CD Drive woes

[scarritr]

Quickly, I try to accumulate, refurbish, reoutfit older computers and give them to retirees. An ancillary purpose is to further my understanding ... I see a fair number of machines.

A current problem (and I've seen it fairly often) is that the CD drive will seemingly run fine one day but then the next day it whirs and whines like it's trying to build up speed, kinda stopping and starting as well. While fairly old, the drive is to my knowledge OK and has currently worked in other machines. Last evening it whirred, whined, stopped, started, coughed, snorted, etc for the longest time ... and then gave me that blue screen that the CD may need cleaning ... a sign to me that the drive is not reading it (the CD looks to be as clean and shiney as can be and it works easily in other machines). I guess an alternative could be an inadequate power supply ... not enough juice to get it spinning to full speed ??

Any ideas as to alternatives or ways to verify, validate, pin down, test, etc. I'll take any and all suggestions ... with a great deal of gratitude.

Thanks.

 

[RSM123]

If you are sure all the cables are firmly in place then possibly it is a PSU related problem. As you state the Drive functions in other pcs - can you possibly try the psu in another machine ?

Could you also post some specs on the pc in question so someone can give you an idea what may be wrong ....

 

[scarritr]

Thanks... Last evening w/o doing any checking or anything else, it read CDs all right, tho, it seemed, a bit grudgingly and noisely (could be my imagination...). I'll see about rechecking cables & connections. Do the symptoms I describe suggest a failing power supply ... I've just got it in my head that, when I'm having the problems, the "sound" is like inadequate or fluctuatingly inadequate power ???

The machine is a shop-built 400 MHz amd k6, 128 MB ram, 200W, asus p5a ...

Thanks again ...

 

[n2gun]

It may be a problem with an inadequate power supply. 200w is a bare (really bare) minimum. I suggest getting a 300 w. I believe you would have less problems all around.