SCSI CD ROM read error

[Neil Barras]

Hi,

I have just inheritted an old Dell Workstation 400 from where I work. I
opened it up to discover a 36GB 10k SCSI Hard Disk, and a SCSI CDROM Drive.
The PC will boot into the HDD running currently Win98, and report in My
Computer and Device Manager that the CD Drive (NEC CD-ROM 646) is there and
is functional...But when I come to use a CD, I get the "Drive D:/ is not
accessible. The Device is not ready." The Drive will after a while spin up
fully, then drop, and just continue to spin up partially, but whatever I do,
I cannot access it. I have tried with numerous Discs too. Is it a sign
that the Drive is knackered? If it is, it's a bugger, because I am also
having trouble getting the onboard IDE ports to recognize a HD or ROM Drive.

Anymore info needed, just say.

Cheers,

Neil

 

[philo]

I have just inheritted an old Dell Workstation 400 from where I work. I

opened it up to discover a 36GB 10k SCSI Hard Disk, and a SCSI CDROM Drive.
The PC will boot into the HDD running currently Win98, and report in My
Computer and Device Manager that the CD Drive (NEC CD-ROM 646) is there and
is functional...But when I come to use a CD, I get the "Drive D:/ is not
accessible. The Device is not ready." The Drive will after a while spin up
fully, then drop, and just continue to spin up partially, but whatever I do,
I cannot access it. I have tried with numerous Discs too. Is it a sign
that the Drive is knackered? If it is, it's a bugger, because I am also
having trouble getting the onboard IDE ports to recognize a HD or ROM Drive.

sound like the drive is bad.
not sure why your ide devices are not detected...
do you have the bios set to auto?
BTW: win98 can recognize ide devices even if not given a bios call...
so it may still be worth a try