Help no power...

[VeeGee]

i have just purchased a hi-val 4 speed dvd burner and added it to my computer as a slave to my samsung master dvd drive
i am having problems...

i install the burner and it boots up fine with power and xp recognizing the drive. the problem is when i reboot the system
after a reboot the burner does not power up at all and therefore xp does not recognize it.
then i disconnected the burner and the computer boots up fine
so i connected the burner again and now it wont power up and the computer will not even boot - it hangs after the video info and before the bios runs
so i disconnected the burner and all was well
i left the computer going with out the burner for a couple days and decided to try again
i installed the burner and it powers up and xp loads it, but when i reboot the whole problem starts over again...

please help - i can not take this burner back because i cut the box for rebates - the warranty sticker is on the bottom and side of the burner and part got wore away when i slid it on the metal ledge of the 5 1/4 bay... please advise.
thanks in advance

[richdvd]

Have you tried using a different Molex plug (power)?

[andyp1]

Have you tried using it as a master and the samsung as a slave.

Make sure the jumper is in the right position on the drive.

[VeeGee]

i have tried both changing the power and slave/masters...

neither seem to help - if its in "non boot" mode it doesent matter how the plugs and jumppers are set

i have had it boot as both slave and master but the reboot never works

do you think its the regular dvd burner... but the dvdr wont boot after the reboot by its self?

[richdvd]

if you can, i would suggest testing the drive in another PC.
this will definately tell you if it's the drive or not

[VeeGee]

i do not have another pc at this moment...
i have searched the net to see if anyone else has had this problem but cant... has anyone ever heard of this before?

[Stas]

Can you describe you system? What kind of MB, CPU, Power Supply, another devices you have. There is a possibility of unsufficient power.

[VeeGee]

400 wat power suply
p4 2.4
nvida gforce 256 vid card
512 ram
2 hard drives
1 floppy
2 cooling fans
1 processor fan
dragoon p4 motherboard

[hhhhbk]

try just having the dvd burner on the ribbon as the master
disconnect the other samsung drive altogether drive

failing that it could (but i doubt it) be that too much power is being drawn try undoing the case fans

another possibility is that there is a bad connection and two wires are crossing or the new drives power cable hasnt been wired up properly

[Stas]

OK. Your system is good enough. That means you have any h/w problem. The easiest way to find the problem is to try several changes to eliminate some problems.

1. Check you Power Supply - is it really 400W, check at service voltages etc.
2. Try to change your IDE cables with any new purchased
3. Disable other drives one by one and look at the result

It will be very bad if you have some problems with MB, because there is no simple way to diagnose it.

Don't skip 2. because I had several times such problems - simple and stupid! I spend 3 hours to find that my IDE cable fails!!!

[DTSL06]

shot in the dark...have u check to see what is set in ur BIOS as to the boot sequence for ur drives.... I had mine set as CD/DVD rom 1st bootable when I was re-installing XP and when I left a blank disk in the drive, windows wouldnt boot. Just a guess.

[VeeGee]

i changed ribbon, tried the drive by itself, and the boot in the bios
i found that my motherboard is a soyo dragon 400 ultra platinum

i am at a loss, i can not get the drive to power up after the pc originally finds it

i did notice that when both drives are plugged in that the bios hangs or locks up when its detecting ide drives... if that means anything

again thanks to all for helping, i hope we can figure this out

i am going to search around the soyo website....

[richdvd]

i would say take you drive back and exchange it for another one

[VeeGee]

i would say take you drive back and exchange it for another one

i can not take this burner back because i cut the box for rebates - the warranty sticker is on the bottom and side of the burner and part got wore away when i slid it on the metal ledge of the 5 1/4 bay... this is why i am so stressed

[richdvd]

how long ago did you buy it?

[VeeGee]

how long ago did you buy it?

i bought it off ebay about 2 weeks ago... i emailed the seller and have not got a response.

[Stas]

And you don't have any friend near you to check if your drive works on his computer?

[Kingnog]

i have just purchased a hi-val 4 speed dvd burner

That's your problem right there

Try whatever you can to get a refund/replacement. OR: Buy a new drive thats exactly the same, put your old broken one in, and return it

P.S. I'm just kidding....

[fluffster]

If it's a Hi-Val drive, it is most likely a rebadged OEM drive made by a different company like BTC or Lite-on.

You need to find out who the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) is and then determine if you are current on the firmware level. That would be my starting point; since you are able to boot-up and recognize the drive at least once, you should be able to determine the firmware level and reflash the drive if it needs it.

Back-level firmware is often the reason for erratic or inconsistent behavior.

[dxj40c]

Sympoms indicate it may be an electrical contact problem. On initial boot (cool) it powers up, on reboot (warm) it doesn't power up. The warming of the circuit board inside the burner may be expanding and breaking contac at a 'bad' solder connection. Make friends with someone who knows how to use a VOM meter and see if you can track where the voltage ends. Do this only after you have exhausted all hope of returning or replacing the drive, breaking that little seal usually voids all warranties; after that you have nothing to lose. If you find a bad solder joint usually just remelting it will complete the circuit.