CD/RW and floppy drives will not read or write

[Senex]

Grateful for any help and apologies if this newbie has not found a relevant existing thread, despite having hunted for one!

Symptoms

CD drive worked fine when installing broadband some months ago. Unaware of likely software interference subsequently. Only major instal has been Norton. I have XP SP2, a Dan machine with a Maxtor HD,a CD/RW, a floppy and an Iomega Zip drive.

Current position is that CD/RW will not read or write media.
Floppy ditto. Any floppy inserted attracts message that disc not formatted. Any attempt to format a floppy attracts message that disc cannot be formatted.

Device Manager tells me all drives are working. It also gives me the following info
Maxtor 4DO40H2 Primary Master at 0(0)
No Primary Slave
Phillips CD/RW 2412A is seconday master but address is also shown as 0(0).
Iomega Zip250 is Seconday slave with address 1(1)

The Maxtor and the CD/RW are at the ends of their relevant cables and the Iomega Zip drive connects to the connector half way along the secondary cable.

The floppy is on its own cable.

Everything has worked fine for several years, cabling and jumpers have not been touched.

I have tried uninstalling the CD/RW and reinstalling the driver. I have disconnected the CD/RW and the Iomega from the cable and power leads. Subsequent booting after reconnection finds the drives, they appear to spin up when accessed but will not read, the location address 'clash' remains and goodness knows why floppy will not behave!

Instinct told me - as a novice - that this was a software configuration problem but I am now not so sure!

A couple of other possibly relevant factors. Some time ago I lost all my restore points - I think it was firewall problems that played havoc with my startup utilities and a very helpful Microsoft guy sorted me out. When investigating the present problem, I tried to use a restore point. The calendar with dates was there and the restore process appeared to take place but at the apparent end of the process I received the message that restoration could not take place.

Are there other checks I can attempt before 'unknitting' the plethora of cables and taking the PC to hospital?

Thanks in anticipation! (My glass is always half full rather than half empty!!)

[TT4Titans]

Well one thing you could try is updating the Bios.

The problem isn't software it is hardware which from what you have explained the motherboard is on it's last legs.

[RueB2sDe]

I don't know if I agree with TT4Titans reply. The connections sound fine, as well as the motherboard reconizing that the drives are attached since you stated they are found in the device manager.

Usually the I/O can gett mixed up when adding a device.

What I would suggest is to boot into Safe mode.
Tap F8 rapidly when you start your machine.
Choose Safe mode with out networking.
Go to your Device manager and remove the following (Also be sure to remove any duplicates and errors)
Click on the plus sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers to remove the
IDE ATA Controller and restart your system.
Do not click on anything when it states found new hardware. Once this message disappears and your on the desktop with no activity. Restart your system again and check to see if you can Burn.

If not you may need to upgrade your driver for the CD/RW. If the Omega and the FDD is not found you know that the Motherboard is not reconizing the drives any longer and BIOS should be check to see if they have been disabled.

Let me know if I can help you any futher.
RueB

[Senex]

Well one thing you could try is updating the Bios.

The problem isn't software it is hardware which from what you have explained the motherboard is on it's last legs.

I thought of this - even went so far as to buy and download the latest version. It was at this stage I discovered that the floppy was not working, because, of course, you need to create a bootable floppy to effect the upgrade - or so I was advised. Boom Boom!

[RueB2sDe]

I would first try to remove the IDE PCI bus master controller all FDD drivers and restart to see if the OS finds them again.

RueB 2s De

[TT4Titans]

Holy Moly wish you would have posted here before buying the BIOS update one of us could have found it for you free.

Try what RueB2sDe says do it in safe mode as he says.Could be a corrupt controller.Also don't buy any drivers or updates if you need them post.

[Senex]

Thanks for spending time trying to workout the problem. Itis appreciated. I post twix't comments as relevant.

I don't know if I agree with TT4Titans reply. The connections sound fine, as well as the motherboard reconizing that the drives are attached since you stated they are found in the device manager.

I did wonder if the m/b battery might be going, given that the PC is now 5 years old but I suspect that other CMOS settings might have gone also?

Usually the I/O can gett mixed up when adding a device.

I suspect power cuts, of which we have had 2 or 3 this Spring, might be party to the problem? I suppose you require a crystal ball to identify any corrupt file(s)?

What I would suggest is to boot into Safe mode.
Tap F8 rapidly when you start your machine.
Choose Safe mode with out networking.
Go to your Device manager and remove the following (Also be sure to remove any duplicates and errors)

I interpreted 'remove' to mean 'uninstal' Did not find any duplicates or errors.

Click on the plus sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers to remove the
IDE ATA Controller

When I clicked on the + the list opened up to include an entry for an 'IDE Master Controller'
and restart your system.

When I executed the uninstal instruction, the application offered to restrart the machine, so I went with that. After rebooting, I went back to Device Manager and the IDE Master Controller entry has changed to "Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 244B". Could this mean I have an IDE Controller driver that is corrupted and therefore has not been reloaded?

Do not click on anything when it states found new hardware. Once this message disappears and your on the desktop with no activity. Restart your system again and check to see if you can Burn.

The original fault characteristics remain. Is there a way of correcting the incorrect CD/RW location address from '0(0)' to what, I assume, it should be '1(0)'? I would still have the floppy problem of course!

If not you may need to upgrade your driver for the CD/RW.

The PC tells me I have the latest software. Some time ago I 'reflashed' the CD/RW chip with the latest software from Philips. Could that be part of the problem? Would it be worth going through that exercise again?

If the Omega and the FDD is not found you know that the Motherboard is not reconizing the drives any longer and BIOS should be check to see if they have been disabled.

They are still being recognised. Everything is still showing, including the faulty address for the CD/RW.

Let me know if I can help you any futher.

You can! You can!

RueB

[TT4Titans]

Go to device manager and in the IDE ATAPI controllers right click on all the controllers and go to properties then advanced make sure they are set to DMA.

[Senex]

Go to device manager and in the IDE ATAPI controllers right click on all the controllers and go to properties then advanced make sure they are set to DMA.

It's late but the late night movie was good!

The information I have is:
Primary IDE channel
In Properties, under the General Tab, at the bottom of the window there is a 'device usage' info window which is greyed out and blank.
Primary Master =40G HDD - HDD is working fine
Device Type=Auto Detection is shaded out
Transfer Mode=DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode=Multi Word DMA Mode 2
Device manager shows location as 0(0)

Primary Slave=none (no device attached-correct)
Device Type=Auto Detection
Transfer Mode=DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode=not applicable

Secondary IDE channel
In Properties, under the General Tab, at the bottom of the window there is a 'device usage' info window showing 'Use this device(enable)
Secondary Master =CDRW
Device Type=Auto Detection is shaded out
Transfer Mode=DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode=Multi Word DMA Mode 2
Device manager shows location as 0(0)

Secondary Slave =Iomega Zip Drive - device is working fine
Device Type=Auto Detection is shaded out
Transfer Mode=PIO only
Current Transfer Mode=PIO Mode
Device manager shows location as 1(1)

[Senex]

Having now bought and set up a new machine for me, this machine with faults has been passed to my wife to learn on.

Since last posting I have taken out the cables to the CDRW and to the floppy. Wiggled these about a bit, pushed them in and out a bit and replaced the CDRW with a friend's surplus one in working order.

The floppy still does not work. The CDRW will work but only if the CD is in the drive before you boot up the machine.

With the move of the PC I have come across the unopened XP Home Product Recovery CD Rom.

Might the problem be a corrupted file that use of the recovery disc might resolve? (If so, does this CD open without automatically doing any damage to the machine?) I ask this respectfully, in the knowledge that some earlier advice was that the problem is hardware not software.

Otherwise my next proposal, based on gratefully received advice will be to invest in a new cable for the CDRW link and if that works, ditto for the floppy.

Since one piece of advice was that the motherboard was in the evening of its life, plan B will be to ditch the machine for a new one.

Since I would like to give my wife access to the net via the wire free router connected to my new machine, perhaps Plan B would be the wisest course anyway?

By the way, isn't the revamped look of the site excellent? Oops, sorry, I digress!

[RueB2sDe]

Having now bought and set up a new machine for me, this machine with faults has been passed to my wife to learn on.
Congrats on your new computer. I hope you do not have any trouble for a while with it.

Since last posting I have taken out the cables to the CDRW and to the floppy. Wiggled these about a bit, pushed them in and out a bit and replaced the CDRW with a friend's surplus one in working order.

The floppy still does not work. The CDRW will work but only if the CD is in the drive before you boot up the machine.What is your FDD not doing? Is it being reconized in Device manager? When you uninstall it will it auto detect when the system starts up? If it doesn't. Is it in the boot files in BIOS and Enabled?

With the move of the PC I have come across the unopened XP Home Product Recovery CD Rom.

Might the problem be a corrupted file that use of the recovery disc might resolve? (If so, does this CD open without automatically doing any damage to the machine?) I ask this respectfully, in the knowledge that some earlier advice was that the problem is hardware not software. Any error messages that you are getting when Reading or Writing the CD/RW or FDD? I think before you try any steps futher send us the error messages or what it is doing now that we have done some troubleshooting steps.

Otherwise my next proposal, based on gratefully received advice will be to invest in a new cable for the CDRW link and if that works, ditto for the floppy. I have seen in the past that a new cable will solve the problem.

Since one piece of advice was that the motherboard was in the evening of its life, plan B will be to ditch the machine for a new one.

Since I would like to give my wife access to the net via the wire free router connected to my new machine, perhaps Plan B would be the wisest course anyway?

By the way, isn't the revamped look of the site excellent? Oops, sorry, I digress!

So to reiterate: Send the error messages you are getting with both devices.
Is there a FDD listed in Device manager? When you go into Safe mode does it show duplicate FDD in the Device manager? This is the same for your DVD/CDRW devices.
If they are not listed in Device manager at all. Are they listed in BIOS? Are they part of your Boot Sequence? Are they enabled in BIOS? If they are not listed in BIOS it is a connection or hardware issue. If they are listed make sure they are part of the boot sequence and are enabled. Hope that helps you.

Rue B 2s De.