CD-ROM drive

[Dick Ashley]

I've not used my CD-ROM drive for some time. Today I tried to play a music
CD and found the music is accompanied by background clicking -- the light
on the cd drive flashes almost continuously, but erratically.

Dell Dimension 4550 WinXPhome SP1 CD-ROM driver: cdrom.sys

Advice?

Dick Ashley

 

[Malke]

I've not used my CD-ROM drive for some time. Today I tried to play a
music
CD and found the music is accompanied by background clicking -- the
light on the cd drive flashes almost continuously, but erratically.

Dell Dimension 4550 WinXPhome SP1 CD-ROM driver: cdrom.sys

Advice?

Dick Ashley

With the computer turned off and unplugged, reseat the ribbon cable and
the power supply connector going to the cd drive. If that does not
solve the problem, swap out the drive for a known-working one. If that
solves the issue, throw the original cd-rom drive away. A cd-rom drive
is quite inexpensive.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Before you do anything, try a different cd. The one in the drive might be
damaged.

 

[R. McCarty]

Check the IDE Controller that serves the CD and make sure that the
appropriate (TAP, Master/Slave) is operating at UDMA mode 2 and
not PIO mode. This would indicate Mode Step down from errors on
the drive. Also, go to Office Depot and get a ~$10 CD/DVD cleaner
CD (has microFiber brushes) to clean your Laser lens. If you are able
to do more advanced Technical operations - check the drive vendor's
website to see if a Firmware Flash update is available for it.

 

[Dick Ashley]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how to find the IDE Controller. Could
you give me instructions? (I've tried different CDs, and have used the
cleaner CD. No solution.)
RAK

 

[R. McCarty]

Click Start, Run (Type) Devmgmt.Msc [Enter]

Maximize the window to full screen. Click the text "View" option,
place a check/tic the option "Show Hidden Files". In the category
listing find IDE/ATAPI controllers. Click the [+] at the left edge.
This will expand the category. You should see a Primary and a
Secondary controller. Most likely, your hard drive is on the one
marked Primary, the CD on the Secondary. Double-Click the
secondary. When the details box opens, Click the Advanced
Settings (TAB). It should show you the devices connected, such
as Device 0 and Device 1. The information you're interested in is
the Current Transfer Mode. For the optical drive it should say
Ultra DMA Mode 2. (If it is a higher mode 3,4,5 or 6, you are
on the controller with the hard drive, as CDs use only Mode 2).
If the mode says PIO, then it has stepped down it's operating
mode to lessen the number of errors logged against the device.
If it is operating in PIO, you'll need to Uninstall both the CD/DVD
from it's category and the Secondary Controller and reboot.