Won't recognize CD drives

[jennymae]

Hello,
There was a similar question just posted, but not quite the same.
My computer (HP, XP, 5-6 yrs old) has 2 cd drives, D: (RW) and E: (R only). I have not changed anything on my computer. It had intermittent problem of not recognizing the CD drives but if I restarted it usually would. Now it will sometimes recognize the E drive but never the D. No light, door won't open. Does not come up in device manager, not listed in setup. If I change info in setup, it changes back to NONE.
I would like to be sure it is a problem with the drive before I replace it. I don't have another computer I can install it into to see if it works.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thank you.

[homer]

sounds like a power supply problem. take the power jack out of the one that works and place it into the one that doesnt work. then try to open the tray.

[GX1_Man]

If it weren't for the statement that the trays don't open, I would suggest changing the CMOS battery as a start. As a trial after the above, do you have a spare working drive of any kind to test on that power output? Could you borrow one? I guesds you could try to run the hard drive from itt, if tthe cable is long enough. HP's do not thave large or especially well made PSU's  but they are usually proprietary and hard to locate. Is anything else amiss with it?

[jennymae]

One more thing - the light is on and door opens on the E drive, but not the D. Does not recognize either one. There is a red light showing steadily on the D. They are on same cable, D is master, E is slave.
I switched the power cords on D and E and it did the same thing.
I had replaced the D drive about a year ago and still had the old one so I put that one back in. Now it has power, door opens, but computer still does not see either drive.
(Shouldn't I have gotten a New Hardware Installed message when I turned the computer on?)
I put a CD in the D drive and it did what it used to do when it was busted. I put CD in E and it spun, acted like normal but computer does not find it.
As far as anything else amiss, it has seemed to be slower lately in booting up and shuting down. And when I go online (dialup) I frequently lose the connection. And this has been goind on for a while, but sometimes there will be a strip about 1/8 inch wide missing from around the middle of the screen, but the strip can be seen on the far right edge of the screen. Hope that makes sense.
One more thing, and you guys will think I'm crazy. When I moved the CPU, there was a little puddle of what looked, felt, and smelled like oil under it. Looking inside didn't find the source. I can't imagine where it could have come from. No oil in pooter, except maybe the fan?

[Dead_reckon]

the "oil" is burnt out thermal paste, you may want to get some new thermal paste for that

[GX1_Man]

It sounds like that computer has a LOT of issues. Do you have the Windows CD to reinstall if necessary? This may all be hardware related, and God only knows what the oily residue is, but a backup of important data and reinstall seems better than trying to cobble this thing together. If you need new parts, then would be the time to get them.

[Dead_reckon]

It sounds like that computer has a LOT of issues. Do you have the Windows CD to reinstall if necessary? This may all be hardware related, and God only knows what the oily residue is, but a backup of important data and reinstall seems better than trying to cobble this thing together. If you need new parts, then would be the time to get them.

i know for a fact that the oil is thermal paste, mine did that bc my processor was gettin way to hot when the fan somehow got half of its blades broke off, i had to get the fan, the bracket that holds the heatsink and fan, and the thermal paste replaced, only cost 30 bucks for it all, not bad... except for the fact that the proccessor registered as a 2.6ghz before i had this replaced, now its a 2.61... somthing that i cant figure out is if thats faster or slower than what it was before... and the cache is 128 rather than 256... its still says its a northwood though... i am really confused on this one...

EDIT: i am going to post this issue, now that i noticed it after checking my CPU temp the other day, it has been buggin me like crazy

[GX1_Man]

know for a fact that the oil is thermal paste, mine did that

Well that may be true in your case, but we don't know that about hers. There is a danger in generalizing one life experience to all similar appearing situations.

[jennymae]

Unfortunately I don't have the installation CD since I bought the computer new with XP installed. I mainly want to get the CD drives working so I can start backing stuff up for when the computer finally does crap out.

[GX1_Man]

Get someone to burn you a Linux Live CD and boot with that. See how everything functions at that point. You will know if it is hardware (stuff still doesn't work) or software (need to get a new version of Windows).

This has to be burned as an ISO with Nero, etc. Someone with a CDRW will be able to assist or post back if you don't understand.

http://www.slax.org/download.php

[Dead_reckon]

i use alchohol 120% to burn ISO's, works great

[jennymae]

I put another cable in and both drives started working. But then the D stopped working  The E drive is still ok but the D drive stopped working again. There is a steady light on in D, sometimes red sometimes yellow, door won't open, computer not finding D. Needs more work but I think I am on the righ track. Thanks for help. Will monkey around with it some more.
 

[Dead_reckon]

try removing the jumper off of D:, if it still does that, D: is in need of replacement

[GX1_Man]

What??  

Where did you come up with this one?

[Dead_reckon]

What??  

Where did you come up with this one?

my dads gateway had to operate with neither of the drives jumpered, currently, my D: drive is not jumpered, dunno why, im gonna jumper it to master...

EDIT: his drives where a 52x cd drive, and a 52x cd burner, the cd burner is a Khypermedia, i think the cd rom drive is a samsung...

[jennymae]

OK check this out.
Got the CD drives working but now what started happening is my computer would work fine for a while then it would start freezing up for about 30 seconds every couple of minutes. I noticed that when it started freezing, the cd drive would then stop working again - light would come on, door not open, not recognized. Being the superstitious type, I thought they might be related so I disconnected the cable to the CD drives, and lo and behold, my computer stopped freezing up. It looks like something having to do with the drives was causing the freezing?

[GX1_Man]

Were the drives being accessed when the "freezing" occurred?

[jennymae]

No.

[panboy]

OK so its got to be related to your CD drives so,

Buy a new one , and get a new Ribbon cable as well

I'm sure if your nice to the store Clerc you can buy a CD-RW drive for like 30Quid and get him to give you a ribbon cable for free

[Rob Pomeroy]

Well no amount of replacement parts (apart from a new motherboard) is going to fix this if the onboard IO controller has died.

"Oil"?  Any kind of conductive liquid inside a PC can cause all sorts of damage and bizarre behaviour.

Before you buy any new gear, it would be best to borrow known working equipment for testing purposes - the CD drive and cables as suggested above, being the first place to start.  Don't worry - your computer's malaise is highly unlikely to spread to the borrowed equipment.

Unless that liquid is, say, hydrochloric acid...