I'm having a major problem with both of my CD-ROM drives (one's a CD-R burner). Whenever I try to open a file on a CD-ROM disk my PC restarts as if I just hit the reset button on the front of the machine! I've tried restoring the Windows registry (only to remember this has been happening for longer then I have backed up registries), reinstalling the CD-ROM drivers, and turning off auto-insert notification (which caused the machine to restart whenever I just put a CD in-- it still happens some). I'm using Norton AntiVirus with the latest virus info and it's coming up clean: no viruses. I'm not experiancing any other problems, but this problem makes software installation completely impossible. Should I try reinstalling Windows 98 entirely (the drives work in DOS)?
CD-ROM Accesses Cause Restarts
- Thread starter Ryukumu
- Start date
Seems I saw a post simular to this, and the general consensus was it may be the power supply? What happens when you disconnect one of the drives and try using the other one?
When you say 'disconnect', do you mean physically unplug from the power supply? Right now both my CD-ROM drives are plugged in.
Could it be a power issue? There's a switch on the back of my computer that can be toggled to '115W' or '230W', and it's currently set on '115W'. I recently added two new cooling fans to the power circuit, so I may be running out of power. Sometimes when I open a CD it'll work, but once it starts to spin really fast THAT'S when it restarts. I'll try switching it to the higher power.
Could it be a power issue? There's a switch on the back of my computer that can be toggled to '115W' or '230W', and it's currently set on '115W'. I recently added two new cooling fans to the power circuit, so I may be running out of power. Sometimes when I open a CD it'll work, but once it starts to spin really fast THAT'S when it restarts. I'll try switching it to the higher power.
I tried the switch. My PC wouldn't start with it set at '230V'. 
So I flipped back to '115V' and my CD-ROM drives still don't work. ^_^;;; This very well might be a power issue, as I just replaced a faulty CPU cooling fan and then added another cooling fan that goes into one of your PCI slots. Although I think that this problem has been occuring for a few days before I added the fans. Could it be a worn out power supply?
So I flipped back to '115V' and my CD-ROM drives still don't work. ^_^;;; This very well might be a power issue, as I just replaced a faulty CPU cooling fan and then added another cooling fan that goes into one of your PCI slots. Although I think that this problem has been occuring for a few days before I added the fans. Could it be a worn out power supply?I believe he meant to disconnect the power connector from one of the drives, AND also disconnect the same drive from the IDE ribbon cable. Do this with the second drive in the chain, in other words, the IDE (Gray and wide) cable is connected on the motherboard on one end, and has 2 connectors on the other end. One connector is on the end of the cable, the other connector is a few inches from the end of the cable. Disconnect the drive that's connected to the IDE connector a few inches in from the end, and also disconnect that drive's power connector. Now, windows should only see one cdrom device when booting. Try opening a file on a cd now.
Make sure your IDE cable is hooked up to the drives correctly, and make sure the drive's are jumpered correctly as well.
The IDE cable has a red stripe on one side. That's got to be connected to "Pin 1" on both the motherboard and the cd drive(s). The CDROM(s) should have a diagram on it that shows you which pin is Pin 1. The cable side with the red stripe goes to that orientation. This is true on the motherboard connector as well. Make sure you're hooking up the cable to Pin 1/Red Stripe side.
As for the jumpers, on the back of each CDROM where the cable connects and where the power cable connects is a set of pins that probably has a black or white plastic "jumper" connector on it. This jumper covers a set of 2 pins. You have to make sure the first drive (the one hooked up to the END of the IDE cable) is Jumpered for the "Master" position. The other CDROM needs to be jumpered for the "Slave" position. Again, there should be a diagram on the cdrom's that show you which pins are for which (master or slave).
Make sure your IDE cable is hooked up to the drives correctly, and make sure the drive's are jumpered correctly as well.
The IDE cable has a red stripe on one side. That's got to be connected to "Pin 1" on both the motherboard and the cd drive(s). The CDROM(s) should have a diagram on it that shows you which pin is Pin 1. The cable side with the red stripe goes to that orientation. This is true on the motherboard connector as well. Make sure you're hooking up the cable to Pin 1/Red Stripe side.
As for the jumpers, on the back of each CDROM where the cable connects and where the power cable connects is a set of pins that probably has a black or white plastic "jumper" connector on it. This jumper covers a set of 2 pins. You have to make sure the first drive (the one hooked up to the END of the IDE cable) is Jumpered for the "Master" position. The other CDROM needs to be jumpered for the "Slave" position. Again, there should be a diagram on the cdrom's that show you which pins are for which (master or slave).
Ah, I see. That makes sense. If Windows still won't read a CD from either one of the drives (when only one is hooked up at a time) then it's probably a software issue. Okay, I'll try doing this later today (I have to go to work in a few minutes).
BTW, The slave/master jumper settings should be fine, I've had these two CD-ROM drives hooked up for well over a year. I'll check them just in case.
BTW, The slave/master jumper settings should be fine, I've had these two CD-ROM drives hooked up for well over a year. I'll check them just in case.
No dice. I tried starting the PC with only one of them on, didn't work. Tried with only the other on, didn't work. Apparently it's not a power issue, this looks to be a software issue within Windows.
I've taken another look at my computer's innards to make sure the cables are securely plugged in, and they are. And Windows still won't work. -_- Ugh. Seeing how the problem appears to be software-based, I've thought about two possible solutions:
1) Go into Windows Safe Mode and inunstall the CD-ROM drives from there, then reinstall them in normal mode.
2) Reinstall Windows from DOS.
Do you think any of these would fix the problem? Help is greatly appreciated; I'd rather not put this thing in the shop seeing how I already owe a junk-load of money for DSL installation. ^_^;;;
1) Go into Windows Safe Mode and inunstall the CD-ROM drives from there, then reinstall them in normal mode.
2) Reinstall Windows from DOS.
Do you think any of these would fix the problem? Help is greatly appreciated; I'd rather not put this thing in the shop seeing how I already owe a junk-load of money for DSL installation. ^_^;;;
Here's what I would do first. Get rid of the dos drivers loading in autoexec.bat and config.sys...they could be causing issues in Windows. Windows has built-in drivers, so it doesn't need autoexec.bat/config.sys cdrom drivers loading. Open up these two files in Notepad and put a big "REM" in front of the lines in config.sys and autoexec.bat referring to the cdrom drivers:
e.g. in config.sys,
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\MTMCDAI.SYS /D:123 (your line will be different depending on your driver's name)
and in autoexec.bat
REM C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123
People complain about "But I use DOS a lot", etc., but there is a way to get these drivers loaded for DOS
when you need them vs. every time windows boots (and I'm not talking about a floppy), so let's get rid of them. Reboot, try the cdrom's. See if the problem still exists. If it does, let's try this: Go to Windows.
Open up Regedit.exe.
Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.
Now, you'll see some subfolders.
Click on the one that says "Enum"
Now, click on the one that says "SCSI"
So, you should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI
You'll see some listings for your cdroms/cdrws. For example, here's one of mine:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI\ATAPI___CD-ROM_40MAX____4
and here's my CDRW listing:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI\PLEXTOR_CD-R___PX-W1210A1
First, see if there are any old keys listed there for devices you don't have anymore in that SCSI section.
Delete them. Close regedit and reboot. Try the cdroms. If still no good, go back to regedit.exe, and this time delete the entries for your two cdrom devices. Not to worry as they will be redetected by Windows upon the next reboot. So, delete the entries and close regedit and reboot. Windows will redetect the cdrom devices. Try using them again.
If still no go, download and run the freebie registry cleaner from Microsoft called Regclean. Here it is:
Regclean
Run it a couple of times until it tells you it hasn't found any more problems to fix.
e.g. in config.sys,
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\MTMCDAI.SYS /D:123 (your line will be different depending on your driver's name)
and in autoexec.bat
REM C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123
People complain about "But I use DOS a lot", etc., but there is a way to get these drivers loaded for DOS
when you need them vs. every time windows boots (and I'm not talking about a floppy), so let's get rid of them. Reboot, try the cdrom's. See if the problem still exists. If it does, let's try this: Go to Windows.
Open up Regedit.exe.
Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.
Now, you'll see some subfolders.
Click on the one that says "Enum"
Now, click on the one that says "SCSI"
So, you should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI
You'll see some listings for your cdroms/cdrws. For example, here's one of mine:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI\ATAPI___CD-ROM_40MAX____4
and here's my CDRW listing:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI\PLEXTOR_CD-R___PX-W1210A1
First, see if there are any old keys listed there for devices you don't have anymore in that SCSI section.
Delete them. Close regedit and reboot. Try the cdroms. If still no good, go back to regedit.exe, and this time delete the entries for your two cdrom devices. Not to worry as they will be redetected by Windows upon the next reboot. So, delete the entries and close regedit and reboot. Windows will redetect the cdrom devices. Try using them again.
If still no go, download and run the freebie registry cleaner from Microsoft called Regclean. Here it is:
Regclean
Run it a couple of times until it tells you it hasn't found any more problems to fix.
Just to throw something out there to try. In the BIOS, try setting the IDE channel that the CD is connected to to NONE, or if it is already NONE change it to AUTO.
None. Zip. Nada. Tried deleting the registry entries as suggested. Didn't work. RegClean.exe reports that the registry has no errors. Tried resetting the BIOS. Didn't work. I'm convinced this is a Windows problem, because like I said I think the drives work in DOS okay (I TRIED reinstalling Windows98 but changed my mind, the installation program was functional though). Should I try reinstalling Windows98 again?
Well, okay, I give up. This problem is driving me insane. ^_^;;; I think I'll just put it in the shop and have someone else fix it rather then stress over it myself. All of your advice was greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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