USB CD-Rom

[JB]

Hello
Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB -
CD-Rom
Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes on
and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware devices,
but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and it's not
found in MyComputer.
So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick, and
reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes to
reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
Thank you

 

[Big Al]

Hello
Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB
- CD-Rom
Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes
on and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware
devices, but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and
it's not found in MyComputer.
So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick,
and reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes
to reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
Thank you

You dont' need a bootable floppy. I'm sure that's a typo. Just put it
on the floppy. Its normally one of the choices to search for drivers
when installing hardware. Floppy, cd, internet.

 

[Pavel A.]

Try the cd-rom in another computer.
Most likely you don't need to tamper with the firmware,
the problem is in WinXP.

--PA

 

[JB]

It did work on another machine. So if it is XP, what can we do?
J

 

[philo]

It did work on another machine. So if it is XP, what can we do?
J

In device manager...just plain delete it and reboot
let windows reinstall .

BTW: It often helps when using a USB device to always use it on the same
port
on which it was originally installed. It's less likely to "confuse" the
operating system.

 

[JB]

Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going to get
Dell to fix it.
J

 

[Paul]

Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going to
get Dell to fix it.
J

Before giving a computer to a repair facility, make sure
you have a backup of the hard drive. Everybody loves
to reformat, even if it seems unrelated to the problem
at hand. At the very least, you'd want to back up the
email database and so on. There are lots of horror stories
about "I sent my computer in for service and now all my
files are gone". So a backup now would be a good idea.

Paul

 

[JB]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be sure to tell my friend
J

 

[Robert Pendell]

Dell will tell you if you need to keep the drive in the system or not.
The last time I sent in my laptop (and I see if was a laptop you were
asking about) they told me to keep my drive. If he needs help they will
probably assist him with removing the drive from the system before
sending it in.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be sure to tell my friend
J

--
Robert Pendell
(e-mail address removed)

"A perfect world is one of chaos."

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