Hardware Problem

Hi
Iam hoping someone can help me.Whilst not directly associated with Trainz,I am after someone in the Trainz community with a good knowledge of computers.In my computer tower I have a LG CD Burner which also plays dvds.I also have a Sony DVD burner,but they do not work.If I try to download a new program off cd or dvd(I have to put my new Norton Internet Security 2008 on my computer,but when i put the disc in the machine nothing happens,like it did,it would automatically upload the disc).When I go into the area called my computer it shows the floppy disc drive in the area that shows devices with portable storages but not the other two.In another part of my actual computer it shows the 2 devices and the drivers,so what is missing to cause this problem.Can someone help me.


Thanks
Robert2004

Robert,

Right-click My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager.

The drives in question should be listed in the "CDROM" section (which includes all types of optical drives).

A red X indicates a problem. If either drive indicates having a problem, right-click on it > Properties. Let us know what it says the problem is and somewhat might be able to help.

Don't change anything unless you know what you're doing.

John

Thanks for replying John.

I did as you asked, which brings up a list including the disc drives.When I click on disc drives it shows both my cd and dvd burners with no red cross.

Robert

Robert,

If you put a disk in either of the drives, can you view its contents in Windows Explorer? Can you still burn disks ok on the writer drive?

On other words, is it just the autostart feature which is disabled? If so, right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer > Properties > AutoPlay; then select each type of file (music files, pictures, video, mixed, music cd) and specify the desired action to take for it. Maybe this has got set to "Take no action". I suspect there is also a way to completely disable AutoPlay but that involves Registry tweaks so it's not something likely to have happened accidentially unless you've run a utility program such as TweakUI to do it. There's some more information about AutoPlay in this Wikipedia article.

John

Hi Robert,

Did you install the drives yourself?

I'm assuming that they are IDE drives - these have a large flat ribbon cable fitting.

You can (on most computers) have a maximum of 2 IDE cables plugged into the motherboard. Each cable can have 2 devices on it.

Each cable must have 1 "master" and 1 "slave" device. This setting is made by a small black jumper on the back of each drive. If you don't, the system won't know which drive is which!
(the same is true for hard rives as well)

Please file under the "granny sucking eggs" heading if you knew this!

Colin

The two burners have been fitted for some years in my computer tower,and have not been touched.This computer was set up by my nephew some years ago.It is funny though,as when I turn on my computer each morning the 2 burners show briefly in the Devices with removable storage,but as soon as I do anything they again disappear.John previously asked re are they reading anything,and the answer is no.I know before when i put a disc in,what was in the disc would show under the drive in folders,but now it does not.I do not know what to do.

Robert

Sounds like someone needs a new CD/DVD drive!
I would get a new drive(s) if only there was nothing else that could be done.

If it comes to it, you might have to buy a new one...they can be anything between $40-$80... I bought my Lightscribe/DVD writer at a store for $70.

It may be the drivers for them might need an update. I know that they're 2 different drive mfgs., but sometimes, the computer gets crazy and forgets that they are there, or doesn't like them.

Hope this helps.
If this doesn't, then disregard it.

EDIT: I don't know how much they might be in Australia, but just throwing it out there to read.

It would probably be worth getting a CD drive lens cleaning disk just to check if that's the problem - if you haven't already tried that of course. Some people are of the opinion that lens cleaners do more harm than good but as these drives appear to be dead it's worth a go IMHO unless anyone else has a better idea.

John

This is a common problem, see here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-4Y67L9.html