cd-writer and dvd-rom help (1 Viewer)

[Mike<R]

Both my cd-writer and dvd-rom have quit working, the cd-writer does not do anything if I put in a cd, the dvd-rom just shows "please insert cd into drive F" if I put a dvd into it. I have not used either of them for about a week, the last thing I did was play a video game and during the game the game froze and poped out of the cd-writer cracked in half. THis was in the cd-writer drive. my question is- is this a software problem or a hardware problem? I tried to contact hp but it costs $40 just for a tech to tell me if it is hardware or not, and I don't want to pay that much.
thanks for the help

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

Sounds like a hardware issue on the mainboard, cable or more likely a loose connection caused when the drive broke the CD. The chances of both drives dieing at the same time are very slim. To be sure though boot the computer off a win98 or ME boot floppy, or use the bootable CD that came with your computer though if it broke one I wouldn't put it in there. If you do not have a boot floppy with cdrom drivers go to bootdisk.com and get a windows 98 OEM bootdisk. The once you boot off the disk see if both drive are there by putting a CD in the drive and trying to view it. Most likely the drive will be c: (if you use NTFS) D: E: or F: try each of those you can tell if it can read by doing a sime dir command to list the contents. If it can't read them pull the cover and follow every cable coming off of the cdrom and reseat all the connections of both sides. If not you will need to swap out things until you find the problem. Easiest way is to use the known working hard drive side of the cables, if you are unsure of they are hooked up be sure to make notes of it. Need any other help let me know

 

[Mike<R]

Mike_J_Potter- I am not that computer suave so I am not sure how to do this. I do not have a boot disk, I am running xp home, I never got any cds with my system according to hp I don't need them, but if I wanted I could buy them. I am not sure but if I re-boot will I loose all my info? I have not backed up lately and don't want to loose anything. I have also never taken apart my computer before. I did plan on taking off the cover and looking to see if anything looks disconnected.
Thanks for the help so fast

 

[SethH]

HP didn't give you any cd's with your computer at all? That seems very, very strange to me. Did you buy the computer directly from HP? I can't imagine a company not giving you the cd's for the software on your computer. Anyway, I think it is most likely a loose IDE cable. When/If you open your computer these IDE cables look like large ribbons. There will be one for you cd/dvd drives and another for your hard drive. Just push gently on the connectors to make sure everything is tight (do this at both ends of the connection). Oh, and make sure the computer is off AND unplugged before doing any of this. Also, it is best to ground yourself before digging around in the computer. This is done best by purchasing a little wristband from radio shack, but if you're really careful and stay in contact with a metal part of the computer at all times you will be fine.

If the cables aren't the problem you should probably call HP and start asking questions about those disks, because you will likely end up reformatting.

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

HP doesn't include CDs with their PCs their intention is for you to burn them yourself with a included program to make them. I agree its pretty dumb that they do it, especially if the PC crashes before you make them or the PC doesn't include a burner. I have serviced a PC and had the same problem of no restore disk and wound up calling HP and getting a set of disks sent, though they will require you to fax in your invoice ect from the PC The easiest way to check it is to make a windows98/dos boot disk from a floppy and see if it sees the drives You can download the disk from bootdisk.com then you just put in a blank floppy and run the file then reboot the computer and boot into dos. It won't hurt the data, unless you run fdisk or format which aren't needed anyways for cdroms

 

[Mike<R]

well it works now, I still do not know what happened but both drives work. I restarted my computer twice and that did not work so I was going to take off the cover and look inside to see if any wires were loose after I spent some time with my wife. When I went to shut down the computer and hit restart instead of shut-down and after my computer came back up I thought why not try it one more time and it worked. I thought maybe I had a virus but I ran Norton and nothing showed.
SethH- I bought my computer from Best Buy. And I will NEVER shop at radio shack again, they tried to sell me used merchindise as brand new and when I pointed out that it was used they called me a liar
well thanks for the help guys