CD-Rom Drive problems.....

[swinger9]

Hi All,

I have this relatively new Aopen 52x CD-rom drive... every now and again it will disappear from windows 98 and not appear in 'my computer'. Up until recently I've just restarted my machine and thought nothing of it as it hasn't really bothered me that much. Now however it has started to give me more problems.

I've been trying to install some games today from cds (not cdr's) and the damn thing just refuses to do it... It'll get about half way though the installation and then it'll just get stuck on a file and go into a loop.... when I try and stop it from doing this the whole computer normally ends up crashing. What the hell is going on?. I don't know if the two things are related but I though I'ld bring them both up.

I have the aopen cd-rom plugged into an asus a7v mobo. I have it connected as the primary slave. There are no conflicts in the device manager.... I'm stumped. Please help. thanx.

 

[swinger9]

I noticed my problem slipping its way down the forum... thought I'ld put it back up top as I'm still in desperate need of help. Please help or I'm just gonna have to chuck the thing out the window!!

 

[Slikkster]

Get it off the same controller (IDE) as your hard drive...the speed differences can cause lockups. Put it on the 2nd IDE Controller. Since you already have the drive jumpered as a Slave, just hook it up to the slave position on the IDE cable for the 2nd IDE controller. Otherwise, set the jumper for the cdrom to Master and hook it up as IDE-2 Primary.

 

[HotWire]

If you have the CDrom on its own cable and plugged into your secondary IDE port then the jumper should be set to master on the back of the CDrom, if it is connected to your hard drive then it should be set a slave on the back of the CDrom. Also make sure it is set on {auto............normal} in your bios.

 

[swinger9]

Okay, thanks guys, done that.... I still can't seem to install these damn games though?!?! I know the disks are fine cause I tried them on my mates pc and they work like a dream. I get the feeling that this problem is going to remain unsolved..... please. prove me wrong!!!

 

[swinger9]

I'm still screwed ... someone out there must have a good idea.

 

[maddmax]

First I'd try a blast of compressed air. Get some of that canned stuff, use the wand that comes with it to really get in there. Make sure to use short blasts and hold the can upright. Second take the cover off and clean it. Sometimes the tray must be opened so the cover can be removed. CD drives(at least the covers)are pretty basic in construction. Often a restriction that prevents the head from moving all the way across the disk will cause your exact symptoms. Most if not all CD drives use two drive rails similar to those found on a dot matrix printer. Maybe they forgot to grease them during manufacture or something sticky got on them. Clean with compressed air and lube lightly with silicon or light oil. Spin the gear that moves the read head across the disk with your finger. Make sure it can go from inner to outer edge without restriction. Hope this helps.

 

[HotWire]

Don't have your CDrom connected to the ATA100 ports (2) but use the other primary IDE port instead, and master it off one of those.

 

[Slikkster]

How about this? Can you try copying all the files from games you want to install to a temporary folder on your hard disk? Yeah, it will take up a bit of space for sure, but you can delete them afterwards. Then, try running the setup from the hard disk itself.

Also, give the disks (cd's) themselves a good cleaning. Your cdrom might be a lot more picky about tracking then your friend's, and might hang up more easily on things like a fingerprint, or barbie sauce...heheh...

Also, assuming you're Win98, take a look at your cd-rom's read-ahead-cache settings:

Right click on My Computer
Select Properties
Select the Performance tab and click the File System button
Select the CD-ROM tab

Make sure it's set all the way to the right. (Quad-Speed or higher settings). Reboot and try again.

If it's already set there, try moving it all the way to the left as an experiment and reboot after clicking apply/OK. Try installing then...see if these settings make any difference.