WinXP & SATA

Hi
I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb SATA
drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various programs when
the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the computer was concerned,
it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not anywhere. I changed the drive - no
change. I rebooted the computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the
monitor board and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer
and it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor. I
even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.

Any ideas how to go from here!

Thanks.

- Daryl

Donald
Sat Mar 08 14:40:56 PST 2008

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 09:51:03 -0800, DWLeo
<DWLeo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Hi
>I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb SATA
>drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various programs when
>the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the computer was concerned,
>it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not anywhere. I changed the drive - no
>change. I rebooted the computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the
>monitor board and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer
>and it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor. I
>even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
>
>Any ideas how to go from here!
>
>Thanks.
>
>- Daryl

Here is my experience with suddenly-quitting optical drives and what
I've done to fix it:

This is usually caused by either:
1) Dirty CD/DVDs. Wash recording surface with a small amount of mild
handsoap and tepid water (or use LCD cleaner). Dry and polish
carefully with a soft dry cloth till it shines (it will have no
"cloudiness" on the disk surface.) Make sure you do NOT use circular
motions while doing this. To properly clean and polish Optical media,
use straight motions ACROSS the disk surface from side to side (or top
to bottom), rather than around and around. Do NOT use any dirty
cloths, denim, or sheets. New, soft, dry handtowels are much better.

2) Failing optical drives. The only solution for this is to
completely replace the drive. I advise replacing the cable at the
same time. Optical drives (even SATA optical drives) are only around
$20-$50US. They work excellently. Try one, you'll like it.

There is a third possible cause: an inadequate power supply. This
can be a cause of all sorts of unknown errors.

--
Donald L McDaniel

How can so many otherwise very intelligent people screw up
something so simple so badly? If you stick a computer
keyboard in front of most people, they'll suddenly drop
30 points off their IQs. Much like placing a "Pork Barrel"
bill in front of a politician: He'll forget all about
"cooperation" the minute he counts the zeroes before the
decimal point.

Daryl
Sat Mar 08 18:15:01 PST 2008

We are a bit beyond that solution as I cannot use my monitor anymore. Need
to find that solution first. Changed optical drive prior to monitor blanking
out - no deal!
Power supply is 450 watt and has been checked.

Any other ideas?? I need them!

- Daryl


"DWLeo" wrote:

> Hi
> I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb SATA
> drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various programs when
> the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the computer was concerned,
> it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not anywhere. I changed the drive - no
> change. I rebooted the computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the
> monitor board and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer
> and it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor. I
> even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
>
> Any ideas how to go from here!
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Daryl

eckrichco
Sat Mar 08 19:39:00 PST 2008

Software/programs dont use drivers,only hardware has them...As for optical
drives,try moving the drive to another PCI connection to the board,check
jumper
pins also..If the drive is a liteonit brand,download the firmware for the
drive
at liteonit.com. Also,never use soap or "cleaners" on the drive,if one
must,or
if head cleaning is needed,use only Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing
alcohol),believe
it or not,this is what all tape mfg cleaning solution is,& what all
audio/stereo
repair shops use to clean tape heads....Also,install the chipset
installation utility
from the mfg of the SATA controller,these have youre drivers.

"DWLeo" wrote:

> Hi
> I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb SATA
> drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various programs when
> the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the computer was concerned,
> it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not anywhere. I changed the drive - no
> change. I rebooted the computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the
> monitor board and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer
> and it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor. I
> even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
>
> Any ideas how to go from here!
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Daryl

Daryl
Sat Mar 08 22:21:00 PST 2008

Maybe I am not communicating properly or something. The optical drive quit
part-way through and then the monitor feed went out as well. This has
nothing to do with cleaning the cd's or moving the drive to a different PCI
connection. It is either the board or the cpu. Without the monitor feed, I
cannot do anything because I cannot see what it is I am doing.
Now I hope that is clearer for everyone. How do I determine the cause of
this misadventure?
Thanks.


"Andrew E." wrote:

> Software/programs dont use drivers,only hardware has them...As for optical
> drives,try moving the drive to another PCI connection to the board,check
> jumper
> pins also..If the drive is a liteonit brand,download the firmware for the
> drive
> at liteonit.com. Also,never use soap or "cleaners" on the drive,if one
> must,or
> if head cleaning is needed,use only Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing
> alcohol),believe
> it or not,this is what all tape mfg cleaning solution is,& what all
> audio/stereo
> repair shops use to clean tape heads....Also,install the chipset
> installation utility
> from the mfg of the SATA controller,these have youre drivers.
>
> "DWLeo" wrote:
>
> > Hi
> > I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb SATA
> > drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various programs when
> > the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the computer was concerned,
> > it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not anywhere. I changed the drive - no
> > change. I rebooted the computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the
> > monitor board and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer
> > and it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor. I
> > even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
> >
> > Any ideas how to go from here!
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > - Daryl

Donald
Sun Mar 09 14:04:00 PDT 2008

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 22:21:00 -0800, Daryl
<Daryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Maybe I am not communicating properly or something. The optical drive quit
>part-way through and then the monitor feed went out as well. This has
>nothing to do with cleaning the cd's or moving the drive to a different PCI
>connection. It is either the board or the cpu. Without the monitor feed, I
>cannot do anything because I cannot see what it is I am doing.
>Now I hope that is clearer for everyone. How do I determine the cause of
>this misadventure?
>Thanks.

Good luck if you can't use the display, Daryl.

For Andrew's sake: I was NOT referring to the drive itself when I
suggested cleaning the "CD/DVDs". If I were referring to the drives
themselves (obviously, I never would, being a halfway-intelligent
man), I would say "take the drives out and wash them." What do you
think I am, an idiot?

Anyway, I've never had problems with washing CD/DVD media with a
little mild handsoap and tepid water, as long as I carefully dried and
polished them. For many years, I had to wash the PrintShop disks
before installing PrintShop, because my DVD reader/writer would simply
disappear from Windows half-way through the installation. If I
cleaned the disk beforehand, I never had this problem.

Replacing the drive solved this problem at the time for good. But I
still make sure to clean and polish the media carefully before
attempting to reinstall that particular product. The fact is,
Bruderbund at that time was sending out very dirty media. Cleaning
and polishing it cause the laser to work better, resulting in a better
installation experience.

The way I know it was a combination of dirty disks and a failing
CD/DVD drive was that this happened with almost ANY CD/DVD media in
that drive. Cleaning and polishing it ALWAYS enabled me to finish
installation of the application(s) I wanted to install, and replacing
the drive cleared up the problem completely.

Face it, a laser DOESN'T use microwaves or other forms of energy which
can see through obstructions, such as greasy, dirty, cloudy spots on
the media, fingerprints, etc. If the media is extremely cloudy and
dirty, the drive will experience read errors to such an extent that it
will lose its registration with Windows, and drop off Device Manager
or Windows Explorer listings completely.

As they say, "A man with an experience is more authoritative than a
man with a theory."


--
Donald L McDaniel

How can so many otherwise very intelligent people screw up
something so simple so badly? If you stick a computer
keyboard in front of most people, they'll suddenly drop
30 points off their IQs. Much like placing a "Pork Barrel"
bill in front of a politician: He'll forget all about
"cooperation" the minute he counts the zeroes before the
decimal point.

GreenieLeBrun
Wed Mar 12 20:38:24 PDT 2008



DWLeo wrote:
> Hi
> I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb
> SATA drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various
> programs when the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the
> computer was concerned, it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not
> anywhere. I changed the drive - no change. I rebooted the computer
> AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the monitor board and no
> difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer and it
> worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor.
> I even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
>
> Any ideas how to go from here!
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Daryl

Are there any beeps when you start up the machine? Is the machine POSTing?
If the machine is not even getting to the POST stage then it could be bad
RAM, failed power supply or a failed motherboard.

DWLeo
Wed Mar 12 23:29:01 PDT 2008

Thank you, Danial for a logical reply.
I only get one beep when I try to fire it up. My RAM led on the board is
lit without any wavering so I am assuming the RAM is OK. Power supply is
good (I think). I am leaning towards the motherboard.

- Daryl

"GreenieLeBrun" wrote:

>
>
> DWLeo wrote:
> > Hi
> > I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250 gb
> > SATA drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for various
> > programs when the optical drive ceased to function. As far as the
> > computer was concerned, it did not exist! Not in Explorer, not
> > anywhere. I changed the drive - no change. I rebooted the computer
> > AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the monitor board and no
> > difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer and it
> > worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the monitor.
> > I even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still noting.
> >
> > Any ideas how to go from here!
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > - Daryl
>
> Are there any beeps when you start up the machine? Is the machine POSTing?
> If the machine is not even getting to the POST stage then it could be bad
> RAM, failed power supply or a failed motherboard.
>
>
>

GreenieLeBrun
Thu Mar 13 15:31:17 PDT 2008



DWLeo wrote:
> Thank you, Danial for a logical reply.
> I only get one beep when I try to fire it up. My RAM led on the
> board is lit without any wavering so I am assuming the RAM is OK.
> Power supply is good (I think). I am leaning towards the motherboard.
>
> - Daryl
>
> "GreenieLeBrun" wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> DWLeo wrote:
>>> Hi
>>> I had installed WinXP into a new computer I built (2 G+) and a 250
>>> gb SATA drive. I was inthe process of installing drivers for
>>> various programs when the optical drive ceased to function. As far
>>> as the computer was concerned, it did not exist! Not in Explorer,
>>> not anywhere. I changed the drive - no change. I rebooted the
>>> computer AGAIN and the monitor quit. I changed the monitor board
>>> and no difference. I tried the monitor on a different computer and
>>> it worked fine. Now I have a computer with no access for the
>>> monitor. I even changed the Hard drive to a regular one but still
>>> noting.
>>>
>>> Any ideas how to go from here!
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> - Daryl
>>
>> Are there any beeps when you start up the machine? Is the machine
>> POSTing? If the machine is not even getting to the POST stage then
>> it could be bad RAM, failed power supply or a failed motherboard.

If your machine has an AMI BIOS then one beep suggests bad memory
(http://www.amptron.com/html/bios.beepcodes.html)

Does the machine have more than one stick of memory? If so try starting with
each stick singly.