CDROM listed as "unknown" in BIOS but Windows detects correct name

[Paul]

I guess what amazes me is that the machines I am getting with bad caps
are of varying ages spanning quite a few years.

OTOH: Why should I be surprised?

That's really the shocking and sad part. How long
this went on. It went on for years. Multiple Chinese
manufacturers were using the bogus electrolyte. What
I can't figure out, is what production manager would
get a bonus, for saving a few cents on caps, only to
turn around and have a huge rate of warranty returns.
I can't figure an up-side, to using the cheap bogus caps.
Sooner or later, you'll be paying for them.

Paul

 

[Paul]

That's assuming 1) there actually were lots of warranty returns and 2) that
the production manager stayed there in that position (and didn't move up or
out onto a new job). Remember corporations (and government) only think
short term. Long term is an "advanced" concept.


But in the end, do they care? (Not unless it actually did cut into their
bottom line, which in this case would necessitate tons of returns)

Wow. This article just gets longer and longer.
There is a section for "after 2007" now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

And I couldn't find mention of any "class action lawsuits" in that
article. The Abit motherboard company lost one of those. And there
was at least one other suit.

Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

As opposed to scrapping it in?

[/QUOTE]

Glad someone else appreciated that! (I'd just say "scrap the machine" -
no in _or_ out.)

But the articles about the caps were interesting!

 

[kev833]

[snip]

Installed the A11 version of the BIOS. But it didn't change anything. The Sony CDROM drive was still listed as "unknown". Some combination of Windows and the controller is jacked up. I have another old CDROM drive: Samsung SC-140b. It works in the PC but only in PIO mode. Windows initially detected it and set the primary controller mode Multi-Word DMA Mode 2. But once I put in a CD the PC locked up. I'm glad I have an external USB DVD drive. I give up on work with this old technology. Thank you everyone for your comments. Out!

 

[philo]

In message <[email protected]>, philo <[email protected]>
writes:
[]
I've also gotten in a lot of Dells with bad caps.
Once I see that I scrap out the machine.

As opposed to scrapping it in?

Glad someone else appreciated that! (I'd just say "scrap the machine" -
no in _or_ out.)

But the articles about the caps were interesting!

Yes. I got your sense of humor because I have a similar one. (My wife
does not know what to do with me.)

BTW: I bet you will like this one:

This morning I repaired an IBM Thinkpad that had the "fan failure"
message .

I took the thing apart and luckily the fan was still good, it was just
clogged with debris.

It had a quality inspection sticker stuck in it!


Probably the "best" problem I've ever come across yet.

 

[Paul]

[snip]

Installed the A11 version of the BIOS. But it didn't change anything. The Sony CDROM drive was still listed as "unknown". Some combination of Windows and the controller is jacked up. I have another old CDROM drive: Samsung SC-140b. It works in the PC but only in PIO mode. Windows initially detected it and set the primary controller mode Multi-Word DMA Mode 2. But once I put in a CD the PC locked up. I'm glad I have an external USB DVD drive. I give up on work with this old technology. Thank you everyone for your comments. Out!

I think it's time to change cables. Seriously.

You want an 80 wire UDMA cable, not the
40 wire cable you're using at present.

The 80 wire uses a finer wire, as shown on the left here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/IDE_cable_40_pin_&_80_pin.jpg

It sounds like you have a signal integrity problem. The
signals look bad on those cables at the best of times.
It is not "electrical engineerings finest hour". The
SATA cable, by comparison, is an example of excellence.
IDE cables, not so much. The thing they got right on the
IDE cable, was including a reset signal, something the
SATA cable could have used.

And don't get carried away on length either.
This is long enough. Standard length. 18"

http://www.startech.com/Cables/Drive/IDE/18-inch-Ultra-ATA-66-100-133-80-wire-IDE-Cable~IDE66

They also make stuff like this, but I cannot
imagine what they were thinking. This is twice as long
and is only going to result in grief (CRC errors).
An 18" cable is what you want, especially when
your current setup appears to not work properly.

http://www.startech.com/Cables/Drive/IDE/36-In-Dual-Drive-Ultra-ATA-66-100-133-Cable~IDE66_36

Paul

 

[kev833]

After all the back and forth with this issue, it came down someone the IT department doing something strange to the Windows XP Pro SP3 installation onthe machine. The PC was purshased as is from an company auction. So who knows what happened. maybe it could also be a corrupted reqistery. Bottom-line, no CD-RW/DVD-ROM would work in this PC.

My solution was to place my spare 160GB ATA/IDE hard drive in the PC as themaster device and use the Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM as the slave device and installed Windows XP Home SP3. Once that was completed I checked the properties of the Primary IDE Channel which indicated UDMA Mode 5 for "device 0" and UDMA Mode 2 for "device 1". So this was not a hardward or BIOS issue.

 

[philo]

After all the back and forth with this issue, it came down someone the IT department doing something strange to the Windows XP Pro SP3 installation on the machine. The PC was purshased as is from an company auction. So who knows what happened. maybe it could also be a corrupted reqistery. Bottom-line, no CD-RW/DVD-ROM would work in this PC.

My solution was to place my spare 160GB ATA/IDE hard drive in the PC as the master device and use the Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM as the slave device and installed Windows XP Home SP3. Once that was completed I checked the properties of the Primary IDE Channel which indicated UDMA Mode 5 for "device 0" and UDMA Mode 2 for "device 1". So this was not a hardward or BIOS issue.

You changed your story.

Initially you said the device was not properly IDed in the BIOS but
functioned OK in Windows.