Why can’t I get new system to recognize optical drives?

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retiredguy
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Why can’t I get new system to recognize optical drives?

Post by retiredguy » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:43 pm

Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong to cause my new system to not recognize IDE CD or DVD drives? Excluding case & cooling, the system consists of:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5E
Memory: Corsair PC2-6400 2x1024 MB
Graphics card: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
Hard drive: WD 3200AAKS (SATA)

I created a bootable CD with the WD “Data Lifeguard Toolsâ€

bonestonne
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Post by bonestonne » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:59 pm

check in BIOS to make sure that its set to boot ATAPI or IDE rather than SATA, it would be in the boot devices section. if that doesn't work or help, then i'm clueless, but i'm thinking that's what the problem would be.

NeilBlanchard
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Post by NeilBlanchard » Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:52 pm

Hello,

Would it help to have the two optical drives as first and second boot devices?

kittle
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Post by kittle » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:28 pm

I seem to remember seeing this before...

put the CD in a working computer, and look for an 'autoexec.bat' and/or 'config.sys' file and paste their contents in this thread.

I suspect part or all of the problem is the OS thats installed on the bootable CD doesnt recognize your sata drive (or mabye all sata drives in general). Which (I think) is causing the boot sequence not to find drive letters in the order it expects, and then failing.

retiredguy
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Post by retiredguy » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:06 pm

I am still interested in solving this puzzle (just because “inquiring minds want to knowâ€

kittle
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Post by kittle » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:49 am

ok I actually follow whats supposed to be happening in those files..

However - im at a loss as to where the whole mess starts - which i think is the root of the problem. Somewhere in one of your folders is going to be an autoexec.bat and/or config.sys file these are whats supposed to start the whole process. Unless you can find documentation elsewhere saying what starts the process along.

If i remember correctly this setup procedure assumes drives will be named a certian way, and when they are not - the startup process breaks.
namely:
A: - floppy
C: - HD
D: - ramdrive
E: CD drive

so if your HD isnt recognized by the very old dos (not suprising), then the ramdrive will show as drive C: and the CD as D: - which is not whats expected, and either the internal checks fail and the program spits out errors, or their are no internal checks and the program does odd things.

retiredguy
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Some brief excitement but no resolution

Post by retiredguy » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:44 am

im at a loss as to where the whole mess starts - which i think is the root of the problem. Somewhere in one of your folders is going to be an autoexec.bat and/or config.sys file these are whats supposed to start the whole process
Well, I couldn't see where the whole mess started either. I don't know what other kind of files the BIOS will execute, but it must be something besides autoexec.bat or config.sys. Do you know if there are other files that will run just from the BIOS - like maybe START.EXE or one of the other .sys files?

I did get some excitement out of the last thing I tried.

Since the system seems to want a floppy drive and I had set it to "Disabled" in Setup, I decided to give it one (even though there would be no floppy disk in it). I took the floppy drive out of my wife's computer and installed it in the new one. It had not been used for a long time and was quite dusty, so I used some "Dust Off" (compressed air in a can) to blow the dust out of it. I was through messing around in the case, so I reinstalled the side panels and then turned on the power. That action was follwed by a high pitched sound and dense white smoke billowing out of the vents. I yanked the plug as soon as I could get to it. I removed the side panels and made a quick but unsuccessfull search for something hot or burned. Unfortunately, I had turned the computer on just a few minutes before my wife and I were supposed to leave for a luncheon, so by this time she was waiting for me to get in the truck and leave. Gave me something to think about while we were at lunch. When we got back I had time for a better search and founfd the cause.

Fortunately, it turned out to be the FDD that caused the problem. The power cables were fried from the plug out to about six inches. There doesn't appear to be any other damage, but I haven't gone back to investigate the original problem again yet. I'll let you know if I find out anything. I'm sure you're not dying to know, but I figure if you're interested enough to give me this much of your time, you might be interested to know if I find an answer.

Thanks for your time.

kittle
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Post by kittle » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:57 am

ugh.. smoking computers are never a good sign.

Let us know what you find out -- I hope the FDD was the only casuality.

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