Kenwood 52x TrueX trouble

[mee]

I have had this drive for quite a while, and I have only been having trouble with it the last 3 months or so.

I first noticed the problem when I put in CDs and occasionally the drive light would turn on and stay on, the CD wouldnt read at all, and about 10 seconds later Win2K would pop up a "Unsafe Removal of Device" box, like the drive just totally dropped from the IDE channel.

Now my problem seems to have evolved. Now when I happen to get unlucky and the drive crashes, it brings down both drives on that cable (I get 2 "unsafe removal" boxes, one for each drive). Like I mentioned before, it doesnt happen every time I put a CD in, only like 1 out of every 20 times.

There is probably nothing that can be done, im guessing that the drive is just getting old and going bad. If anyone has any ideas or advice (preferably something more than "you're screwed&quot, I would appreciate it.

here is my system info:

Full-tower case w/ 300w PS
Tyan s1854 mobo (1.07)
p3 700MHz @ 784 (FCPGA CPU in ASUS slotket III)
256mb pc133 cas2
Primare IDE: Maxtor 30gb 7200rpm, Quantum Fireball 340mb
Secondary IDE: Pioneer 10x/40x slot DVD, Kenwood 52x TrueX
Diamond Fireport 40 SCSI adapter w/:
Teac CDR-55s CDR
Quantum Fireball 6.4gb
Soundblaster Live! value
3com 3c905b NIC
External USB modem (3com)

 

[compudog]

While this isn't an answer to your problem, it's interesting just the same. I bought a Kenwood TrueX52 a few years ago. Every CD I put in it would come out scratched, horribly! I wrote Kenwood about the problem and they next-day aired a spankin' new TrueX 72!! I though, upon opening the box with the new drive, there would be instructions for returning the old unit, but there was nothing except a no-charge packing list. I wrote Kenwood about the old drive, and how I should return it and never received a reply. So I figured what the heck. I took the old 52X apart and carefully nosed around inside. There was a little (really thin) sheet metal "gaurd" around the laser pickup that was bent. I straightened it out (not too easy), put everything back together, and have been using the drive ever since. I never have gotten any more communication from Kenwood, but I was extremely pleased with their fast shipment of the new drive. Maybe Kenwood realized they had shippen out some bum units and were prepared for the worst. This was around the time of the big OEM floppy drive recall and class-action lawsuit. (I forget the players though...) Makes you wonder...

 

[krakken]

dumb answer, but did you try replacing the cable?