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by rpalhof

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I have a pair of old laptops I'm reviving - Compaq Armada SB 5233DMT with Windows 98SE. One is working fine and the other does not see the CD-ROM drive. Compaq's BIOS on the hard drive is a peculiar design which I thought was part of the problem so I mirrored the good drive to the questionable drive to make all things equal. I've swapped the CD-ROM drives - they both work fine in the "good" laptop and they spin up in the "problem" laptop but the drive is not visible anywhere - Explorer does not show a drive letter and Device Manager does not list a CD-ROM device. Can anyone solve this riddle for me? I don't want to believe that there is a failed chip on the motherboard. Any suggestions? Any good troubleshooting utilities? Thanks Roy

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by oh smeg

If the Optical Drives both work in a known good computer but both fail to work in the other one all you can look at is what is different. If both the HDD and Optical Drive work in both units you have to look at what is different and the main unit is the M'Board.

Really there is very little else that it could be isn't there?

But if you look at it the correct way you have a lot of spare parts for the one NB that works so in case it gets damaged you can replace the Monitor, Optical & HDD's and just about everything else except the M'Board. You even have a complete spare case just in case the original case gets broken or the plastic gives up the ghost and splits.

But as you seem to want both working you'll need to dismantle the one not working and look at the M'Board for any obvious damage to see if it's possible to repair. You'll need to pay special attention to the Optical Drive Connector and any batteries that are in the NB and look for leaks which may have damaged the M'Board. If you find any you'll need to look at how many tracks have been damaged and just how close together they are to see if it's possible to repair them and if there are any IC's involved that should make it impossible to repair.

I don't suppose that you've tried a 98 Boot Floppy and see if that loads the CD ROM Drivers and allows the CD to work have you?

As for decent Diagnostic Utilities the best one is the Ultimate Boot CD which as the name suggests is a CD which in this case because the CD Drive isn't working isn't any use.

Col

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