CDROM No Longer Recognized

[StJoDennis]

Here's another one. I was at my Dad's today to help him with his computer. Yes, even though I am always having to ask all of you for help, I can help him quite a lot. His latest problem is that his CD stopped working. The drive light comes on, but it can't see there is a disk in the tray (we tried several). He is running Win98, and the drive is a Toshiba CD-ROM XM-6102B. The place that built his computer gave him no disks, so he doesn't have any drivers to reinstall. I went online and found a driver download on driverguide.com, but the comments about it on the site say it isn't the right driver. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks. DKC

[Cricket]

Hi StJoDennis,

Try replacing the IDE cable first.

If that doesn't work, try that CD-ROM drive in another computer.

If that doesn't work, you could try one of those CD lens cleaning kits.

If nothing works, the drive has had it.

Also, CD-ROM drives don't need a special driver to work in Windows...there's a generic one built in to Windows already. The only time you would need a special or specific CD-ROM driver is if you needed access to the CD-ROM drive while in DOS (for DOS based games or programs).

Cricket

[GaryRouth]

Hi StJo, Hi Cricket

I checked some old reviews for that model: looks like a 12x/24x variable speed drive that had pretty mixed reviews. Several folks mentioned the drive having trouble reading burned CD-RW disks.

If you have any store-bought audio CDs, try them. If it can't read those & cleaning the lens doesn't help, looks like it might be replacement time.

On the bright side, cdrom readers are cheap now - and you could upgrade to a nice burner for nearly the same low price. I'd recommend a burner if your dad hasn't had one yet. Nice for backups, if nothing else.

. . . Gary

[p.s. . . . I'm assuming that you can see the drive listed in Windows Explorer?]