TDK 12x10x32 CD-RW problem: Suddenly stopped working... Please read on.

[Arschloch]

Hello all. 🙂

This is very strange. I searched the Tech Support archives and did not find an answer, so here goes:

I have a TDK 12x10x32 CD burner. It has worked absolutely fine ever since I got it two months ago. However, just yesterday, it stopped working correctly.

During the boot process, the monitor outputs a list of drives connected to the motherboard. It looks something like this:
Primary Master: Quantum Fireball Plus KA 9.1
Primary Slave: None
Secondary Master: TDK 121032 CDRW
Secondary Slave: NEC CDROM

However, when I booted yesterday, the Secondary Master line changed to a bunch of random ASCII characters. So it still detected SOMETHING there, because it didn't say "none". Indeed, in Win98 it detected the drive, although the names of CD's I inserted into the CDRW would have jibberish names, as well as the files on those CD's.

I didn't update the BIOS, or the firmware on the CD-burner or anything of the sort. My pertinent system specs:
FIC AZ11 motherboard
Duron 700 (not overclocked)
Diamond Monster MX300
Hercules GeForce 2 MX

Any ideas? I'd greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks. 🙂
-Arschloch

 

[Arschloch]

I just rebooted again. A couple more things:
First, when I said that it worked fine, I meant that in the past couple of months I -have- successfully burned a bunch of CD's without a problem.
Secondly, looking at it again in Win98, it looks almost like Japanese characters... that is, whenever I happen upon a Japanese webpage, the characters in my browser look kind of similar to the ones that my CD-RW says is on a CD. Not sure how that helps, just some more info.

-Arschloch

 

[fixedbyjohn]

I would go to control panal,sys,device mgr, cdrom,click open, left button drv,refresh, if that dosen't do it, remove from sys,reboot and let Win find it,re-install drivers,john

 

[Arschloch]

The problem isn't that Windows is not detecting it... Windows IS detecting it. I have an 'E' drive, it just reads the CD's incorrectly.

I don't think it's a Windows problem: considering the BIOS reads the drive as jibberish, it must be something before the system even gets into Windows.

Any more ideas?

 

[Rent]

That happened to my Kenwood Tru 52x... after that happened I never got it to work properly again. Make sure all your connections inside the box are firmly connected, check for anything (dust, ect) that my have gotten in/around the drive.

Hope you get it working again, if it doesnt I'd be on the phone with TDK about getting it replaced.

 

[Arschloch]

Uh oh. That isn't exactly promising.

Well, I sent an Email to TDK's tech support yesterday. They said they'd get back to me "within 24 hours". They still have a few hours left though. If I don't hear from them, I guess I'll call them up and see if they can help, although I'm not holding my breath.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[extro]

If the drive is cabled correctly and the BIOS is returning gibberish for the name string then the drive is probably bad. Since the other drive is on the same IDE connector and is properly recognized, that also points the finger at the TDK.

 

[Arschloch]

extro, you have a good point, I didn't even think about that. As you stated, my CD drive is connected via the same cable as the slave, and it still works just fine. That would lead me to believe that it probably isn't a problem with the ribbon.

I also went through the BIOS and tried searching for something that might sound helpful, but I didn't find anything.

So I've sent them (TDK) an Email and I tried calling but had to leave a message with tech support in the faint hopes they'll call me back. I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure the people here are probably my best bet.

Any more ideas of things to try to fix it?

Thanks. 🙂
-Arschloch