Bad CD Rom Drive

[Your Name]

I have an old 66meg computer that the CD Rom Drive went bad in. The problem
is the CD Rom Drive cable hooks to the sound card and not IDE. I have 2 IDE
Hard disks in this machine and that's all it can handle. Is there anyone who
handles this kind of CD Rom Drive or is there any other solution. Thanks.
William

 

[Rod Speed]

I have an old 66meg computer that the CD Rom Drive went bad in.

What's the model number of that drive ?

The problem is the CD Rom Drive cable hooks to the sound card and not IDE.

And the other problem is that quite a few of those actually
use a proprietary cdrom drive which uses the same ribbon
cable as IDE but its electrically completely different.

I have 2 IDE Hard disks in this machine and that's all it can handle.

Not uncommon with those older dinosaurs.

Is there anyone who handles this kind of CD Rom Drive

You first need to work out if its actually
an IDE or not, from the model number.

or is there any other solution.

Some sound cards do have an IDE port for the cdrom drive.
That can be used in those old dinosaurs that only have a
single IDE ribbon cable connector on the motherboard.

 

[J.Clarke]

On one side of the drive where it slid into the computer
the label has been scraped particialy off, what I can see is
"In Pro and some half missing numbers and a bar code and 133". On the
other side is printed " Laser Magnetic Storage International Company,
Optical Storage Division, Type CM 206 and serial number
A00300600167302.

I don't think it's IDE because the ribbon cable has only 16 wires. The
only problem with the drive is one of the plastic drive gears is
missing a tooth. Thanks.

That would be a Phillips CM206 drive, which does indeed have a
proprietary interface. The sound board you have will likely support a
couple of other models of proprietary drives besides the Phillips, none
of which are readily available.

Your best bet is to put in a PCI IDE board and an IDE CD-ROM.

 

[Your Name]

On one side of the drive where it slid into the computer
the label has been scraped particialy off, what I can see is
"In Pro and some half missing numbers and a bar code and 133". On the other
side is printed " Laser Magnetic Storage International Company, Optical
Storage Division, Type CM 206 and serial number A00300600167302.

I don't think it's IDE because the ribbon cable has only 16 wires. The only
problem with the drive is one of the plastic drive gears is missing a tooth.
Thanks.

William

 

[Rod Speed]

On one side of the drive where it slid into the computer
the label has been scraped particialy off, what I can see is
"In Pro and some half missing numbers and a bar code and 133". On the other
side is printed " Laser Magnetic Storage International Company, Optical
Storage Division, Type CM 206 and serial number A00300600167302.

I don't think it's IDE because the ribbon cable has only 16 wires.

Yeah, thats the crucial bit. There are in fact
3 different common proprietary formats.

The only problem with the drive is one of
the plastic drive gears is missing a tooth.

Have a look at the sound card and see if there is more than
one connector for the ribbon cable. Some had all 3 connectors
and a jumper to specify the IDE format on the 40 pin version.

If you have one of those sound cards, you can put a standard IDE
cdrom drive on that. If you havent got one of those sound cards,
you could just get one off ebay etc. Some versions of the Soundblaster
SB16 for example does have an IDE port for a cdrom drive.

 

[J.Clarke]

I kind of thought it was out dated. I don't have PCI slots,
I have SCSI slots. Does anyone make IDE interface cards for SCSI?
Thanks. William

There is no such thing as a "SCSI slot". If you are using an Intel- or
AMD- based PC then you might have ISA, EISA, MicroChannel, VLB, PCI, or
PCI-X slots. You may also have a SCSI host adapter built into your
motherboard in which case there would be a cable header on the
motherboard in addition to any slots, or you might have a SCSI host
adapter plugged into an ISA, EISA, Microchannel, VLB, or PCI slot. But
you will not have a "SCSI slot".

IDE-to-SCSI bridges exist, but they are expensive and designed for
specific purposes and are not generally suitable for connecting an IDE
CD-ROM drive to a SCSI host adapter. You would be better off to just
get a SCSI CD-ROM drive if IDE is inconvenient for you.

 

[Your Name]

I kind of thought it was out dated. I don't have PCI slots,
I have SCSI slots. Does anyone make IDE interface cards for SCSI? Thanks.
William

 

[Rod Speed]

I kind of thought it was out dated.

Just a tad.

I don't have PCI slots,

Yeah, thats not unusual for a dinosaur like that.

I have SCSI slots.

Nope. You may have ISA or VESA card slots.

Does anyone make IDE interface cards for SCSI?

There are plenty of decent sound cards around for ISA on ebay.

Far fewer VESA, but I dont recall any motherboard
having JUST VESA slots. Most likely its got ISA slots.

 

[Your Name]

You are right. I looked at the book that came with the computer. It reads I
have a riser card with AT card slots.
Is that ISA? Thanks
William

 

[Rod Speed]

You are right. I looked at the book that came with the computer.
It reads I have a riser card with AT card slots.
Is that ISA?
Yep.

 

[J.Clarke]

Does anyone make an ISA card with an IDE scoket on it or do I have to
find a whole new sound card and CD Rom Drive combo for ISA?

I doubt that anyone is still making one, given that few new machines
have ISA slots. You should be able to find one on ebay though.

But there is nothing that requires that the CD-ROM drive be attached in
any way whatsoever to the sound card.

 

[Your Name]

Does anyone make an ISA card with an IDE scoket on it or do I have to find a
whole new sound card and CD Rom Drive combo for ISA?
William

 

[Rod Speed]

Does anyone make an ISA card with an IDE scoket on it

Not sure if anyone bothers anymore. They used to be common.

or do I have to find a whole new sound
card and CD Rom Drive combo for ISA?

That route has some advantages, particularly with the Creative
sound cards which still have decent documentation online.

There were heaps of what were usually called multifunction
cards around at the time you system was made, but very
few of those had much in the way of decent documentation.

You need to be able to specify that the addon IDE
card doesnt conflict with the single IDE controller on the
motherboard and you need decent documentation for
that. Many of the multifunction cards were intended for use
in motherboards that didnt have an onboard IDE controller.

Or you could just cut to the chase and replace
the dinosaur. Better superglue your sox on tho |-)

 

[Eric Gisin]

You ask your local dealers if they have an ISA multifunction card. I'm
surprised your system doesn't have one. Just disable everthing except the IDE
which you configure as secondary channel.

Things would be a lot simpler if you just bought a used Pentium box for 10-50
bux.

| Does anyone make an ISA card with an IDE scoket on it or do I have to find a
| whole new sound card and CD Rom Drive combo for ISA?
| William
|

 

[Your Name]

I'm not an expert computer person. You might be getting a little over my
head. What do you mean by " Pentium box for 10-50". I don't know how to
"disable everthing except the IDE which you configure as secondary
channel ". Thanks
William


--

 

[J.Clarke]

I'm not an expert computer person. You might be getting a little over
my head. What do you mean by " Pentium box for 10-50". I don't know
how to"disable everthing except the IDE which you configure as
secondary channel ". Thanks

A relatively recent machine with a faster processor than whatever you
are using, two built-in IDE channels, and multiple PCI slots can be
purchased used for $10 to 50 depending on model and features. It's
probably a cheaper solution than getting an IDE CD-ROM drive to work in
the machine that you now have. If you go over to ebay you'll find
brand-name PII-300 machines going for well under $50.

When he said "disable everything but the IDE" he meant to get a sound
board with an IDE port, and then go to the Web site of the manufacturer
of the sound board, download the manual, read the manual, and do
whatever it says you have to do to turn off all features of the sound
board except the IDE port. Or you can toss your existing sound board
and simply use the one with the IDE port as your sound board.

 

[chrisv]

I did get me a 1 ghz computer but I have 5gb of applications and data on one
of the hard drives. Some how Win98 got messed up on my old machine and I
need the CD ROM Drive to reinstall it.
William

Learn how to trim a post, you stupid top poster!

 

[Your Name]

OK. I understand. Thanks.
William

A relatively recent machine with a faster processor than whatever you
are using, two built-in IDE channels, and multiple PCI slots can be
purchased used for $10 to 50 depending on model and features. It's
probably a cheaper solution than getting an IDE CD-ROM drive to work in
the machine that you now have. If you go over to ebay you'll find
brand-name PII-300 machines going for well under $50.

When he said "disable everything but the IDE" he meant to get a sound
board with an IDE port, and then go to the Web site of the manufacturer
of the sound board, download the manual, read the manual, and do
whatever it says you have to do to turn off all features of the sound
board except the IDE port. Or you can toss your existing sound board
and simply use the one with the IDE port as your sound board.



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