Magsmom said:
Dell Dimension B110, running XP, SP3
CD/dvd not working and computer cannot find the drive - BUT - only if
computer is booted up with the broadband internet cable attached and it takes
forever to boot up, probably because the computer is trying to find the
drive. Once the computer is fully booted up (without the CD/dvd drive
function) the internet connection works fine.
However, if computer is booted up without the internet cable attached, it
boots up quickly and everything works fine - including the CD/dvd drive.
So - we can either have the CD/dvd RW drive OR the Internet connection, but
not both.
Don't know if this has anything to do with it, but this is my son's computer
and he had not opened up the case and blew the dust out since he bought it,
so when I opened it up, I found a "blanket" of dust over the air intake and
dust balls the size of golf balls rolling around inside the case.
For the network, check the line on the following web page
called "On w/ PXE". PXE is network booting capability, and for a home
computer that typically would not be used (it is to allow
booting a computer from a server somewhere on the network).
The BIOS default for the network interface cotnroller is "On",
so someone would have had to modify it, to enable PXE. It could
be the computer is attempting to use PXE to boot the computer,
and in the process, is sending packets out via the broadband connection.
When the network cable is disconnected, the BIOS can sense there
is no connection, so it stops trying on that interface. That
is all I can suggest for your behavior with respect to the
network cable.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/en/SM/syssetup.htm#wp1054626
For the CDROM, the drive could be a ribbon cable type, and sharing a cable with
a second hard drive or optical drive. Sometimes, one drive can upset another
drive on the cable. The Dell may have the drives all jumpered "cable select"
or CS. That is so they don't have to be individually jumpered "master" or
"slave" when sharing a cable.
Test the CDROM by itself on the ribbon cable. Use the end connector, like this.
You can leave it jumpered "CS" as Dell shipped it.
Mobo_end --------------X------X
| |
CDROM
If it still isn't working, check the power is plugged firmly into the
CDROM drive. It could also be a problem with the ribbon cable itself,
although that would be more likely if the owner of the machine
had been playing with it, tugged on it, and so on. So knowing
what's been done inside the machine recently, may suggest whether
there is a reason to try swapping it out.
The thing is, as far as I know, optical drives should respond, even if
the drive mechanism itself is damaged. I don't think they cease to respond
to the OS, if there are minor issues. It is only when media is placed
in the tray, and the drive tries to detect it, that you discover
the real health of the optical drive. So I don't see how the drive
can withhold service, unless somehow it thinks media is present,
and is actively pretending to be doing reads on it.
A hard drive is different. Any little glitch that affects the
ability of the drive to finish its self test or startup
procedures (reading stuff from below sector 0), results in
the drive refusing to respond to the host. A hard drive is
more likely to hold the host hostage, and is more consistent
with your description. The optical drive, on the other hand,
should play nice, until you put a disc in the tray.
When ribbon cable devices share a cable, it is possible for
the controller board on the drive to fail, and hold up the
shared bus on the cable. And that is the reason for testing
drives individually, to see if the symptoms change. The problem
might only show when two drives are sharing the cable.
Paul
