cd burner has mind of its own.....

Team Sydster

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Yet another mystery. I have a Dell Dimension 4500, I installed more DRAM, that's all I did, honest. Now my cd burner drawer won't stay closed. When I close it the little green access light blinks and the drawer opens again. When I click on properties for the drive it shows "full", but in explorer it doesn't show any thing at all. Interesting eh?
 
is the ram, the same type and brand that is already installed?
 
It's not the same brand, but it is the same type. As a matter of fact I removed it and went back to the way it was, and the condition remained the same.
 
hmm, check to see all cables are plugged into the cd writer properly maybe u nudged them out a bit while installing the ram?
 
just a thought, maybe try going into device manager, uninstall the drive that has problems, then in the 'actions' menu scan for hardware changes to re-install the drive. shouldn't require a reboot.
 
How about removing the drive with Add/Delete Hardware Wizard and letting XP find new hardware on the reboot?
 
electrickpirate said:
just a thought, maybe try going into device manager, uninstall the drive that has problems, then in the 'actions' menu scan for hardware changes to re-install the drive. shouldn't require a reboot.


did you by chance slide that ram or maybe your watch or something against the back of the cd drive while installing the ram?

go to your hardware and find the name of the cd drive then do a search on google for firmware update. Sounds to me like it was corrupted somehow. Then if that fixes it at least you ahve the latest firmware for the optical drive giving you problems.
 
i think thats the same thing as remove and scan for changes. adding/removing an optical drive shouldn't require a reboot to detect and use, at least it hasn't been in my experience, but i guess its probably a good way to go. i just hate having to reboot all the time so i just do it like i explained. might make a differance.

do you have any virtual drive installed? like with daemon tools or something?
 
Nothing that I tried worked, all connections are tight. So hard to believe it picked this exact time to go belly up.
 
hmm, i guess so then, last resort, is the drive even detectable in the bios? even if its not or it is, try upgradign the firmware if possible
 
Firmware wasn't available from the manufacturer. Another strange thing is if you right click the icon for the drive and select properties, it shows the drive is full, I guess that's why the drawer pops out. Although explorer shows it empty. Don't even know if replacing it will help if it's a software problem.
 
is there maybe a cd stuck inside? happened to my friend then once i ejected the cd-rom and it Fliping flew out and two cds flew into the air from it lol
 
Man I wish that was it. Actually it's not been used in quite awhile and it's definately empty. It's on my wifes machine, I just would like to get the darn thing to stay in before something on it or her gets broken!!
 
did u try it in another computer? if it does the same then time to buy a new one, its ok thought they cost about 40 to 50 bucks as dvd-writers cost 60 bucks! wow i remmber i got my first cd-writer for 600 dollars 2x external WOW!!!!! i love prices now
 
No I haven't tried it in another machine, I think if I take it out I will just replace it. Same amount of work, even less.

I'm with you on the prices. I remember paying 30 bucks a meg for ram.
 
Heck, I remember buying a 2nd-hand 100 MB hard disk for the incredibly cheap price of 100 guilders, about 50 us$ at the time - 4 months later new ones were cheaper :dead:

Anyways, it's a weird problem you've got there... but then computers can do weird stuff even without adding hardware... :laugh:

What I always try as a last resort before buying replacements is disconnecting the drive, start Windows in Safe-Mode (although I must admit I've never needed to do that on XP) and THERE remove the drive from the hardware list - restart in normal mode, make sure it doesn't give any missing device in the hardware list (always check check triple-check :yowch: )

shut down, connect drive, start Windows and the drive should be completely re-installed - if this doesn't help I'd recommend buying a new one, and go for double-layer DVD burner - single-layer DVD burners are only slightly cheaper... :squareeye
 
No one here has said this yet - but I think it is the WTG to be certain you have tried a COMPLETE reinstall.

Power down -> open case -> unplug problem drive -> Boot up -> Power down -> Replug drive and make sure all tight and good -> Power up to BIOS -> Auto detect (if not already there) the drive -> Save and exit -> see how you go from there....

There have been plenty of cases where that has fixed things - if not then firmware and all the other stuff is relevant - look on bright side, these drives are dirt cheap now!
 
Just a far out kind of thing, have you scanned the comp for spyware/malware? If nothing else just tell the wife that you installed a coffee cup holder for her and act proud! :p ............. Well it works on mine once in a while........
 
Thanks a lot for the new things to try, I will. It's not the cost of a new drive, a good meal out costs more, I just hate to throw away a good drive when I don't need too, it's also kinda fun trying to figure out the puzzle. I thank everyone who responded to this thread. I'll report back.:yowch:
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
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