Both CD's are intermittent

if they are both on the same cable, i would try a new ide cable
i would try taking off one drive at a time to see if problem remains

Thanks for the suggestion. Both drives are slaves on different masters. What else is common to both drives? Software?? Strange..why do they work if there's a disk in the drive when booting??

Uninstall and re-install your CD burning software. I suspect a corrupt driver.

Dalton

If you go here you can get a service manual for this unit.

http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/systems/dim4600/en/4600/index.htm

It might be of some help but you have to look for something that both CD/CDRW share the obvious first impressions would be CD Burning software or the IDE Controller.

I would be trying a un install of the CD Burning software first and then reinstalling it. Remember when un installing the software do not allow shared folders to be removed or you will end up in a world of hurt.

If that fails I would backup all of your data and then wipe the HDD and reinstall Windows without anything else {if possible} and see if the problem still remains if it does you're looking at the M'Board as the problem but I would be thinking it more likely to be a software issue rather than a hardware issue because the drives work if there is something them on boot up.

Lets know how you get on.

Col

I have heard of a similar problem from a friend, and if i can remeber well it was an ASPI Layer problem.

Pasted from a website:
"ASPICHK.EXE from http://www.adaptec.com will analyze your system and report the consistency and version numbers of your ASPI components. If it reports a problem, you may try Adaptec's repair program - but that runs into the date problem and may not resolve inconsistency. Any ASPI layer is subject to corruption if some device is installed which replaces parts of the package.

The variety of CD-R failures due to a faulty ASPI layer is remarkable and defies detailing. Any repeating error message dealing with communications to or from your writer should trigger a verification with ASPICHK. It sometimes appears that programs that really do not need the ASPI routines install them (badly) just to be sure. With ASPICHK and the Adaptec files, ensuring a working ASPI layer is painless. To steal from an American commercial: Just do it!"

GooD LucK!

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. Neither seemed to repair things.

I restored XP back about a week and all seems to be working well........we'll see!!
Arnie

AM I wrong, but arent they supposed to be jumpered as master, then the hdds as slave? I am sure you could have them as slave but why? I would first try unhooking one of the cdroms to isolate issue with eachother simultaneously. If each work independantly then its your setup, possibly a driver conflict. Where did you get your drivers? From a utility disk or the internet? Did you check the IRQ? WHen did this problem occur? Are the drives or drive new? Did the problem happen after SP2? You claimed you reseated the cables but have you tried to replace them? Lastly what is your latest bios update?

This question was closed by the author