2 different dvd drives won't read discs

[rise]

K, i have an older hp system i'm working on for a friend. i put in a disc in the dvd drive and it would not recognize it. the drive is seen on device manager as working properly.

i can hear the drive spin up, kinda, almost like its struggling to read... a few times it give the old hourglass for a few minutes and then asks for a disc be inserted.

so i swap it out for a known working dvd drive- same issue. these are also known good discs of various formats.

tried uninstalling the drive and let windows re-install.

swapped the drive on the mobo to another channel.

unplugged what i could from the mobo, which was a fan, lol. theres really not much here.

so, is this a PSU issue maybe? or am i too tired and missing something...

thanks

 

[Fardringle]

Did you try a different cable when you swapped the drives? It might be a bad cable (or a loose connection) and not the drives themselves.

 

[C1]

Not enough info. Is this a SATA or IDE Optical drive? If it is IDE, set the drive as master and run it as the only device on the controller. Also, set the optical drive in the BIOS as the first boot device and see if it is possible to boot from a Windows CD to the installation screen (eliminates the OS as a problem). There can be registry issues which can disable optical drive function, search these forums for the fixes.

 

[rise]

thanks guys- is should've been more clear...

i did try switching the cable when i swapped the other drive in.

there are two drives, a sata hdd and this ide optical. i've tried both controllers and the one of the discs i've tried is the xp install disc.

it's seen in the bios and set to boot first but just goes right through, as if no disc is present

 

[Natash]

One of my girlfriends had this issue, we bought a new dvd drive from radioshack ($98) and it fixed this problem but we didn't know how to plug it in so we had to call bestbuy and they sent out one of their nerdsquad guys. We ended up feeding him and giving him beer because we didn't have any money.

 

[VirtualLarry]

One of my girlfriends had this issue, we bought a new dvd drive from radioshack ($98) and it fixed this problem but we didn't know how to plug it in so we had to call bestbuy and they sent out one of their nerdsquad guys. We ended up feeding him and giving him beer because we didn't have any money.

Lol. I wonder how he explained to his manager that he got paid in pizza and beer.

Remind me to never get you as a client.