Computer Help: Please!

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Eco-Logic
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Computer Help: Please!

Post by Eco-Logic »

I have a DVD-R that was been working flawlessly for me since I bought it a month ago. Last night I unhooked it from the IDE cable, to temporarily hook up a friends hard drive.

I hooked it back up last night and it isn't working right. It's getting power just fine, but windows xp sees it as a CD Drive now, where as before the only time it showed it as a CD drive is if a CD was in it. An empty drive would be shown as a DVDRW, drive with a DVD in it DVD etc.

That isn't the problem though. I tried to copy a DVD last night and Nero got hung up on the Scanning SCISI/IDE Bush. I then tried to put a DVD in the drive to see if it would run. No luck.

I don't think the drive is messed up at all. It appears to be a config setting of some type that is screwed. When booting up the drive is recognized as a Pioneer DVDR108 ATA66. That isn't normal is it? That speed probably doesn't matter as much on a DVD drive as it does a HD, but I'm almost positive that is normally much higher (133 maybe).

Does it sound like it's hooked up incorrect? Or I need to reinstall something? Or am I just screwed all together?

Thanks in advance for any help :)
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Odin
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Post by Odin »

I'd start by checking your cables to ensure they're good and tight. Assuming they are, I'd try removing the device in Device Manager and rebooting so it can be re-detected.

Sith
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

Sith Lord wrote:I'd start by checking your cables to ensure they're good and tight. Assuming they are, I'd try removing the device in Device Manager and rebooting so it can be re-detected.

Sith
OK, I'll try it on my lunch break today.

FYI, I took the whole IDE cable out so it's possible it isn't hooked up correctly.

It's on IDE1, jumpered as cable select I believe. It's the only drive on IDE1, my HD is SATA. I normally hook another DVD Drive up to the same cable, but I've taken it out of the picture until I figure this out.
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

If it was connected to IDE2, and I moved it to IDE1 could that be the problem?

IIRC, I did move it because it seemed to make sense. Now I just wish I didn't have to work today so I could go home and fix it! :)
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Odin
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Post by Odin »

It shouldn't matter which channel you're on, no, unless there's something in your BIOS causing the two channels to work differently. I'd say that's unlikely.

Remember also that all ports on an IDE cable are not created equally. Double-check that you have the right end going to the mobo and the right end going to the drive.

Sith
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

Sith Lord wrote:It shouldn't matter which channel you're on, no, unless there's something in your BIOS causing the two channels to work differently. I'd say that's unlikely.

Remember also that all ports on an IDE cable are not created equally. Double-check that you have the right end going to the mobo and the right end going to the drive.

Sith
I'm pretty positive I have the right ends going where they need to go . I'm using round artic cables or whatever, and they're labled 'mobo', 'Secondary', 'Primary'. FYI, I asked this question on another board right when I asked it ere and they recommended the same thing (Regarding removing it in device manager). So hopefully you and the other guy are right :)
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Post by godhugh »

Moving to General Computing...
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

Thanks, didn't see this forum :)
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LawBeefaroni
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Post by LawBeefaroni »

When you removed it and plugged it back in, Windows probably re-detected it and misidentified it as a CD ROM drive. You probably just have to install the correct drivers for the drive either by downloading them and forcing the update or removing the drive and re-installing making sure Windows doesn't get to pick the drivers.

It doesn't sound like a hardware problem.
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

LawBeefaroni wrote:When you removed it and plugged it back in, Windows probably re-detected it and misidentified it as a CD ROM drive. You probably just have to install the correct drivers for the drive either by downloading them and forcing the update or removing the drive and re-installing making sure Windows doesn't get to pick the drivers.

It doesn't sound like a hardware problem.
I hope you're right!
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

So I tried it on my lunch break today and it didn't work.

First I made sure the cables were in and everything looked fine.

I uninstalled the drive from Device Manager and rebooted. XP found new hardware, first saying "Found Pioneer DVR 108", then saying Found CD Drive. I then launched Nero to see if it worked and it still gets hung up on the "Scanning SCSI/IDE Bus". I then put CD 1 from Rome Total War in and it wouldn't load. It spun like it was going to load though.

Do you think I need to reformat?

If so, if the IDE bus is corrupted or something, would I even be able to boot to the XP CD?

That's the last time I'll ever unhook my components to help out a friend...
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Freezer-TPF-
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Post by Freezer-TPF- »

Some more suggestions, some of which you may have alread done:

Make sure your BIOS is set to autodetect devices on the IDE channels, since it sounds like you moved drives around in there.

Try deleting the ide controller from device manager (along with your DVD/CD drive) and rebooting to let windows redetect it.

Make sure your cables are correct. The blue connector on the end should be to the mobo in the primary ide channel (it may be marked as IDE0 instead of IDE1) and the black connector on the other end (master) should be to your DVD drive (I have seen cables that actually have these mislabeled). Make sure the DVD is jumpered to cable select and make sure you don't have any bent pins on the drive, etc. Hook up the grounding wire on the IDE cable if it has one. You may also want to try a different IDE cable.
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Eco-Logic
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Post by Eco-Logic »

Thanks Freezer.

I had in fact tried most of what you said.

I just called Chaintech (mobo's manuf.) and asked them. They told me to update the bios and the problem would be taken care of. It's a known issue... :(

I don't have a floppy drive at my apartment though so I can't flash the bios. I do have some at my parents so I guess I'll grab one of those and try it out.
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