"Misbehaving" CD ROM

[SKIPART]

I've got a prob w/ my CDROM...

More often than not these days it doesn't recognize CD's of any sort. Windows (2000 Pro) "sees" the drive & I keep getting messages to insert CD. Reinstalling drivers doesn't seem to help either.

When a CD is "seen" I get the "hourglass" & I'm unable to close any open windows until I eject the CD.

Its gotta be SW related because I'm consistently able to boot from it. No conflicts are indicated however. Irritating!

Can somebody drop me a clue?

Thanks.

[ktkendall]

Since it probably isn't a case of every CD you try to run is dirty, I would at least try a cdrom lens cleaner before I scrapped the drive.
EDIT: I missed the part about being able to boot from CD always, so you are right it does sound windows related. Can't hurt to clean the lens though.

[SKIPART]

Well...

If it were a case of it simply being dirty it wouldn't ALWAYS be able to boot from CDROM everytime I attempt it....

[Jomama]

Your drive is on the edge. Prepare to pop for another 30 bucks for a new one.Windows CD are high quality and that cant be said for all SW or music CD or CDRs. Its like saying my car only runs good on hi octane gas, and it used to run good on regularl. so what is the problem with gasoline.
First remove and reinsert the 40 p connectors, then try a cleaner if you like but you will be buying a new CD before that one gets any better.

[SKIPART]

The idea of the boot CD being of "high quality" is a good one.

However, this isn't necessarily the case, since the aforementioned boot CD is a copy... a cleaning couldn't hurt though.

[TwoRails]

Hi SKIPART,

Hmmmm.... I'd much rather have a CD ROM go out than to possible face a clean install. Sounds like a CD drive to me, too. I think I'd either try the same drive in another system, or, more perferabley, another drive in your system to help eliminate the culprit.

HTH

TwoRails

[SKIPART]

Too bad the CDROM is only a month old....I think I'll try cleaning it first.

I'd hate to do a clean install of Windows.... My Mac's much simpler in that regard as you can just replace the OS & it leaves everything else alone...

[SKIPART]

Come to think of it, all this crap started happening after I installed a game. Perhaps some multimedia files are conflicting?

Just a thought.

[Hpro]

I think it's a HARDWARE DRIVE LETTER ISSUE - Remove the CDROM Physically start Windows and then in the system properties check if you see another CDROM - Boot into Safe Mode as well and may you can find the reason - then when done reconnect the CDROM and restart your computer should be healed - Anyway what OS is this ?
Hpro

[SKIPART]

Its 2000 Pro (Fat32)

[Blakhart]

What if it is a dma issue in windows? Can you disable cdrom dma or set it lower? This may explain a bit of this.

[pillainp]

Is there some way to lower the read-ahead buffer in Windows 2000? This sometimes solves this kind of problem on Win98 machines.

[SKIPART]

I hate to say it.... but instead of facing the prospect of reinstalling Windows, I just went & bought another drive.

That DID "fix" it. Although I'm not convinced that the hardware was truly defective. Periphial manufacturers must love the entry to mid level user's "knee-jerk, just buy another one" mentality.

I'm a recent migrant to PC as I primarily use a Mac for my business (Graphic Design). Doing a reinstall of the OS (Mac) is a less daunting proposition to cure this type of obscure malfunction.

Does Windows allow a OS only reinstall that leaves the rest of one's HD untouched? It would be nice to know about it or to have the option in the future.

[TwoRails]

Hi SKIPART,

You mention that the drive was only 1 month old, were you able to exchange it?

You can install Windows over an exiting installation, but that doesn't always fix the problems because it will leave certain things, like the Registry or most drivers, alone. It sounds a lot easier on a Mac, which I've never messed with.

Glad to hear you got it fixed :D

[glc]

Windows 2000 can be repaired with or without hardware reenumeration by booting with the CD.

[SKIPART]

Er, Great....

Just how does one go about that?

On Mac (OS9) you can sometimes solve alot of the obscure malfunctions by deleteing the contents of your System Preferences Files (Properties in Win, I guess) & rebooting. Letting the OS generate a new fresh set of system prefs.... you have to manually reset your program settings, but it's better than doing a clean install. I guess you guys are talking about something similar w/ Windows.

Mac OSX (UNIX) is a different kettle of fish & I won't go into it here....as it can involve specific command line instructions at the Root level.

I'm sure that it's pretty involved (to a Win newbie), if the process is too lengthy for a post, you could just point me to an appropriate thread.

[reboot]

Too simple.
Change boot order in BIOS to CD first.
Insert CD.
Restart.
Select Repair.
Follow on screen prompts.
Everything will remain intact in most cases. There are times when personal accounts will be non-working, but they can be recovered with all the personal settings intact with a few simple mouse clicks, and drag/drop.

[SKIPART]

Ha! LOL! Jim....

Too simple. Too right. It just goes to show that some things can be too easy to be noticed....!

What's the term...? Hidden in plain sight!?

Thanks for the chortle!