| and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
| seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
| drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
| not only disappears from My Computer and Device
| Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
| Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
| Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
| string of garbage characters, though on one
| occasion the drive was correctly identified.
| Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
| failed to survive the subsequent boot.
|
| I assume from all this that I probably have a
| hardware problem and that my next step should be
| to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
| anyone has any useful comments or alternative
| interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
| or remedial procedures which I could try?
|
| Thanks in advance.

Sure sounds like a bad CDOM. If you verify that the power and IDE cables are snug and
connected to the drive properly and this still happens, replace the drive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Dick K wrote:
> My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
> Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
> and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
> seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
> drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
> not only disappears from My Computer and Device
> Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
> Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
> Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
> string of garbage characters, though on one
> occasion the drive was correctly identified.
> Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
> failed to survive the subsequent boot.
>
> I assume from all this that I probably have a
> hardware problem and that my next step should be
> to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
> anyone has any useful comments or alternative
> interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
> or remedial procedures which I could try?

Have you added any new devices to the controller lately?

Have you recently opened up the case and maybe wiggled some connectors
loose?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Z wrote:
> Dick K wrote:
>
>> My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
>> Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
>> and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
>> seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
>> drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
>> not only disappears from My Computer and Device
>> Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
>> Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
>> Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
>> string of garbage characters, though on one
>> occasion the drive was correctly identified.
>> Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
>> failed to survive the subsequent boot.
>>
>> I assume from all this that I probably have a
>> hardware problem and that my next step should be
>> to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
>> anyone has any useful comments or alternative
>> interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
>> or remedial procedures which I could try?
>
>
> Have you added any new devices to the controller lately?
>
> Have you recently opened up the case and maybe wiggled some connectors
> loose?

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately the answer to both
questions is "no", though XP detected the CD-ROM drive
as new prior to each of its reappearances.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

David H. Lipman wrote:
> From: "Dick K" <rfk2REMOVE@THISbtinternet.com>
>
> | My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
> | Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
> | and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
> | seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
> | drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
> | not only disappears from My Computer and Device
> | Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
> | Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
> | Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
> | string of garbage characters, though on one
> | occasion the drive was correctly identified.
> | Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
> | failed to survive the subsequent boot.
> |
> | I assume from all this that I probably have a
> | hardware problem and that my next step should be
> | to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
> | anyone has any useful comments or alternative
> | interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
> | or remedial procedures which I could try?
> |
> | Thanks in advance.
>
> Sure sounds like a bad CDOM. If you verify that the power and IDE cables are snug and
> connected to the drive properly and this still happens, replace the drive.
>
Thanks for the confirmation. The optical drive is overdue
for an upgrade anyway so I've decided to buy a new one.
It will serve either as a replacement or as an extra drive
if a loose connection is the problem. I'm always wary of
opening the case - this way I hope I'll only have do so
once.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Replace the ide cable with an 80 wire version while you got the hood open.

"Dick K" <rfk2REMOVE@THISbtinternet.com> wrote in message
news:ulhGUhOuFHA.664@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> David H. Lipman wrote:
> > From: "Dick K" <rfk2REMOVE@THISbtinternet.com>
> >
> > | My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
> > | Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
> > | and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
> > | seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
> > | drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
> > | not only disappears from My Computer and Device
> > | Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
> > | Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
> > | Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
> > | string of garbage characters, though on one
> > | occasion the drive was correctly identified.
> > | Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
> > | failed to survive the subsequent boot.
> > |
> > | I assume from all this that I probably have a
> > | hardware problem and that my next step should be
> > | to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
> > | anyone has any useful comments or alternative
> > | interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
> > | or remedial procedures which I could try?
> > |
> > | Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Sure sounds like a bad CDOM. If you verify that the power and IDE
cables are snug and
> > connected to the drive properly and this still happens, replace the
drive.
> >
> Thanks for the confirmation. The optical drive is overdue
> for an upgrade anyway so I've decided to buy a new one.
> It will serve either as a replacement or as an extra drive
> if a loose connection is the problem. I'm always wary of
> opening the case - this way I hope I'll only have do so
> once.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Lil' Dave wrote:
> Replace the ide cable with an 80 wire version while you got the hood open.
>
Thanks for the suggestion which, from what I've found with
Google, is an excellent one. I've ordered a cable.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Dick K wrote:
> My desktop PC runs fully updated XP Home SP2.
> Recently the CD-ROM drive has started disappearing
> and reappearing for no apparent reason and now it
> seems to have vanished for good. When visible the
> drive operates normally but in invisible mode it
> not only disappears from My Computer and Device
> Manager but BIOS Set-up reports the IDE Secondary
> Master as "None". If I then select Detect Hard
> Drive the drive name is usually reported as a
> string of garbage characters, though on one
> occasion the drive was correctly identified.
> Unfortunately the latter spasm of visibility
> failed to survive the subsequent boot.
>
> I assume from all this that I probably have a
> hardware problem and that my next step should be
> to replace the drive. However I'd be grateful if
> anyone has any useful comments or alternative
> interpretations, or can suggest other diagnostic
> or remedial procedures which I could try?
>
> Thanks in advance.

Thanks again for all the responses. The problem
seems to have been a loose connection or a faulty
cable. Anyway it has not recurred since I replaced
the IDE cable and reseated all the connectors