USB CD-Rom

Hello
Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB -
CD-Rom
Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes on
and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware devices,
but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and it's not
found in MyComputer.
So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick, and
reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes to
reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
Thank you

Big
Sat May 03 05:00:59 PDT 2008

JB wrote:
> Hello
> Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB
> - CD-Rom
> Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
> it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes
> on and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware
> devices, but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and
> it's not found in MyComputer.
> So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
> Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick,
> and reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes
> to reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
> How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
> Thank you
>
>
You dont' need a bootable floppy. I'm sure that's a typo. Just put it
on the floppy. Its normally one of the choices to search for drivers
when installing hardware. Floppy, cd, internet.

Pavel
Sat May 03 05:50:32 PDT 2008

Try the cd-rom in another computer.
Most likely you don't need to tamper with the firmware,
the problem is in WinXP.

--PA


"JB" <somehow@somewhere> wrote in message
news:6D796EFD-479B-4B89-A5BA-06A427BEE13C@microsoft.com...
> Hello
> Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB -
> CD-Rom
> Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
> it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes
> on and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware
> devices, but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and
> it's not found in MyComputer.
> So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
> Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick, and
> reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes to
> reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
> How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
> Thank you
>
>

JB
Sat May 03 06:39:07 PDT 2008

It did work on another machine. So if it is XP, what can we do?
J

"Pavel A." <pavel_a@NOwritemeNO.com> wrote in message
news:u8ZHS$RrIHA.3616@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Try the cd-rom in another computer.
> Most likely you don't need to tamper with the firmware,
> the problem is in WinXP.
>
> --PA
>
>
> "JB" <somehow@somewhere> wrote in message
> news:6D796EFD-479B-4B89-A5BA-06A427BEE13C@microsoft.com...
>> Hello
>> Friend of mine has a Dell laptop, running XP, which has an external USB -
>> CD-Rom
>> Always worked ok, hasn't used it for a few weeks, went to plug it in and
>> it's not working. Well it works coz you can hear it, and the light comes
>> on and the pc detects it when the USB is plugged in and in Hardware
>> devices, but there is a yellow question mark on it in Device manager and
>> it's not found in MyComputer.
>> So we downloaded the Firmware from the Dell website, and it says in the
>> Readme.doc that we have unzip it to a bootable floppy or memory stick,
>> and reboot, let it find the thing and do it's bit and then when it goes
>> to reboot remove the floppy/stick and hey presto.
>> How do we get a bootable floppy or memory stick?
>> Thank you
>>
>>

philo
Sat May 03 09:39:15 PDT 2008


"JB" <somehow@somewhere> wrote in message
news:8145ECBC-DE48-4026-90E3-A01B072AB8A1@microsoft.com...
> It did work on another machine. So if it is XP, what can we do?
> J
>
>

In device manager...just plain delete it and reboot
let windows reinstall .

BTW: It often helps when using a USB device to always use it on the same
port
on which it was originally installed. It's less likely to "confuse" the
operating system.

JB
Sun May 04 04:24:38 PDT 2008

Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going to get
Dell to fix it.
J

"philo" <philo@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:eNfpsxTrIHA.4716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "JB" <somehow@somewhere> wrote in message
> news:8145ECBC-DE48-4026-90E3-A01B072AB8A1@microsoft.com...
>> It did work on another machine. So if it is XP, what can we do?
>> J
>>
>>
>
> In device manager...just plain delete it and reboot
> let windows reinstall .
>
> BTW: It often helps when using a USB device to always use it on the same
> port
> on which it was originally installed. It's less likely to "confuse" the
> operating system.
>
>

Paul
Sun May 04 10:47:27 PDT 2008

JB wrote:
> Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
> But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going to
> get Dell to fix it.
> J
>

Before giving a computer to a repair facility, make sure
you have a backup of the hard drive. Everybody loves
to reformat, even if it seems unrelated to the problem
at hand. At the very least, you'd want to back up the
email database and so on. There are lots of horror stories
about "I sent my computer in for service and now all my
files are gone". So a backup now would be a good idea.

Paul

JB
Sun May 04 11:08:21 PDT 2008

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be sure to tell my friend
J

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:fvkspc$nv4$1@aioe.org...
> JB wrote:
>> Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
>> But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going to
>> get Dell to fix it.
>> J
>>
>
> Before giving a computer to a repair facility, make sure
> you have a backup of the hard drive. Everybody loves
> to reformat, even if it seems unrelated to the problem
> at hand. At the very least, you'd want to back up the
> email database and so on. There are lots of horror stories
> about "I sent my computer in for service and now all my
> files are gone". So a backup now would be a good idea.
>
> Paul

Robert
Mon May 05 18:16:23 PDT 2008

Dell will tell you if you need to keep the drive in the system or not.
The last time I sent in my laptop (and I see if was a laptop you were
asking about) they told me to keep my drive. If he needs help they will
probably assist him with removing the drive from the system before
sending it in.

JB wrote:
> Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be sure to tell my friend
> J
>
> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:fvkspc$nv4$1@aioe.org...
>> JB wrote:
>>> Thanks for all the input. Still nothing.
>>> But it turns out, the machine is still under warrantee so he's going
>>> to get Dell to fix it.
>>> J
>>>
>>
>> Before giving a computer to a repair facility, make sure
>> you have a backup of the hard drive. Everybody loves
>> to reformat, even if it seems unrelated to the problem
>> at hand. At the very least, you'd want to back up the
>> email database and so on. There are lots of horror stories
>> about "I sent my computer in for service and now all my
>> files are gone". So a backup now would be a good idea.
>>
>> Paul


--
Robert Pendell
shinji@elite-systems.org

"A perfect world is one of chaos."

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