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CD-Rom Drive freezes.

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13 replies

by fraiha

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I just installed a new hard drive which works perfected, formatted it, so on. My computer freezes when ever i insert a disc, which means autorun works fine. Otherwise if there was no disc and it recognizes so. If there were a disc from when i restarted my computer from the previous restart, and try to run it it would again freeze. I'm not positive if this problem was caused from when i installed my new hard drive, or if a needed file was lost from purging ad-ware.

13 replies

by thechas

My guess is that you have a file or 2 missing from the IDE buss driver.

Download and install the latest drivers for the chipset on your motherboard.

If this is a name brand system, you should be able to get the driver from the mfg.

If not, start with the motherboard mfg.
If you need help identifying your motherboard, use the tools at either www.motherboards.org
or www.wimsbios.com

Chas

by fraiha

I downloaded what i believe was the correct update. I downloaded Intel INF update and recieved a message that none is needed. American Megatrends licensed to Intel is my manufacture. I get the feeling i did something wrong. I have a DELL Dimension L800 which isn't much supported by Dell.

by opatzg9

It also wouldn't hurt to check and reseat the cables for the cdrom. Was there a need to put the hard drive on the cdrom drive ribbon cable? Check your slave/master relationships on the jumpers between disk and cdrom drives.

by fraiha

I did connect the slave-drive to the CD-Rom drive due to limied space. I never thought it was neccesary to change the starter on the CD-Rom drive when installing a slave-drive.

by thechas

Ah,

Are both the new hard drive, and the CD drive jumpered as slave?

If you added the new hard drive on the secondary IDE channel, then you need to jumper the hard drive as master with slave present, and the CD drive as slave.

Chas

by fraiha

I did all of that. My computer noted some kind of update, and is running the same. I'm sure it helped several problems here and there but still my CD-Rom drive freezes my computer when accessing it. I'm guessing it is because a few files need files had been deleted previously. Any way i can help this? Or could it be caused by something else?

by thechas

I have one more idea.

You may need to disable DMA for the hard drive on the secondary IDE channel.
Many CD drives do not support DMA access.

While it should be possible to have different DMA settings for both drives on a channel, sometimes either the chipset or the drive is picky, and won't deal with the dual access speeds.

You may even need to limit the transfer rate of the hard drive to the maximum rate supported by the CD drive.
Some CD drive manufactures warn against using 80 lead Ultra ATA cables with CD drives. So switching back to a standard 40 wire IDE cable may help things also.
Then, some hard drives require special jumper settings (or utility software) to drop back to UDMA 33 or slower data modes.

Chas

by fraiha

I uninstalled my new slave drive. I set the jumpers back and so on. Everything was almost back to normal except for the CD-Rom drive does the same exact thing, except this time under D: instead of F:. It is apparent that i'm obviously missing a crucial file. Now where to i go on from here? I tried www.motherboards.org, i got some information but couldn't find the corrent, or did not find the needed file. Is there any possible way to find what files are needed, and are missing?

by thechas

Which version of Windows are you running?

98 and Me have tool called system file checker.
You run sfc from the run box on the start menu.

Let it scan for all files.
I would replace every file it determines to be missing or corrupt.
You are apt to have some files that are newer do to Windows updates.

If that does not correct the problem, I would remove all 3 IDE controllers in device manager
Primary
Secondary
Master / root
Reboot, and cancel out when Windows attempt to install the drivers.
Run the Intel INF utility.

I have 2 other ideas.
1. Check the drive.
a. Boot from a startup disk, and see if you can access the drive. This will allow you to eliminate all the hardware in the loop.
Drive, cables, jumper settings, BIOS settings, the controller.
b. Boot with the IDE cable disconnected from the CD drive, and see if you can play an audio CD using the front panel buttons and the headphone jack.

2. Take a close look at your IDE cable. I have seen some drives come with cable select style cables. You can tell them by a small hole in the cable near one of the drive connectors.
If you have a cable select cable, you need to set both drives to cable select. Then, the decision as to which is master, and which is slave is made by what drive is connected where on the cable.

Chas

by fraiha

Windows ME does not provide SFC, it does however provide SFP, where as it disallows the deletion/replacement of vital files. Though i did try those steps, to no avail. I do appreciate all your help, i've learned alot.

by opatzg9

Just one more from me as well, pull th eribbon off the cdrom drive and look at the 40 pin connection, are any bent? straighten, gently!!! and start again. Otherwise it is possible the cdrom is toast, do you have a spare you can try?

by fraiha

Well, try after try i took my old PC and removed the hard drive from the cartridge and sure enough it worked. Thank you very much!

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