CD-ROM RW & R drive not working

[Guest]

Hi,

am having a problem burning or using a CD in my RW Drive. The CD can't be
read, formated or written to. It also gets stuck. Red light stays on. Have to
restart and open drive before it's read by startup to get it out.

I get the following error message:

"Drive is not ready
Drive isn't responding to commands,
please try again (0x8020401)

You will not ne able to read or write to the CD
through drive letter access"

Hoping for H E L P! Thank you.

 

[Paul Heslop]

Hi,

am having a problem burning or using a CD in my RW Drive. The CD can't be
read, formated or written to. It also gets stuck. Red light stays on. Have to
restart and open drive before it's read by startup to get it out.

I get the following error message:

"Drive is not ready
Drive isn't responding to commands,
please try again (0x8020401)

You will not ne able to read or write to the CD
through drive letter access"

Hoping for H E L P! Thank you.

a little info may help. Make of drive, how long have you had it, have
you tried more than one sort of disc?

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Control Panel, Add/Remove Hardware. Remove the problem devices and reboot. They'll be reinstalled during the restart.

 

[Guest]

Hi Doug,

Removed the device and rebooted. It doesn't work. Also, when it releases the
CD the CD still rotates in the tray. When checking it alsways states, the
device is working properly, but i'ts not.

Got any other suggestions?

 

[Guest]

the drive came with my PC I purchased 3 yrs ago. It's a

PHILIPS CDD4801 CD-R/RW

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Its possible that the drive has simply gone bad. Or the IDE ribbon cable that connects it to the motherboard needs to be reseated on both ends.

 

[Guest]

Thank Doug. How do I reseat that cable and what is it to begin with?

If it's the connection cable, could it have losened when I moved my PC?

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Yes, it could quite probably have been jarred. When you open the case, you'll see a flat, gray cable (usually) that's connected to the back of the CD/DVD drive. Carefully grasp the connector, if you can, and pull straight out from the back of the drive. Then, making sure you're lined up correctly, push the connector back in. If you find you can't grasp the connector, then grasp the cable, and carefully pull. Repeat this for the end that's connected to the motherboard as well.

 

[Guest]

Thank you, I will try this.

Yes, it could quite probably have been jarred. When you open the case, you'll see a flat, gray cable (usually) that's connected to the back of the CD/DVD drive. Carefully grasp the connector, if you can, and pull straight out from the back of the drive. Then, making sure you're lined up correctly, push the connector back in. If you find you can't grasp the connector, then grasp the cable, and carefully pull. Repeat this for the end that's connected to the motherboard as well.