Following problems with resolution on a 19" widescreen monitor, now exchanged for a standard 19" flat screen, the 2 cd drives are no longer recognised by the computer. I believe this is the result of downloading the latest graphic drivers for the widescreen monitor. The driver was installed and appears to have overwritten the previous one and somehow has scrambled the 2 cd drives. The computer has an integrated motherboard and I do not think I have any drivers for the cd drives.
I wonder if a reformat would correct the problem? I cannot think of anything else.
Any help would be much appreciated
Full Version: Cd Rom And Cd Burner Drives Not Recognised
Reformatting should not be necessary nor will it necessarily find the correct drivers for your cd drives.
What brand and model is the computer?
There should have been a driver cd (separate from the restore cd) that came with the computer if it is a factory made computer such as a Dell or HP, etc, or you should be able to download drivers from the manufacturer's support sites.
Give us some additional information and we will try to help you find the drivers.
Did you fix the wrong graphics driver issue or is that still an existing problem?
What brand and model is the computer?
There should have been a driver cd (separate from the restore cd) that came with the computer if it is a factory made computer such as a Dell or HP, etc, or you should be able to download drivers from the manufacturer's support sites.
Give us some additional information and we will try to help you find the drivers.
Did you fix the wrong graphics driver issue or is that still an existing problem?
Well I have really messed up now! I didn't find your reply in time and went ahead and formatted only the C drive leaving the other partitions in place. The 2 CD drives are still not recognised so I couldn't install XP from CD. (We were previously running Win 98SE.) I then downloaded 6 XP Home Setup floppies and thought I was home and dry, but no such luck. After 2 attempts with the floppies, I got the following message each time at the sixth floppy:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. Unmountable_Boot_Volume."
It then suggests I make sure any hardware and software is properly installed and that if it is a new installation I should ask my hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates that might be needed.
It then advises that if the problem continues, I should disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. (Only the monitor is new) Next I should disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. Playing around with the BIOS worries me and I would rather avoid it if possible.
Finally the suggestion that if I need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart, press F8 to select Advanced Setup Options and then select Safe Mode.
Technical Information *** Stop 0x000000ED (0x812D7B60,0xC000003F,0x00000000,0x00000000)
I am stuck on the DOS screen, going around in circles, with only the floppy drive functioning.
The computer was built by Carrera 4 years ago and has no technical support available now. The motherboard is K7 SEM with an integrated graphics card and SiS730s chipset. The CD drives became unusable after the downloaded graphics driver. Both the CD Rom and CD R/RW drives are ATAPI. I do not remember receiving drivers for them. I cannot reinstall the motherboard either as the CD drives are kaput.
What on earth can I do now? Should I take the computer to someone for a "health check" Is XP really worth all this frustration?
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. Unmountable_Boot_Volume."
It then suggests I make sure any hardware and software is properly installed and that if it is a new installation I should ask my hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates that might be needed.
It then advises that if the problem continues, I should disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. (Only the monitor is new) Next I should disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. Playing around with the BIOS worries me and I would rather avoid it if possible.
Finally the suggestion that if I need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart, press F8 to select Advanced Setup Options and then select Safe Mode.
Technical Information *** Stop 0x000000ED (0x812D7B60,0xC000003F,0x00000000,0x00000000)
I am stuck on the DOS screen, going around in circles, with only the floppy drive functioning.
The computer was built by Carrera 4 years ago and has no technical support available now. The motherboard is K7 SEM with an integrated graphics card and SiS730s chipset. The CD drives became unusable after the downloaded graphics driver. Both the CD Rom and CD R/RW drives are ATAPI. I do not remember receiving drivers for them. I cannot reinstall the motherboard either as the CD drives are kaput.
What on earth can I do now? Should I take the computer to someone for a "health check" Is XP really worth all this frustration?
STOP 0xed: http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php#0xed
Check the cables to your hard drive to ensure that they're the correct one's (you should be using the 80 wire cables with IDE - not the 40 wire one's).
If that is OK, then the problem is most likely with your drive controller (that's built into your motherboard). I say this because you also had problems with the CD/DVD drives.
How to fix this? That's a poser. For now, I'd suggest resetting your BIOS to the default values (the easiest way to do this is to unplug the system from the wall, open the case, ground yourself on the metal frame of the case, and remove the CMOS battery (a silver thing about the size of a nickle), and then wait at least 30 minutes before putting it back in).
A BIOS flash may also become necessary - but for now hold off on that (because it can destroy your motherboard if not done right).
Then try to install XP again. First try it with all but the hard drive and floppy being disconnected. Then try it with the hard drive and one CD connected (and everything else disconnected) - this'll help to rule out problems with the floppy or the CD Drive. You can also troubleshoot this by getting another hard drive to try in place of the one you currently have.
Should all this fail, I'd try the BIOS flash as a last resort and then would start thinking about replacing the motherboard (or a new system with lot's of goodies on it!)
Check the cables to your hard drive to ensure that they're the correct one's (you should be using the 80 wire cables with IDE - not the 40 wire one's).
If that is OK, then the problem is most likely with your drive controller (that's built into your motherboard). I say this because you also had problems with the CD/DVD drives.
How to fix this? That's a poser. For now, I'd suggest resetting your BIOS to the default values (the easiest way to do this is to unplug the system from the wall, open the case, ground yourself on the metal frame of the case, and remove the CMOS battery (a silver thing about the size of a nickle), and then wait at least 30 minutes before putting it back in).
A BIOS flash may also become necessary - but for now hold off on that (because it can destroy your motherboard if not done right).
Then try to install XP again. First try it with all but the hard drive and floppy being disconnected. Then try it with the hard drive and one CD connected (and everything else disconnected) - this'll help to rule out problems with the floppy or the CD Drive. You can also troubleshoot this by getting another hard drive to try in place of the one you currently have.
Should all this fail, I'd try the BIOS flash as a last resort and then would start thinking about replacing the motherboard (or a new system with lot's of goodies on it!)
Thank you John for the very detailed advice. Just the thought of losing the BIOS memory and failing that, having to flash it, has terrified me. I have a little computer knowledge but as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (in the wrong hands. )
After discussing all your suggestions with my husband (who uses the computer) and explained my anxieties about making matters worse, he has decided to take the computer, complete with motherboard drivers, to a computer repair shop. Although he has great faith in my supposed "abilities," I do know my limits. They will clean install XP for him also - the computer wouldn't do that either.
A nice new computer would have been my preferred course of action but I have been overruled.
I have asked the computer repair people to let me know what exactly caused the problem and how they solved it - if they can. My instinct is that there is something incompatible between the motherboard, the graphics card (which cannot accommodate 1440x900 wide screen resolution) and the rest of the computer innards. The wide screen monitor purchased on Thursday was exchanged on Saturday for a plain vanilla 19" flat screen. The resolution is fine on this one, but the previously downloaded graphics update seems to have unhinged both the CD drives.
I will post the results of the computer repair as soon as I have them. It might be helpful for others.
Many thanks for all the help. I very much appreciate the trouble you took to assist me.
After discussing all your suggestions with my husband (who uses the computer) and explained my anxieties about making matters worse, he has decided to take the computer, complete with motherboard drivers, to a computer repair shop. Although he has great faith in my supposed "abilities," I do know my limits. They will clean install XP for him also - the computer wouldn't do that either.
A nice new computer would have been my preferred course of action but I have been overruled.
I have asked the computer repair people to let me know what exactly caused the problem and how they solved it - if they can. My instinct is that there is something incompatible between the motherboard, the graphics card (which cannot accommodate 1440x900 wide screen resolution) and the rest of the computer innards. The wide screen monitor purchased on Thursday was exchanged on Saturday for a plain vanilla 19" flat screen. The resolution is fine on this one, but the previously downloaded graphics update seems to have unhinged both the CD drives.
I will post the results of the computer repair as soon as I have them. It might be helpful for others.
Many thanks for all the help. I very much appreciate the trouble you took to assist me.
Most monitors are plug and play, it would not affect anything, graphics cards don't interfere with other device drives. The cause of your problem, could have been a resource problem, or it could have been a voltage problem. Either way, I suggest you beg your husband for a new computer, I think you'd be happier with a newer system. By the time your done, repair costs may be just as much.
The latest update on that computer is:
The repairers have advised that there is a problem with the HDD which has a corrupted or bad sector. This explains why XP would not load successfully for us.
As to the problem with the 2 CD drives, it seems there is a problem with the CD ROM drive which we have been advised not to use in future and use the burner drive for everything CD related. There was mention of the IDE port, (I think) which could be at fault and might be the reason for the 2 drives not working together. (When one drive is unplugged the other works and vise versa.) Rather than have them spend any more time trying to rectify the CD Rom - a new motherboard would solve it - we have told them to replace the HDD and load the XP OS for us while they are at it. This seems the best solution for now at any rate as the total cost will be less than a new computer - if not as much fun!
Very many thanks for all the helpful suggestions from everyone. I do appreciate the trouble everyone has taken to assist me.
The repairers have advised that there is a problem with the HDD which has a corrupted or bad sector. This explains why XP would not load successfully for us.
As to the problem with the 2 CD drives, it seems there is a problem with the CD ROM drive which we have been advised not to use in future and use the burner drive for everything CD related. There was mention of the IDE port, (I think) which could be at fault and might be the reason for the 2 drives not working together. (When one drive is unplugged the other works and vise versa.) Rather than have them spend any more time trying to rectify the CD Rom - a new motherboard would solve it - we have told them to replace the HDD and load the XP OS for us while they are at it. This seems the best solution for now at any rate as the total cost will be less than a new computer - if not as much fun!
Very many thanks for all the helpful suggestions from everyone. I do appreciate the trouble everyone has taken to assist me.
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