drive name scrambled

  • Thread starter Thread starter james.drake
  • Start date Start date
J

james.drake

For some reason, Windows XP stopped detecting my CD-RW drive, so I went
into my BIOS setup to see if it was being detected there. All my other
drives were there fine, but the CD-RW in question, it was listed there,
but its name was scrambled. What I mean by that is, I could see it was
the right length, but the wrong letters were there. It was supposed to
say "LITE-ON CD-RW DRIVE" or something like that, but most (not all)
characters were scrambled, i.e. were gibberish ASCII characters.

This is a Asus K8N, BIOS 1009. There are two upgrades available, but I
don't believe either one addressed any issue like this. The drive is a
Lite-On CD-RW, hooked up as slave to a Toshiba DVD-ROM on the secondary
IDE cable.

Am I right to rule out Windows-related problems like Spyware? For some
reason, I suspect that if I wiped it would solve the problem. But I
haven't flashed my BIOS or anything, and it was working fine before, so
what could it be?

Thanks,
James
 
cmos battery getting old maybe
trying clearing the CMOS using the jumper and unplugged from the outlet
 
For some reason, Windows XP stopped detecting my CD-RW drive, so I went
into my BIOS setup to see if it was being detected there. All my other
drives were there fine, but the CD-RW in question, it was listed there,
but its name was scrambled. What I mean by that is, I could see it was
the right length, but the wrong letters were there. It was supposed to
say "LITE-ON CD-RW DRIVE" or something like that, but most (not all)
characters were scrambled, i.e. were gibberish ASCII characters.

This is a Asus K8N, BIOS 1009. There are two upgrades available, but I
don't believe either one addressed any issue like this. The drive is a
Lite-On CD-RW, hooked up as slave to a Toshiba DVD-ROM on the secondary
IDE cable.

Am I right to rule out Windows-related problems like Spyware? For some
reason, I suspect that if I wiped it would solve the problem. But I
haven't flashed my BIOS or anything, and it was working fine before, so
what could it be?
Click to expand...

Firmware got scrambled on the drive. I'd look into a replacement.
 
For some reason, Windows XP stopped detecting my CD-RW drive, so I went
into my BIOS setup to see if it was being detected there. All my other
drives were there fine, but the CD-RW in question, it was listed there,
but its name was scrambled. What I mean by that is, I could see it was
the right length, but the wrong letters were there. It was supposed to
say "LITE-ON CD-RW DRIVE" or something like that, but most (not all)
characters were scrambled, i.e. were gibberish ASCII characters.

This is a Asus K8N, BIOS 1009. There are two upgrades available, but I
don't believe either one addressed any issue like this. The drive is a
Lite-On CD-RW, hooked up as slave to a Toshiba DVD-ROM on the secondary
IDE cable.

Am I right to rule out Windows-related problems like Spyware? For some
reason, I suspect that if I wiped it would solve the problem. But I
haven't flashed my BIOS or anything, and it was working fine before, so
what could it be?

Thanks,
James
Click to expand...

There's a problem with data to/from the drive, shown by the retrieved
identification being scrambled. Could be the CMOS battery as JAD mentioned,
or a bad/loose cable, or a defective drive, or another drive interfering
with it.

Clearing the CMOS is the easiest thing to try first, but make a note of
your BIOS settings so you can put them back after clearing it.

If that doesn't do it try removing the Toshiba DVD and see if the Lite-On
is properly detected by itself. If it turns out it only fails when the
Toshiba is installed it might be the Toshiba that's the problem. If so,
recheck the jumpers and the cable.

If that doesn't get it try swapping the primary and secondary IDE cables.
Either the problem will move to the primary channel or the mechanics of
swapping them will be a reseat.

If the problem moves the cable is bad.

If all that fails them it's likely the drive.
 
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