{RESOLVED}CD-ROM problem please help

[Xenos]

I recently bought a new video card to upgrade my old one to gaming standards. Well, I ran into a tough problem. After I unistalled the drivers for the old card, I shut off the computer. Then I put in the new vid card, and the problem is that the CD-ROM drive(which on this computer is D) doesnt show up, only C, my hard drive. Note, I use a DVD ROM drive as a CD rom drive(so when I am referring to the CD ROM i am talking about a DVD ROM DRIVE) This cdrom a.k.a dvd rom drive has worked fine before in the past and is able to install software and play games etc.. But when I put in the installation disk for the video card, I dont even get the option to check the CD ROM box. It's like the CD ROM isnt there. Now I get lights on the CD ROM and it opens and closes so there is continutity. When I double click on my computer i only see the C drive, no D drive(which is my cd rom drive) doesnt even show up. Prior to the vid card installation, this ROM worked. Can vid cards kill the cd rom drive letters? Does anyone know how I can fix this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[brianF]

Only thing would be if you dislodged a cable while putting the video card in. Otherwise they have nothing in common.

Might as well try the old standard. Go to device manager, navigate to the cdrom tab, select the dvd drive, hit remove, restart windows and let windows reinstall the drive.

 

[Xenos]

Cd ROM doesnt show up at all in Device manager.What's that mean? Could that mean a cable is messed up or not plugged in right?

 

[brianF]

I would open it back up, reseat the cables going to the cd unit and the motherboard. Pay attention that the red stripe is going to pin1 on the rom and the motherboard. Both units will be marked with pin1

If that doesn't work try another cable, they do go bad

 

[Xenos]

Will try your suggestion. Do you think its possible that its a hard ware conflict? with the vid card and the CD ROM? the vid card a is 3d prophet hercules 32 mb AGP card.

 

[brianF]

No it's not a conflict, I ran a 3d prophet and a creative dvd for years without a problem.
The video card has it's own irq, the dvd is using the ide controllers irq's, not an issue.

Running a GTS2 now with a dvd, no problem.

 

[Xenos]

Did what you said still the same problem. There is cable from the DVD ROM drive that goes into the mobo. That is securely plugged in. there is a cord that goes from the power supply to the DVD ROM. lastly, there is a cord that goes from the DVD ROM drive to the HARD drive. I checked all 3 of these connections and they are secure. The agp slot is away from all of this so it couldnt have upset it. This DVD ROM drive was working fine before i put in this vid card so i am frustrated and don't understand. Any more suggestions?

 

[brianF]

wierd, go to start/settings/control panel/system/device manager/
Any yellow or red marks indicating errors?

One last strange though, you said you didn't get to install the drivers for the vid card. by chance is your machine booting up in safe mode. cdrom and like drives won't show up when you boot in safe mode.

What cables are the drives connected to

Your hard drive would be the primary master, anything on the same cable with it.

What's connected to the secondary cable, anything????

 

[Xenos]

I am not sure how to tell what is connected to the secondary cable etc..still kinda new at the hardware aspect of computers but i did notice this...i booted in safe mode...saw CD ROM in device manager. I saw like 7 cd roms listed..i removed them all but the one the computer has in it the DVD ROM one..restarted computer...no CD ROM in in device manager..same problem...restarted in safe mode again......saw the DVD ROM listed under CD ROM in device manager.....removed it thinking it would auto detect after I rebooted...nope same problem Just dont understand why this all happened when I was trying to install a new vid card. Without the CD_ROM drive, i cant install software, or play games...etc. Don't have a clue why its suddenly gone from device manager...all i know that the cables cant be bad if it the CD ROM did show up in safe mode once..just have no clue why the computer is being all flighty about all of this. I really appreciate your patience with my troublesome computer ordeal. Any more suggestions?

 

[Xenos]

What about making a boot disk for windows 98 and using that to enable cd rom support? I think this means it will tell me if i get the CD ROM to work in DOS..right?

 

[brianF]

Yes you can do that. Just boot it up witn a win98 startup disk, choose with cdrom support.

Once done booting go to the drive, it will be one letter higher than normal, so if it is normally D, it will now be E. Insert a disk, type dir, see if you get a directory

When you boot your machine, does the machine recognize the drive, do you see it on the screen, after it recognizes your harddrive, should say initializing device

 

[Xenos]

Found out the problem...bent pins of the cd rom connector on the back..bent them back and tried again..worked just fine...hardware issue after all...thanks for all the help though!