Hot Digidydoo!

[Scorpiоn]

I'm just so dang happy!  For a year or something along those lines, the CD drive has been uncooperative.  First, it started with a video problem.  We opened up Mr. Computer and rearranged her guts, and after much worry and struggling, finally got 'er to boot up with all systems operational.  But, it turned out the CD drive refused to open!  Didn't matter how many times you pushed the button, you'd hear the motor start, but it was as if something was holding it back.  My dad showed me that by sticking a paperclip in a hole in the side (kind of like reset buttons on little LCD electronics), I could force the bay to open.  Well, I' should've known better than to be sticking things in foreign locales!  The drive would open, but very shortly after that, the drive would open, but upon closing, would force itself back open!  This continued for a long time, shortly after CFS3 was released.  Today, I had enough!  I split 'er in two again (I'm wary to do this, since bad things tend to happen when I do!) and yoinked out Mr. CD drive.  I finally found out how to completely dismantle it (I've tried before) but I was hapless, there was nothing there for me.  I reassembled it, and stuck it back in.  I rebooted the computer (I was doing 99% of this with the power on), and to my surprise, the drive was gone!  I no longer had an E: drive! And then I pushed the ribbon tape all the way in. Voila!  It worked like a charm, the way it's supposed to!  Woo hoo!

Now I'm listening to CDs and changing them every ten minutes.

[BFMF]

glad you got it sorted out

[eno]

Aint it always the way .... you go through all sorts of rigmarole  only to find out it wasnt plugged in properly.

My ex Father in Law and Head of my College course years ago, had one very apt saying which he applied to anything technical with electrics
"Plug it in and switch it on!"

This arose from one incident with a new lighting board just installed in the college theatre (I was on a Stage Management course). A student couldnt get any lights to come up during a dress rehearsal for a show. My father in law was called because he was the one who had had the initial training on the board. He couldnt figure it out despite the fact that when the board was checked earlier in the day it was working. He called several other technicians... they all sat around scratching their heads for an hour or so when someone remembered that the guy who installed the board was  just down the road at another theatre installing a similar board. Someone was duely dispatched to get him and he came half an hour later ..... took one look at the board and reached up to the far left corner ............................................................................................................................... and turned it ON!!

Lesson learned

[Fozzer]

CD/DVD drives...

...a good tip from my mate, who knows all about computers, (so he tells me!), NEVER EVER push the tray in with your hand, ALWAYS use the button on the front... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers ...!

Paul.

P.S. another tip: When inserting the ribbon cable plug, make sure it's lined up properly, it's too easy to bend, or even crush, the pins in the socket, and the computer won't recognise the drive then... ...!

[loomex]

I've had that happen before. If it happens again there is no need to take the CD drive out. Simply go to your device manager and find the CD drive thats the problem. Uninstall it and reboot.  When it restarts is should see the CD drive as new hardware and it will install the drivers

[Scorpiоn]

Whoah!  Hold the horses!  I have had problems in the past by simply not having things plaugged inand such, but there was a mechanical issue with the drive.  The ribbon wire only solved the problem of Windows not recognising it.  I think I've "wired" [chunkle ] it down to what went wrong.  I'll draw I little diagram with PSP later in the day.

[BFMF]

Wiish it was that simple getting my cd burner to work properly. It works just fine as a regular cd rom, but for some reason, I can't get it to burn cds on my computer

[Fozzer]

Wiish it was that simple getting my cd burner to work properly. It works just fine as a regular cd rom, but for some reason, I can't get it to burn cds on my computer

Hi Andrew...!
...do you mean a CD reader/writer/re-writer....?
Mine came with a special program to format/write/re-write blank CD's.
I dont think it could be done otherwise.
(Re-write CD's are different from normal CD's as well)... ...!

Cheers mate...!

Paul.

P.S. typo...

[BFMF]

Hi Andrew...!
...do you mean a CD reader/writer/re-writer....?
Mine came with a special program to format/write/re-write blank CD's.
I dont think it couldn't be done otherwise.
(Re-write CD's are different from normal CD's as well)... ...!

I tried 4 different programs for burning cds, and all came up with errors. I never had a problem before I upgraded my computer. Some people think that since the drive is over 4 years old, it may be incompatible with my newer hardware.

It seems to work fine on my mom's computer which is a little older

[Polynomial]

glad ur not electrocuted . . . . .

[eno]

I take it you upgraded your O/S @ the same time as your comp ........ Thats probably the problem.

[Scorpiоn]

Professional Eh?

The smallest gear, M, is turned by the motor, and the energy is transferred (Don't ask me how that works, I'm no engineer!) up though the bigger gears into piece A.  The largest toothed gear also protracts downward to lock teeth with the gray potion of piece A.  As piece A is turned, a slot guiding a pin from the foward part of the BDRT causes the BDRT to move up into a position close enough to read the surface of the disc.  Simultaneously, piece A rotates piece B via a pin and socket so that the slanted surface of the left arm of piece B pushes piece S, a switch, to the left.  As the disc tray passes over all this, a curve in the bottom of the tray keeps S to the left.  I can only assume it is a switch, since after being pushed to the left it seems to give clearance to the BDRT to start checking for a disc and scanning it.  I don't guarantee this to be right, since I was working with logic and a screwdriver; I had no manual.

Awhile back when I posted a question about my drive woes, and I feared Fozzer's now repeated proclamation of never forcing the bay closed was what started all my ruckus.  I think I can confirm this at this time, since I believe the problem lay between the biggest toothed gear, and piece A, probably caused by teeth not synchronizing properly.  And that was probably caused by yours truly being too lazy to bend his wrist and just push a button instead of bumping the disc tray.

Alas, the whole point of this is, Fozzer is always right! Don't ask question, just do!