[Ham-Computers] RE: CD-ROM question

Fri Nov 21 19:25:30 EST 2008

Ahhh, now we're getting somewhere!  So the drives and/or cabling have been monkey'd with, so-to-speak.  Let's review something...

With IDE (aka Parallel ATA or Parallel IDE), the drive ID is determined by the type of IDE cable used - there are two types: "Cable Select", and, for lack of better term, "Standard" IDE.

Standard IDE cables are wired with all pins wired to all three connectors.  In this case, you need to change jumper settings on the drives to determine if the drive is "master", "slave", and, with some drives (such as Western Digital), "stand-alone".

Cable Select (CS) cables "break" one line going to one of the connectors on the cable, usually the "end" connector.  If a drive detects that this line is not connected, it determines that it's on a CS cable and configures itself accordingly as long as the drive is jumpered in CS mode.  Note that the position of the drive on the cable determines if it's "master" or "slave" depending on where the line break is.  Usually, the "end" connector is "master" and the middle connector is "slave" (but not always).  Most CS cables have color coded connectors and typically the "blue" end-connector goes to the motherboard, the "black" to the "master" and the "grey" to the "slave" drives.

When using a CS cable, make sure to jumper all drives on that cable as "cable select" (CS).  If you jumper the drive as a master or slave instead, it can confuse the drive or the system and the drive may not show up (or not show up as expected, master vs slave).  With some drives, the jumper overrides whatever kind of cable you use - this just adds to the confusion.  So, just jumper as "CS" and let the cable do the configuration (as it was designed to).

I have a feeling it's a drive select conflict, so here's my suggestion.  If both your boot drive and C/DVD-ROM drive are on the same IDE cable, then determine if the cable is a "standard" or "CS" cable - then jumper the drives accordingly.  Most systems shipped in the past 5 years (or more) use CS cables, so re-jumper the drives as CS and make sure the hard drive is on the "master" connector.

One other suggestion...if there are two IDE/ATA connectors on the motherboard, put the hard drive on the "primary" controller and put the optical drive on the "secondary" controller (rather than putting both drives on one cable).  This is a performance optimization and is not necessary, but makes for a better performing system.  It also isolates both drives and eliminates any drive select issues.

73,

  - Aaron, NN6O

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: CD-ROM question 

Aaron the only thing that had been done to the computer was a computer repair shop had put on a new HD and loaded everything back onto this system.

When I went to "My conputer" I noticed the CD-DVD Icons were not listed, so I opened up the system and noticed they were set to "Cable Select".  I read that one needed to be the Master and the other the slave.

I rebooted the system and then I got the unfamous blue screen saying a change in software, etc.

The system goes back to the repair shop tomorrow.

73,
Brian

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)" <aaron.hsu at nbcuni.com>
To: "I>Ham-Computers" <Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 12:42 PM
Subject: RE: CD-ROM question

Have you installed or un-installed any CD/DVD related software recently?  Do 
you have any Roxio or Sonic products installed?  Could be a problem with 
upper/lower device filters - quite common.

When the drive icon does not show up in My Computer, does the drive show in 
the Device Manager?  Also, take a look in the System Event Log (Right-click 
My Computer -> Manage -> Event Viewer -> System) and look for any reports of 
the drive removing itself.

Let us know what you find.

73,

  - Aaron, NN6O

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 8:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] RE: CD-ROM question

Aaron and others on the list here.

The CD icon is not showing up under "My computer"

I had never seen this before, but the other day I saw the same thing twice 
on 2 different computers.

Boy sometimes when someone asked you to help them with computer probs its 
like opening up a can of worms!

Sure is nice when everything goes smooth...LOL

Thanks,
Brian
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)" <aaron.hsu at nbcuni.com>
To: "I>Ham-Computers" <Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 1:11 PM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] RE: CD-ROM question

In Windows, if you see an icon for the CD/DVD drive in "My Computer", then
the drive itself is recognized and the driver for the drive is properly
installed.

What kind of disc is it - a commercial "pressed" CD or a CD-R?  Music or
data?  If it's a CD-R, then you could be seeing a drive/media compatibility
problem - not uncommon and something I've covered in the past.  Does the
problem only occur with this one disc?  Do other discs seem to take longer
to be recognized than in the past?  If so, it's possibly a dirty optical
pick-up in the drive and you need to try a CD/DVD-ROM drive cleaning kit
(much like the old floppy drive cleaning kits).

If it's a commercial Music CD, then you might be seeing a copy protection
mechanism in action.  If your system is set to "autoplay" CD's when
inserted, then when you inserted the CD, it ran the autoplay program (much
like the old AUTOEXEC.BAT in DOS) and installed a program that prevents you
from playing or "seeing" the contents of the CD.  This is what got Sony into
such big trouble a few years ago with their anti-theft "rootkit" installer
on certain music CD's.

Anyways, to recap...these are my questions to you:

* If no CD is inserted, is there an icon for the drive in "My Computer"?
* What type of CD - "pressed" or "CD-R"?  Music or Data?
* Problem only with this disc?
* Is the system taking longer to recognize *any* disc?

73,

  - Aaron, NN6O

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 7:35 PM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] CD-ROM question

Ok everybody here's a good question I think.

I had never seen this before till today.

Say for example you have a cd-rom on you're desktop, and you put a cd in it,
light comes on that cd works, BUT you go to "My Computer" and it doesn't
show up there.

Driver's not loaded??

Thanks,
Brian

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