Help makeing my DVD ROM play..

[just_bob]

Well, I've had this dvd-rom for several months now, and I finnaly really need it to work, as before it just sat in my computer since i salvaged it from a friends old computer. It's a RAITE RAITE RDR-108H (from what my computer says). I have it in my computer, windows can't find any driver updates for it, but windows reads it as being a dvd-rom drive. the thing doesnt'read ANY disk, at all, instead it asks me to insert a disk.

Any ideas on why this might happen? I took it from an old Windows ME compter.

[jimmalenko]

Any chance you may have put the data cable in the wrong way ?

IIRC the red line on the data cable should be facing the power socket.

[just_bob]

Hmmm. I have the power cord, and the IDE cords connected correctly in there. I have no idea where any other cords go (and what the other cords would look like, but I did save all the cords from the other computer, so I still have the ones I need). If you could please show me some pictures of what they look like and where they go (I'm not to savvy on most of the stuff inside a computer), I'd very much appreciate it. (:

[budz]

buy a new ide cable. make sure the jumper setting on the dvdrom is set correctly. do a google search for a picture of a ide cable and jumper settings on a dvd drive/dvdrom.

[redwudz]

A couple of photos showing the cables and the jumpers:



Sometimes the jumper diagram is on the drive, or you may have to go the the manufacture's site to find it.
The cables have a raised piece, usually to the top of the connector that matches a notch in the drive connector socket. The red stripe on the cable is usually on the side towards the power connector. The drive at the end of the cable is generally set to master and the one in the middle of the cable is set to slave. Or all your drives may be cable select and you would set them that way.

DVD ROMs don't need drivers, the drivers are in the OS.

[Joe The Dude]

Also, if you do not have any other drives that are connected to the SAME IDE CABLE as the DVD ROM Drive, the put the Jumper either in the "Master" Position or the "Cable Select" Position.

One of the Jumper Positions listed above will probably work bettter than the other one, it depends on the Drive.

As mentioned before, try a different IDE Cable.
Try one that is ATA/66 or ATA/100 or ATA/133.

Try an IDE Cable that has:
Only One Blue-Colored IDE Plug at one end,
a black one in the middle,
and a black one at the other end.

Plug the Blue end into the motherboard.
Do not attach anything to the center IDE Plug.
Plug the Black End into the DVD ROM Drive.
Set the DVD ROM Drive's Jumper to the MASTER Position.

If it STILL doesn't work, even after trying a new IDE Cable, you most likely have a bad drive.

[just_bob]

ok. I checked the jumpers, and my cd-rw was set to cable select, and the dvd drive was set to slave, so i set my rw to master. the cd-rw still works like normal, and now the dvd-rom just tells me i need to insert the disk sooner after putting one in, and it ejects and stops flashing sooner after i close it. I don't have any other IDE type cords. The IDE and power cords have always been placed in correctly, I'm just not sure why it doesn't read anything.

Think is could be a dirty lens? thinking about it, the reason why they gave me the computer was because it could fill a decently big bedroom of smoke before you could log in, so could that have affected it? The HDD and the floppy drives from it work fine.

[guns1inger]

The HDD is sealed, so it would have a better chance of survival. If this was sitting in a smoke machine, it is probably toast. For the sake of a few buck (hell, a new DVD burner is less than US$30) it hardly seems worth the effort you have expended thus far.

[just_bob]

well then, have any reccomendations for a good dvd-rw (good as in cheap, but will get the job done and won't break anytime soon) that's available at bestbuy?? I have some giftcards i need to use.

[Joe The Dude]

I did some web searching and this one gets some good reviews:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7727258&type=product&productCategoryId=c...=1140392418231

[budz]

ok. I checked the jumpers, and my cd-rw was set to cable select, and the dvd drive was set to slave, so i set my rw to master. the cd-rw still works like normal, and now the dvd-rom just tells me i need to insert the disk sooner after putting one in, and it ejects and stops flashing sooner after i close it. I don't have any other IDE type cords. The IDE and power cords have always been placed in correctly, I'm just not sure why it doesn't read anything.

Think is could be a dirty lens? thinking about it, the reason why they gave me the computer was because it could fill a decently big bedroom of smoke before you could log in, so could that have affected it? The HDD and the floppy drives from it work fine.

If I'm not mistaken the ide cable you used could be the problem. When using the CABLE SELECT mode the ide cable is specially made for it. You'll need to buy a regular ide cable. I'd suggest you buy a new ide cable and see if that works first before you plunge into buying a new dvd burner. Best Buy sells ide cables or go to your nearest Compusa to buy one. If after buying the new ide cable and the problem still exists then buy a new dvd burner. The PIONEER 710 drive at Best Buy is good drive. It's a retail version of the PIONEER 111D.