Does ACER computer need ACER parts?

[ImnoGuru]

Hello and thanks for looking, maybe you could answer this for me?

Im working on an ACER computer tower. I have added a larger hard drive 120 Gig and Win XP installed, 500 meg of RAM and everything works fine.

Now, I want to instal a program but the CD/DVD/RW in it, wont read my dual layer CD(DVD) disk.
So I took the cd player out of my dell, (because I know that one can read this disk) set it up in the ACER and started it up.
But .. the computer didnt boot and told me the O/S had a corrupt or missing file.

I removed my cd drive and replaced the original one and all went back to normal. Works fine plays cd's, music, games etc.

Is it just that my pioneer out of the other tower is compatible with this ACER?

[Salmon Trout]

You need to get clear the difference between CD and DVD disks, and CD and DVD drives. We have been here before.

[quaxo]

Most any drive should work fine, it doesn't need to be an ACER part.

After swapping the drive, make sure the drive you put in is empty and that the boot order in the BIOS is correct.

[DaveLembke]

I had an Acer many years ago, and the only issue with Optical Drive Replacement was that the Drive that Acer installed into this rounded faced tower was also rounded faced. If someone wanted it to look original, they would have had to buy the Acer oem replacement drive, but the off the shelf 52x CD/DVD combo drive I bought with standard flat face for $40 at Staples worked fine, just was not original looking which i didnt care about looks.

 This replaced their oem 24x CD-Rom that they wanted $65 for. Only trick to installing it for anyone who hadn't replaced this type was that there was a jumper for Master/Slave/Cable Select with the IDE drive which I just had to match the setting of the bad drive that I pulled out of it which was set to Slave with the Hard Drive as Master on a single primary IDE port. These days its even easier with SATA, no jumpers to mess with and quick swap.

*Your model might be one that was manufactured before SATA drives replaced IDE drives as the standard build and you may have to verify jumper position matches that of the Acer drive that you pulled out, and set the Pioneer drive to the correct jumper setting! The last bunch of Pioneer Optical drives I saw were IDE aka PATA, I havent seen any that are SATA yet. If you have a wide 40 pin ribbon cable then you have to verify proper jumper setting or you will have problems!

Back of drive near cable will have  M/S/CS or MA/SL/CS or labelled Master/Slave/Cable Select. *Optical drives usually need a jumper set for SLAVE setting while some hard drives call for no jumper at all for SLAVE setting. If you get confused and your hard drive is also connected via the same ribbon cable you set it as the opposite or what the hard drive is set to, OR if hard drive is set to (CS) Cable Select, then the drive you are putting in is also set to (CS) Cable Select.

[quaxo]

Oh, good catch Dave. My head's just not here. I didn't even stop to consider if it was SATA or the old IDE. 

[ImnoGuru]

Salmon Trout, thanks for the reply.

I think I'm on the way? I read the WIKI link you gave me.

My Dell tower, CD/DVD/DL multi combo, DVDRW, CDRW  by Pioneer, DVR-115D-DVD Burner as on this site is exactly my model from my Dell.

I can recognise a DVD against a CD, simply by the blueish purple coating on the data side, plus the fact that it says 4.7Gig against 700 mb on a cd.

Now, I thought that this Dell player/drive has already read the CD, and installed the data, therefore if I place it in the ACER, with all the jumpers in their correct position, data cable in tact and so on, it should read the dual layer disk.

However I was confronted with, on boot up after installing it, the ACER told me that there was a corrupt file and it wouldnt proceed. Black screen and just two lines of, nope not  gonna work. Try again.
Thats when I thought it might have needed to be an ACER product.

quaxo, thanks too, I am pretty sure the drive was empty, yes in fact it was, hang on and I'll physically check again...  Yep MT, no CD!
The boot order shouldnt have changed surely?
All the connections were the same and both players were masters in their respective equipment.
It should have been one out one in and working?


Thanks as well to DaveLembke for your input. These are both IDE not sata, although the Dell does have a SATA C: drive.

i didnt care about looks.

Me too. Just wanted it to work once.

*Your model might be one that was manufactured before SATA drives replaced IDE drives as the standard build and you may have to verify jumper position matches that of the Acer drive that you pulled out, and set the Pioneer drive to the correct jumper setting!

They should have  been the same.. (but I did check before hand.)

If you have a wide 40 pin ribbon cable then you have to verify proper jumper setting or you will have problems![/b]

Now there is something that I can verify. These little things can slip by sometimes.

Back of drive near cable will have  M/S/CS or MA/SL/CS or labelled Master/Slave/Cable Select. *Optical drives usually need a jumper set for SLAVE setting while some hard drives call for no jumper at all for SLAVE setting. If you get confused and your hard drive is also connected via the same ribbon cable you set it as the opposite or what the hard drive is set to, OR if hard drive is set to (CS) Cable Select, then the drive you are putting in is also set to (CS) Cable Select.

I can check all this and the cable and give it another shot then.


Ok I'm ready for another shot at it then, but if it doesnt work, can anyone suggest another method to read this disk to the ACER.
Maybe add my Dell CD/DVD drive on another cable? Maybe as a slave to the ACER CD player?
Thanks for the help everyone. ImnoGuru.

[Salmon Trout]

Have you considered the possibility that the disk is damaged or somehow sub-specification? It is possible that a borderline disk may read in one drive but not another.

[Linux711]

If ur having problems with the jumpers, it is probably easiest to get another IDE cable and just remove the pin (as the default without pin is usually cable select mode). Then plug that cable into the other IDE port on the mobo.

[ImnoGuru]

Actually Salmon Trout, no. That is an absolutely top idea. Thank you.

Seeing I'm rebuilding all this lot back to where it all began, I should do just that.

And I have thought of a way to do it. (I think)

I have a couple of 2 Terra-byte drives, so if I test the CD/DVD in my Dell and load it onto the 2TB, then add the 2Tb to the ACER to extract and instal it. WHala. Kills 3 birds with the one stone as it were.  Ta Da.

Thanks too Linux711, I have got plenty of cables in a box so yes I can give that a shot too before I put it all back together.
However if the CD proves defective I might just a bland result from using the second IDE connection. Never know it might end up working though...

The things I go through for friends. Wonder if they'll come over and mow my lawn when I'm sick. Hahaha.