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

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

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.
 
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?)

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?)

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
 
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