intermittant connection to cd drive

neogeo0823neogeo0823 Deep within the bowels of a sperm whale
edited June 2007 in Hardware
ok, so i thought this was a malware problem, but apparently its not. for details on that adventure, for those who might wish to know, please visit this thread: http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56219

now, onto the problem. i have a laptop that keeps "losing sight" of the cd drive. throughout the day it will suddenly lose its connection to it and regain this connection at random. its become such a problem that i cant even keep it around long enough to install anything from a cd anymore.

what do you guys think i should do? i have the tools to open it up(assuming theres no "special" toolhead needed) and im also good with a soldering iron if i need to solder a loose connection back onto the board.

im open to all opinions, suggestions, and directions. if it matters, i have a compaq presario R3000 series laptop.

Comments

  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited June 2007
    I would suggest you try to rule out the hardware vs software issues by running a live on cd version of linux on it, there are several flavors but Ubuntu is becoming the group leader. Download it burn the live cd on a cd and then boot up with it in your drive. If it works, and continues to work then it's probably not hardware related.
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited June 2007
    Couple of questions...have you attempted to try another slim drive within the laptop drive bay to see if it has the same problem? What about cleaning the contacts of the removable drive or pulling it out and pushing back in securely? Does BIOS ever have a problems detecting the drive on bootup? Are you always able to force it to boot from CD/DVD on boot successfully?

    From the software perspective, you could upgrade the storage drivers or even reformat the system adn satrt from scratch, but only after you have ruled out the hardware possibility.
  • neogeo0823neogeo0823 Deep within the bowels of a sperm whale
    edited June 2007
    im fairly certain that the drive isnt removable, as it came with the laptop. though, im not sure because, sadly, my mom was the one who purchased it(it was a graduation gift a few years ago). ive never seen anything that would jump out and say "hey! this thing can come out easily!"

    as for kryyst's suggestion, why the linux program? im not horribly savvy on operating systems, but its been my experience that windows works pretty well, and ive never really felt the need to switch to another one.

    ok, as an experiment, i just put my cd for microsoft office into the drive. this would autoplay the installation program, as it does on any other computer, but when i put it into the drive, i hear it spin up, then spin down after a few seconds. if i go to "my computer", i see the C drive, but not the D, or cd, drive. sometimes, however, it will autoplay and i will be able to see it in the window. it just randomly happens.

    im fairly certain that its not a virus thing, because ive run, at last count, 8 different programs, both through here and other sources, mostly tech head friends, and everythings turned up nothing.
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited June 2007
    neogeo0823 wrote:
    im fairly certain that the drive isnt removable, as it came with the laptop. though, im not sure because, sadly, my mom was the one who purchased it(it was a graduation gift a few years ago). ive never seen anything that would jump out and say "hey! this thing can come out easily!"

    I beg to differ...
    http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00057185.pdf

    BTW, your response needs to be re-evaluated...im fairly certain that the drive isnt removable, ....though, im not sure
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited June 2007
    neogeo0823 wrote:
    as for kryyst's suggestion, why the linux program? im not horribly savvy on operating systems, but its been my experience that windows works pretty well, and ive never really felt the need to switch to another one.

    The linux program is a live version. What that means is that the entire thing runs off the cd. Nothing is installed on your computer and your hard drive isn't accessed. The reason for testing with a live cd verison of an OS is that it's great for testing hardware. 1st it requires more resources (cpu/ram etc...) and it doesn't leave anything behind so you can test various things outside of your existing drivers that windows used.

    So, in your case if you can boot up to the live cd and run it continuously that means that your hardware is working, in which case it's some software issue in windows that is causing your Optical Drive to vanish. It's all about trouble shooting the problem.
  • neogeo0823neogeo0823 Deep within the bowels of a sperm whale
    edited June 2007
    @ zero: ah, well then i stand corrected.

    @ kryyst: the problem with that is that i can only burn things when the cd drive is there. its become so random and unpredictable, that it could stop dissapear and disconnect halfway through burning something to disk, for example, which was what prompted to begin trying to find an answer to this problem.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited June 2007
    Fair enough but don't you have access to another computer?
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