Hi,

 

I seem to be having no end of problems at the moment (thankfully not all PC-related ...)

 

This particular problem has been happening off-and-on for a couple of months now but has recently got more frequent.

 

Symptoms: Power up the PC - DVD-writer light flashes three/four times and then remains permanently on - this in turn SEVERELY slows down the booting up process (approx. 3~4 minutes of staring at the Windows screen) - the DVD-writer drive assignment (ie. drive E on the system) is non-functional (ie - it does not appear in the list)

 

It has no other impact on the running of the system other than that I can't access the drive.

 

In the past, a quick reboot or hard reset would snap it out of this behaviour and all would be well (including quick/normal boot time and drive letter assignment).

 

I've looked at the internal connections and both the power and data cables are firmly in place.

 

Before I go down the route of buying a new drive and cables does anyone have any idea as to what is causing the above symptoms?

 

Many thanks for your feedback.

 

Regards,

 

Dan

dan, save yourself the time and just replace it. if its not recognising it in the bios, then its knackered mate.

Pull the cable out of the back of the drive and see if the machine runs ok. If it does, buy a new drive !

dvd writers and be had for about £15 just replace it

Dan

 

As everyone else is saying, it sounds like it is knackered. If you unplugging the cables and then boot it up, it should be OK. Either buy a new unit or use a USB memory stick.

 

Mark

change it as above... not worth stressing about can pick uop a new pioneer for about £20

change it as above... not worth stressing about can pick uop a new pioneer for about £20

 

i had a pioneer dvd drive and it was excellent, just changed it for a pioneer blu ray drive, same great quality and burns anything

Thank you chaps!

 

Whilst having my dinner I have been looking through the various websites and found that a decent DVD-RW can be had from £9:shock: to about £30. For the sake of the exercise I will disconnect the drive and see what happens but wil definitely be buying a new drive at the weekend. Final question - a lot of the new drives seem to have SATA connections. At the moment my drive is not connected via SATA but the MoBo is SATA enabled (my two HDD's are connected via SATA). I take it that I just purchase the data and power lead and off I go?

 

Regards,

 

Dan

Thank you chaps!

 

Whilst having my dinner I have been looking through the various websites and found that a decent DVD-RW can be had from £9:shock: to about £30. For the sake of the exercise I will disconnect the drive and see what happens but wil definitely be buying a new drive at the weekend. Final question - a lot of the new drives seem to have SATA connections. At the moment my drive is not connected via SATA but the MoBo is SATA enabled (my two HDD's are connected via SATA). I take it that I just purchase the data and power lead and off I go?

 

Regards,

 

Dan

 

Hold on a min!! How many sata slots do you have free?, most mobos come with only 2 connectors!

 

If you have 4 its not a problem, should just be a plug and play job :)

Hold on a min!! How many sata slots do you have free?, most mobos come with only 2 connectors!

 

If you have 4 its not a problem, should just be a plug and play job :)

 

Yes, I just thought of that as well I hit "submit"! LOL. I think I've got 2 SATA slots but will need to confirm this in the morning when I open up the case.

 

Good point though! Thanks!

 

Dan

Yes, I just thought of that as well I hit "submit"! LOL. I think I've got 2 SATA slots but will need to confirm this in the morning when I open up the case.

 

Good point though! Thanks!

 

Dan

 

Not a problem! if you need any help and dont want to put a post up about it just pm me, i will more than happy to help :)

Not a problem! if you need any help and dont want to put a post up about it just pm me, i will more than happy to help :)

 

Thanks Murt! Might have to take you up on your kind offer!

 

Regards,

 

Dan