CD drive not spinning/reading

[gingertaff]

hi all, I'm after a bit of help.... my cdrw drive (benq 24x10) is not recognising any cds. Blank CDs in nero or XP's own burner are being shown with the error "Please insert a blank CD in the drive" even though there is a CD in there. Any other Cds are showing up a blank or no disc inserted.
The drive is new ( the same problem existed with the old one, and I replaced that one under warranty!!)
I've updated all IDE drivers, Atapi drivers, ASPI layers, firmware, cleaned the lens, kicked it...not yet anyway...swapped the drives around (DVD on secondary as master CD as slave and vice versa and also taken the DVD drive out completely) admittedly I haven't swapped the HDD's yet.
New cables as well....
I formatted and re-installed XP pro when I received the new drive, and it did work on the install, then not long after it started doing the same as the old drive.

I'm kind of stuck.....
ginger_taff

 

[Freestone]

Download and create a bootable DOS floppy diskette from:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

I'd suggest a Windows 98 diskette.

Once booted, is the CD-ROM recognized? If not, there is something wrong with the CD-ROM drive, the IDE interface, or a setting in BIOS. If it's recognized in DOS, then there must be something in XP.

 

[gingertaff]

thanks for advice freestone....the drive is not recognised in dos either.
The strange thing that has now happened is that I tried a second burner in the pc, it seemed fine, it burnt a CD so I left it for a few days. I've just tried it now and its giving me error messages like "Windows cannot read the disc, the structure is corrupt or unreadable". This is with a new burner in....do you think its possible the IDE channel is blowing the drive and if so why isnt it blowing the DVD drive which is attached to the same channel....Methinks it could well be a new mboard ...unless someone out there has any more ideas/advice
Ta......

 

[Freestone]

Let's take stock and clear up, at least for me, what are the problems.

Is the drive itself being recognized by BIOS and XP?

Have you verified Master/Slave/Cable Select jumpers on both devices on the IDE interface? I see that you've swapped them, so I would think you've done this.

In BIOS, how is the secondary IDE Master and Slave defined? Auto?

Are any CD's recognized in the drive, including commercially pressed and audio CDs, or is this just limited to blank or burned CDs?

What motherboard and CD-drive is involved?

In XP's Device Manager, is DMA enabled for the secondary channel, both devices?

It's very rare that a motherboard IDE interface would harm an attached device, though I suppose it's possible. This sounds like some kind of driver issue, or conflicting hardware. Answering some of these question should help narrow down the problem.

 

[Itsmillertime777]

I little new here but is it possible his psu might not be supplying enought power to spin the cd fast enough... just a stab in the dark

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What are you reading this for the answer is up there ^^^

 

[gingertaff]

thanks freetone and itsmiller,
I'm not sure what is going on with the new cd writer. It accepts most discs now but I didnt actually do anything to the PC. I think maybe there is an overheat protection.
I'm just going to have to keep an eye on it for now.

Thanks anyway