cd rom & writer wont spin discs

Have you had any power issues lately (ie power surge, lightning strike, etc)?  The drives may have been damaged by this.  How old is your computer?  It could potentially be your power supply not providing enough power, but you're probably have other problems if that was the case.  You may also need to repair your Fonts folder...you can do this with TweakUI's Repair tab.  Get TweakUI here: http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp . Note the path indicates that it is for NT, but it works fine on Win95, 98, ME, 2000, and NT.

-d

Ack..sorry about that fonts info...that was for another question!  But TweakUI is handy to have anyway.  Do the drives show up correctly in Device Manager? Are they IDE or SCSI?  Do they work at all if you boot from a Win98 boot disk w/ CD-ROM support?  Will audio CDs play? What about a newer, non-scratched software CD?  What specific errors are you receiving?

-d

Did you install the drivers for both?

As far as i know i havent had any power issues/surges.  One thing that i failed to mention is that it reads copied cds 99% of the time, but it doesnt read legitimate cd's.  

I am running windows 98 1st edition. it doesnt read audio cds ofter, but ive just retried it and now its reading audio cds (confusing)???!!

And yes drivers are installed for both.  The cd writer is a yamaha crw-8824E and some one i know has suggested that yamaha is problematic regarding its inner mechanisms, but im not sure.....

Heh heh, have you tried wiggling the power wires from the supply to the drives?  I believe that, even if a cd drive has no data connection to the motherboard, it should still spin up when a disk is placed in it as long as it has power.  I agree with jhance that there being a problem with the drive itself makes sense on an older drive, but on a new one?  Sounds like a power issue.  If wiggling the wires (turn the power off, remove the power plug from the back of the drive, plug it back in, turn the power back on) elicits no response, perhaps try a different power plug from the power supply (assuming you have not used them all).  If that still doesn't work, try a new power supply or try plugging the Yamaha into another computer.  If you still get the same problems, then maybe you've just got two bad drives.  

What kind of wattage is your power supply rated at?  Do you have a whole bunch of other internal drives using up juice?

You have used a CDROM drive cleaning kit?

Besides all the great suggestions above, I would also consider moving the CD-RW to a different IDE connector, especially if it is on the same controller as the failing CD-ROM.

I hope this helps !

hmmm thanks for those suggestions, ill give them all a try and let you know what the fault was...if any of ur comments resolve the problem. Sigh, computers are so silly.

Thanks

You will probably need more than just wiggling the power wires.  A very common fault is the soldered pins to which the power supply lead is connected to or the data plug.  The vibration causes dry solder joints or lifts the solder up.  Check them and if they are loose, resolder them.

Hi NickLo and welcome to the EE community.  Just so you will know for future reference, we don't normally use the answer option usnless we are 300% positive that it will solve the questioners problem.  By using the anser option you have, in effect, locked the question so that no new input can be gained from other "experts".  You can change your "answer" to a comment and if you have any other questions concerning the use of "comments v. answers" see the guide below at the bottom of this page.  Again, Welcome!  We can use all the help we can get.  :-)

Sandi

Hi Huntress58

Sorry!!!  It will not happen again.  No one can be 300% sure about an electrical fault especially when the device cannot be seen

I totally agree with you there!  A digital multimeter helps in these cases but you have to know what voltages should apply.  Sometimes just by cleaning all contacts you can refresh the connections.

I forgot to add that sometimes the PSU connectors can be rearranged and solve the problem too.

If you have to clean contacts Use a clean pencil rubber.
You can also obtain information about the compurer devices from START-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Good point Nick!  :-)

Sandi

Proposed Answer was rejected.

ComTech
Community Support Moderator

We need to hear from sooperthug now.

hi, none of your suggestions were the cause of my malfunctioning cd-rom, there was a fault with the actual hardware and i had to return it to the dealers, how do i decide on how to distribute the points.

You have 2 choices.  You can simply delete this Q or you can have points reduced and award to whoever was closest.  Glad you got if figured out.  :-)

Sandi

Hello everyone,

This question has been open for quite awhile. I am going to allow feedback from the questioner and experts. If it is not resolved, I will delete or accept an answer based on the info I have been given. Experts, feel free to offer input. I will monitor this question for a period of 5-7 days and come back and evaluate.  

I reserve the right to disallow any comments that may not have a direct conclusion

Thank you,
ComTech
Community Support Moderator

*Question Author, please return and resolve this question.

ComTech,

superthug was here and commented on 7/18.  It looks like he was asking for moderator help...