For quite awhile now my hardrive is unable to recognize or even burn CD's.
I been trying to find out the problem but I don't have enough knowledge to find out what it is.
I was wondering if somebody can help me with my problems and give me some step-to-step information or advice to get my hardrive to fully work again. I would really appreciate the help.

Thank you so much in advance.

-Mickey

First, to clear up the terms as you seem to not understand them:
A hard drive is a little disk inside your computer that stores data and your operating system.
The computer is the big box that sits on your desk and contains the CD, hard disk, and floppy drive, and everything plugs into it.
You were confusing "hard drive" with "computer"

Ok, after that's cleared up, does it see the drive in My Computer, and is just not playing anything? Or is the computer completely oblivious to it?

If it cannot be seen in My Computer, then you will need to turn off the computer, and open the case to check what is wrong.

WARNING! ESD CAN RUIN YOUR COMPUTER! You MUST discharge yourself by grounding yourself by touching an unpainted metal part of the case. You can then touch components inside the computer. Also make sure it's off.

First, look at the ribbon cable the drive is attached to. Is it plugged in all the way? Make sure it is. Also push on the Molex power cable (It has red black and yellow cords). You don't need to baby it, but you won't need to use full force either.

When that gets done, follow the ribbon cable (if it goes 2 ways, check both of them), and make sure it plugs into the motherboard. (It is big, flat, and has a bunch of chips on it). If it isn't plugged in all the way, give it a gentle push. When you follow the cable, does it also plug into another drive? If it does, you will need to make sure the jumpers are set to master on one, and slave on the other. (You will need to take the drive out of the computer to do this part, so you can properly move the jumpers and see the locations for the jumpers on the top of the case, or somewhere else on the case).

Close it up and turn on the computer. If something has gone horribly wrong, or it catches on fire, turn it off. Otherwise it should boot up normally. Then check if the computer recognizes the drive.

Hi Mickey, I agree that there seems to be a little confusion as far as terminology goes, all of the parts that comprise the "computer" are found inside the case. If you are trying to burn CDs then the specific drive that your are using is a CD-RW or a DVD-RW combo which will burn both.

Mind answering a few questions? Have you been able to burn CDs prior to this? What software are you using? Are you getting any error messages, if so what exactly are they? Are you experiencing any other problems?

The terms you have mixed up are "hard drive" and "cd drive", not "hard drive" and "computer".

What software are you using, if any, and how long has it not been working? Can you hear the disk spin when you put it in the drive or not, if you can't then it's probably a power problem (either with cables or the actual drive has broken) and if it does spin then it's more likely to be a software glitch..

Okay, I might try to go in my computer to check the drive itself later, but I'm going to answer the questions first.


No, I have not been able to burn CD's for the passed 6-7 months.
I either use Nero, i-Tunes, or Windows Media Player.
No, I am not receiving any error messages.
Yes, one time I put in a CD and I left it in the for about 20 Minutes. Around that time I seen the little Disk icon but the disk still can't be read.



Yes I mixed up the words hard drive with CD drive.

I either use Nero, i-Tunes, or Windows Media Player and it hasn't been working for the passed 6-7 months.
Yes I can hear some sort of spinning noise when I insert the disk.


I really appreciate the help guys!

http://www.bustrace.com/products/devfilter.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben...p;x=12&y=13

http://winhlp.com/WxDMA.htm

too many cooks spoil the soup

Thanks for helping, I appreciate it.

OK, first off I read the first link that is some useful information but I have no idea what it is trying to tell me...
and the second link say's

I can access the drive and I don't receive any error messages.

some programs insert filter drivers in the bus, as read/burn commands pass to the drive, they go thru these filters,
as these drivers interact and/or get corrupted, the commands get garbled

use the bus trace, to check for what's installed

use the msguide to remove the filter drivers

then test the drive

OK, I deleted my upper and lower filters and for some reason my CD-Drive still can't burn.
I appreciate the help but is there any other advice out there?

There are two other things to try, disconnect the IDE and molex connectors from the drive and cycle the power on/off, reattach the cables and turn on the computer and the computer should recognize it as new hardware and will try to find the appropriate drivers for that drive. If that fails, google you make and model and see if there are any up dates for its firmware.

Where do I disconnect the IDE and Molex Connectors?
Also, where is the on and off switch for that?
I don't know if you mean the on and off switch for the computer itself or something completely different.

I REALLY APPRECIATE THE HELP GUYS!
THANKS ALOT!