cd/dvd-rom drive problem

[Cac0]

I just assembled my first PC and it boots up fine. The only problem I'm having with it is that the cd/dvd-rom drive won't open. I don't know what the problem is. The light on the front of the drive does not light up so I don't think it's getting any power. The drive did not come with a 4-pin audio out cable, could that be the problem? Does the drive need that cable to function? Anyone have any other ideas on what the problem could be?

[DarkPacMan77]

I'm guessing it uses and IDE cable to connect to the motherboard. Make sure the IDE cable is plugged into both the drive and the motherboard firmly, and also make sure that it is getting power from the power supply.

the audio cable wouldn't be the culprit

[nwarren]

sounds like it could be a bad drive or line coming from your psu. hard to say really without knowing more about the drive and your psu. have you tried a different power line to the drive?

[Katreat]

I had the same problem on my build, quite a few years ago, and it was just a bad ribbon cable. Lucky I had extras and it was easy to check and fix. Check the connections again and if that does not work see if you can get an extra cable to switch out to test it.

[Cac0]

Well I'm going to rip apart an old PC for some ribon cables and a PSU to test the problem with. When you guys say "PSU problem" are you talking about the entire PSU or just one of the power lines coming off of it? I have an ASUS P5W DH DELUXE. Does it matter which IDE port and cable I use for the cd-rom and which I use for the harddrives? http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggIma...131-025-04.JPG Would the jumper settings on the cd-rom drive have anything to do with it not getting power?

[glc]

An old PSU will probably not have the required 24 pin main connector and may not have the auxiliary 4 pin connector. Only one of the IDE ports is native to the chipset (ICH) and that's the one you must use for optical drives - if you are trying to use an IDE hard drive, I recommend you do not, SATA should be used. If you try to install a hard drive on the addon connector you will need its driver on a floppy to get Windows installed.

Simply disconnect the ribbon cable from the drive - if it still won't open, the drive is dead or the power connector is no good.

[flanzig1]

Should be able to unplug the ribbon cable and leave the power plugged in to try to open the CD drawer. Make sure that the cable is connected correctly: if it has blue/gray/black connectors, set the jumper on the drive to CS. Blue connectoer to mobo,black to drive gray for a second second drive if used.