Having a few issus with my CD-ROM drives. Ideas?

Published on March 27, 2005 By kona0197 In PC Hardware

Anyone ever had a DVD-ROM refuse to recognize or play an DVD? My DVD-ROM is old and probably the lens is dirty but it will recognize any other data or CD audio disk but not an DVD movie disc - and this is on a fresh install of XP with every update except SP2 and I am using cyberlink PowerDVD 6... and the movie is brand new.

Also something is wrong with my CDRW drive as well - it seems it dosen't like to write to CDs correctly. Out of 20 I got 6 to write good. HMM. I'm using Nero 5.5 and writeing at 4x.

I'm using a rounded IDE cable. My motherboard is a Shuttle mobo using the Nvidia Nforce2 chipset. Ecvery driver is up to date. I am using the Nvidia IDE driver instead of the default MS IDE driver. Could that cause problems?

The cable is setup that the DVD-ROM is master, CDRW drive is slave.

Comments (Page 1)

Lantec

on Mar 27, 2005

Had a similiar problem with one of the HPs at the office. It seems there are format changes that have occured that rendered it useless. It's not only a read problem but also the chamge to the blank disk formats. You may be able to "flash" you drive with an updated bios that will solve the problem. (I tried this but it didn't help with DVDs only CDs) For me it was easier to buy a External for that particular system.

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

I am using the Nvidia IDE driver instead of the default MS IDE driver. Could that cause problems?

Yup......

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

Yrag - I suspected as much. Could you enlighten me to the problems you have seen surrounding the use of the Nvidia driver as opposed to the MS driver?

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

Sure...the problems are exactly what you described. Load the MS drivers, re-boot and...voila!!

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

I'll try that.

We'll see...

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

OK here is the update.

So I went into "device manager" and clicked rollback and rollbacked the IDE drivers to the MS drivers. I then rebooted. I inserted my movie and still the drive will NOT recognize it. I tried different movies. No go. So then I opened up PowerDVD and then inserted the movie. Still no go. What gives?

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

Device Manager/IDE Controllers/Secondary Channel/Advanced Settings...are both listed as DMA enabled?

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

Device Manager/IDE Controllers/Secondary Channel/Advanced Settings...are both listed as DMA enabled?

The DVD-ROM is listed as "Multi-word DMA Mode 2" with "DMA if available" selected above that.

The CDRW drive is listed as "Ultra DMA Mode 2" with "DMA if available" selected above that.

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

Then my guess is that it's 'Nero' ...run the Nero Info Tool and see what it says your Rom's are capable of..

You can also run a Nero speed test on them ...see if it gives you an error.

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

Since I reinstalled XP recently I need to go reinstall Nero right quick...

I'm still puzzled by the DVD-ROMs ability to not play DVDs...

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

Wait a minute...those drives are backwards...the Master Drive must be the UDMA...!!!

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

You sure bout that? I'm not sure I can make that cable strech like that...

Or is it a simple matter of changing the pins on the back of the drives?

They can still both be tied into the some IDE cable right?

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

Yeah, but if you didn't make any changes with them before this then don't bother. Un-plug the CDRW and run with the DVD as a single. Re-boot and see what it assigns to it and try a DVD in it. Try doing the same to the CDRW and see what it gets as a single (you'll have to pull the jumper on that one, since it's set as a slave). When you re-boot, check in the bios that UDMA is enabled for the drives, (No UDMA, No DVD)

kona0197

on Mar 27, 2005

Yrag - I just spent the last 5 minutes in BIOS. The only options for UDMA are enabled or disabled. They all are enabled. Still the DVD-ROM is set to "Multi-word DMA Mode 2" in device manger. I'm wondering if the DVD-ROM is set to Master or CS. Would that make a difference? Would the IDE cable I'm using (rounded) make a difference? It's 80 pin. Strange thing is it used to play DVDs last year...

I'll tear the PC apart here soon. I need to replace a 80mm fan anyhow.

yrag

on Mar 27, 2005

It could still be the drivers, if you're convinced it's not the hardware (you cannot have a faster drive set as a slave to a slower drive even if it's a driver/software issue..in your case UDMA versus DMA, not disk RPMS )...sometimes, when you install the NVidia system drivers it smacks the IDE rails, even if you back peddle. The only way to remedy it is to un-install the drivers using 'Add and Remove'. Remove the Display drivers at the same time because they need to be loaded after the System drivers. After you un-install the drivers and re-boot, cancel any 'Hardware Found' prompts. Download and install Driver Cleaner http://www.drivercleaner.net/dc.htm . Run it and have it clean all your NVidia files out. Now install the NVidia system drivers (exclude the IDE drivers) and reboot and install the Display drivers.

The driver sets you install should be:
System: 5.10
Display: 71.84

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