CD-rom Not available

[Zenassem]

Some time in the last two days, my CD-ROM has gone south. Heres what I've got;

I am getting power to the CD-ROM Drive. On bootup I here it spin (not as fast or long as it used to), then it winds down and stops. The light stays lit. No CD-ROM device shows up in 'My Computer'. During bootup I can see that my drive is detected (at least that's what I think. I can see it as secondary ide atapi blah, blah).

In device manager. I have an exclamation on secondary IDE controller.

Device status:
the device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed.(When I try to update the driver, of course it says that the one installed is the best for the device).

CD-ROM is a delta 52X it's under 1 month old. This is my second CD-rom drive in 3 months. The other one stopped working altogether. Anyone know how I can get my CD-Rom back.

Oh, and I can't remove the secondary IDE controller. It says that I must delete the multi-function parent. I'm afraid if I do, I will lose my primary IDE controller and hence my HD.

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~Zen

[Zenassem]

Update: still have same problem

CD-ROM works in linux, so it's not hardware related.

CD-ROM is definately detected on startup.

parent was VIA bus master pci IDE controller.

I tried removing it. On restart windows found and loaded the devices. (primary, secondary, and the bus master controller). but it also reported two unknown devices.

When I checked device manager, again I had the yellow exclamation on secondary IDE.

I tried loading DOS drivers for CD-ROM. And that did not go well. I also tried using a BOOTDISK with CD-Rom support. And also no good.

I am thinking of loading the VIA 4 in 1 again. Is this a good idea. I will have to download it because obviously I can't use CD-ROM.
edit:
I downloaded the 4 in 1 for my MSI K7T Turbo
VIA KT133a Chipset
still the same problem
CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP?
THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!3

Can someone please help?

It seems everytime I read a post on someone elses problem, my computer inherits the disease.

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~Zen

[This message has been edited by Zenassem (edited 08-09-2001).]

[Prophet]

Have you added anything to your system lately?
Check your cables?
Maybe just undo all your cables and reinstall them.
Maybe a dirty disk or the lens in the system is dirty or the lazer is going bad.
Does it sound like it's trying to "read"?

"It seems everytime I read a post on someone elses problem, my computer inherits the disease."

Don't read any more Posts!



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PROPHET of the POD, c.1998
www.NUTBURGER.com

[Zenassem]

Prophet thanks for responding
heres an Update:

I am able to access the CD-ROM in dos mode now. After using a WIN98 boot disk. I don't know why it didn't work before. And I am able to see the volume and run files. Also works in LINUX.

I still can't get the CD-ROM in Windows. And I still can't get rid of the exclamation point on the secondary IDE controller.

I haven't added any hardware to the system. The only thing that I have done in the last few days is run scans (scandisk, Mcafee Virus, Adaware, Tauscan, and the Cleaner from moosoft). I Defragged. And I ran NoRTON utilities that supposedly fixed a bunch of problems. Now I have a problem and it says everythings ok.

I am really at a loss.

Since the primary ide controller seems to be working. Do you think that I will be able to slave my CD-ROM off the HD? Would this have any Ill effects.

I still need to fix this problem though!!!

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~Zen

[Zenassem]

Final update hopefully.

Well,I keep posting to myself, but I thought that since others have had similar CD-ROM prolems, that it may help to post my resolution. If not, then a moderator can wipe this out. Here it goes.

I decided not to connect the CD-ROM to the HD. I kept on trying to delete the secondary IDE controller and the VIA IDE controller parent (numerous times to no avail). But each time I would restart I would get the unknown devices and the exclamation on the second IDE controller. So I once again removed them (But I chose NOT to restart right away). Instead (and why this worked I have no clue), I decided to add/new hardware and add my own CD-ROM controller. since I had no disk, I went with the Mitsumi double speed. Then I restarted.

Would you believe that when windows came up. My CD-ROM was back and working. The exclamation was gone from the secondary IDE controller in device manager. And here's the kicker... The Mitsumi CD-rom controller that I added had an exclamation beside it..... but right underneath was a new healthy CD-ROM controller. So I deleted the Mitsumi, and everything is fine. Only took me 4 hours or so..

Can anyone explain how this worked? I still have no idea how I lost the CD-ROM nor how I got it back. Thanks prophet for posting your suggestion, I know people really seem not to like CD-ROM issues.

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~Zen