teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 My three-year old CD-RW drive has picked up strange behaviors. It has intermittently stopped detecting a disk in the drive when you go to burn one. Sometimes turning off the computer and turning it back on will fix the problem.In addition, it sometimes will not open and close correctly. I will have to use my hand to close it rather than pushing the button. Again a restart tends to fix this.Now it seems stuck on not recognizing disks and does not want to open. When I did a reboot this morning, my virus detector which usually tells me that it will not shut down due to a disk in the CD drive did not catch there was a disk in the drive.Question: Is there anything I can do to repair it or should I just replace the drive? The tray will come completely out as well and I end up using the old paperclip on a regular basis to open the drive.My computer is a P4 generic, 800 Mhz, close to being handed down the chain. I run Win XP pro as an OS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Easy one... cheaper and much less hassle to buy a new one... You'll for sure appreciate the speed upgrade too!! When you can find a 48x burner for under $50, the upgrade is the sure thing to do... :)If you look in the right place, you can probably find one real cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisP Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 The first step in a situation like this is, of course, to do a cleaning of the drive. Dust in the drive can cause the problems that you cite here. For example, dust in the front panel switch can cause the contacts to not close cleanly, preventing the eject. Can you successfully eject via right-clicking on the drive's icon? If so, the eject switch is the likely culprit. If not, it may be a motor problem, which is best solved with a replacement drive. :)Dust can also block the laser lens and can cause head travel problems as well. Clean the drive and see what happens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Chris P - Welcome aboard.I will look at it when home this evening. However, right clicking would not work. It completely just stops so I am wondering if it is the motor or if it is the dust. I usually don't have a dust problem at home like I do around equipment at school.GolfProRM: That is what I was thinking. I am cruising the suggested sites from the thread on suppliers right now. I need to pick up another hard drive while I am at it. While I am looking at hard drives, a few questions there as well: Seek time: Is smaller number better? Buffer - is there a minimum I should look for? Does it matter between UDMA and ATA if I have both connections?Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryder Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 I have sent many a floppy drive, cd-rom, cd-r/rw that were thought to be broke and ran them through my dishwasher. Gave them a week to dry out completely and they worked just fine. a friend of mine that worked for one of the big 3 PC makers gave me the idea. I thought he was pulling my leg. He said at work they would do this to all of the returns, first, before deciding if they were faulty. He said they had a room set up with dozens and dozens of the before mentioned devices waiting their turn in the dish washer. Too funny, but on some of them, it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Stryder: Oh my. I know we have had computers here a few years ago that were under 8 foot of water from a hurricane that wer hosed off and worked for a while. Most tended to have an inordinate number of problems within a year but then again there had been salt in that water. Is there a recommended detergent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryder Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Stryder: Oh my. I know we have had computers here a few years ago that were under 8 foot of water from a hurricane that wer hosed off and worked for a while. Most tended to have an inordinate number of problems within a year but then again there had been salt in that water. Is there a recommended detergent? Lol....no....no detergent. And JUST the cd-rw drive!!!! Don't put the whole case in!!!! And if you do put the whole case in.... for the love of GOD....unplug it first!!!!! That goes for the monitor too!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisP Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 I usually don't have a dust problem at home like I do around equipment at school.Funny that you should say that...Several years ago, while still working at a school, I had a complaint from a teacher about some really strange goings-on with the teacher workstation in her room -- a then-new IBM PS/2 Model 55 if that helps to date things.When I went to her room, the first thing that I noticed was that new carpet had been laid over the summer. (Yeah -- we actually had carpet in some of the theory rooms!)I opened the system unit to find about an inch and a half of blue carpet dust inside there, covering the entire mainboard and filling the power supply!Many clients wonder why the FIRST thing I do is open the case on any repair... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Lol....no....no detergent. And JUST the cd-rw drive!!!! Don't put the whole case in!!!! And if you do put the whole case in.... for the love of GOD....unplug it first!!!!! That goes for the monitor too!!!! I was wondering how I was to get the cord plugged in without a crimp in the line from closing the dishwasher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 I have a client that does medical transcriptions. He long ago modified all of his ink jet printers, HP Deskjet 600s, with hoses and large ink bins. About once a month he breaks all this down and dumps it all in the dishwasher. He has been doing this for 3 years before the printers finally began to go. We have VERY hard water here and I was suprised they lasted that long. Note he still uses them. He buys parts and keep doing the same thing. Weird but it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Julia, just curious, but what speed is this old burner of yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 GolfProRM - 24X I believe. nlinecomputers - I had someone called HP a few years ago about new cartridges that won't work. They said run hot water over them and wipe off the heads until they do work. It works like a charm almost every time. Temmu - I am sure we could do a whole line on dishwashing techniques. Might have to move the thread to the watercooler then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 before dishwashing the burner you always could try opening it up and blowing all the dust out..... you would be surprised how much is in there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Okay, but just how far should I open it up? Do you have a diagram for reassembling it after I get it in 20 pieces? I have not taken apart one of these before, just the old floppy drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Teach,I doubt you burn as much as I do but it is possible that is it just burned out. Ya I know that is a Pun.I wore out a Plextor 8x20 SCSI CDR almost 2 years ago after burning several thousand CDR's. The drive will read data CD's and Music CD's just fine but will not burn. I have since had a Yamaha 24-10-24 CDRW that was good but real picky about the media it burned to. I now have a Lite-on 40x CDRW that is spectacular. It is black to match my case and burns on any media and will only burnas fast as the media will allow. I can do 704MB per data CD in under 4 minutes start to finish with Nero. In the last 2 day's I have burned 80GB of Data with it and I'd keep going but I am out of data that needs to be backed up.If you do buy a new CDRW check out Lite-On.UDMA and ATA are not the same thing. ATA is the IDE Connection and UDMA is how the ATA talks to the machine. I'd make sure it was 40x or better. I'd stay away from combo CDRW and DVD-ROM Drives. Too much to go wrong.Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 ChrisThanks for the information. I knew the cables looked the same but had blue connectors for the UDMA. Never learned the difference. I definitely won't go the combo route. I already have a spare DVD laying around since I put a Sony 500 DV R/W drive in my daughter's computer. Figured she did not need two DVD drives. I could wait another couple of weeks and steal her CD-RW and let her go with just the DVD drive. I can't remember if it burns CDs but with her zip drive and the DVD that should cover her animation classes. I am sure I don't burn as many CDs. I bought two stacks of 50 last year when they were $15 with a $15 rebate. Still have a stack here and one at college. I think I might burn maybe 50 a year at the most. My largest use of the CD drive is to back up my hard drive. It is handy though, especially since I like to make a copy of any new software I buy and run from that in case something happens to the original. Any particular source you like for the Lite-On? I have not heard of that brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labyrinth Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Teacher found this thread this morning on another forum: If your interested in a new hard drive you might want to click it.http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messagevie...threadid=181487 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Thanks.... I ordered one early this afternoon. Picked up both a new hard drive and CD-RW from NewEgg. Pretty decent price. Did not get as large of a hard drive, but then again, I would only fill it up. I only have a 20 GB in here now and will probably pass this one on to my husband soon. Don't think solitaire and e-mail use of quite that much drive space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 GolfProRM - Got home and looked at the darn thing. My how time ha flown. It is a yamaha (8 (8 (24! Think I was due a new one?Fuzzbut, I took your advice and ordered the Lite-On. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Yeah... you'll definitely appreciate the new one! 2-3 minute burn times It almost seems like the burn is done before it starts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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