I bought a CD Re-writer 2 manybe 3 years ago and thought it would be easy to install because the shop owner refused to install it cos he said it would only take 10 mins to install and it was very simple to do, but it has been 3 years and still havent been able to install it. Theres tones of info on my comp that has piled u after this time and I want to get it off onto cds before the computer throws a wobily.

Its a CD-W54EK D-RW Drive, I have the drive in my computer at this very moment but nothing is connected to it. I have an interface cable which I took out and replaced with the one they gave me, which has connectors on each of the 3 ends. It is still in my machine. The one which I to out has 2 connecters on either end.

When I did have it connected, I connected the Interface cable to it and the power cable but there is no audo cable, does it have to have one because im not bothered about the audio unless it neededs it for the setup.

I insetred the the cd when I turned it on but nothing happened. It does'nt show a new drive or anything but it makes the cd drive disappear somtimes.

Can u help me.

Thanks

The Creator

Sounds like you need to check your BIOS settings.

But first, let's doublecheck your hardware. The IDE cable should have a connector on each end, and one in the middle. The end further away from the middle connector should attach to the mainboard. The mainboard should indicate where pin one is - if not, you need to check the mainboard manual or website. The red wire goes to pin one.

Before you go poking around, make sure you've taken the necessary precautions - ground yourself to eliminate any static charge you may be carrying, and unplug the power cord if you have an ATX mainboard.

Sounds like you're hooking it up on the same IDE channel as an existing CD-ROM drive. Check the jumper on the existing device. They're sometimes shipped with a special jumper setting that indicates it's the only device on the cable. Pull the jumper out and put it into either the "master" or "slave" position. Jumper the new drive to the other setting. You can't have two masters or two slaves on the same cable. Convention says that master goes on the end connector and slave on the middle connector (a holdover from cable select drives - if you see "cable select" or "CS" as a jumper setting, avoid it). Also, most people will set their new CD-RW drive as master and their old CD-ROM drive as slave.

The audio cable is necessary only if you want to play music directly from the drive to the sound card. If not, you can skip it.

Then, when your computer boots, you need to go into your BIOS settings program (usually by pressing Delete or an F- button like F1 or F2 immediately or within a few seconds after you hear the "beep" from the internal speaker) and tell your computer to look for it (autodetect). Some BIOS setup programs require that you tell it to look for a CD-ROM as opposed to, say, a hard drive. Check your mainboard documentation for specifics.

Post back and let us know how it went.

Edit: I forgot to mention - on the drives, the red wire on the IDE cable should be closest to the molex (power) connector. The IDE connection on the drive should be keyed to prevent you from easily inserting it backwards, as well.

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I been doing it since I was a young kid
I come out grinnin'
I fight authority,
Authority always wins

[This message has been edited by penta_chris (edited 06-13-2002).]

Ive connected the middle interface cable to the new drive and the connector furthest away from the middle connecter has been conected to the motherboard and the last connecter to the CD Rom drive.

The power cable has been connected to the new drive but what do u mean by jumper?

What is a jumper, is it the black connecter on the CD rom drive cos thats the only thing connected to it, other than the power and interface cable.

There is a green socket next to it for somthing to be pluged in. And on the mother board the other end of the black connecter is connected, above it is a green socket and above that is a yellow socket to be used. Are any of these a master or slave.

When u say pull the jumper out and put it in either the master or slave position, do u mean pull out the black connecter and connect it to the new drives socket??

Oh and my CD rom drive has disapeared for my computer icon. But it reappears when I disconnect the Interface cable from the new drive.

On the back of the CDRW drive the should be a series of pins (6 or so) with a little plastic rectangle covering 2 of them, that plastic rectangle is the jumper. This jumper needs to be set to "slave"...there should be markings that designate which pins do which function.

M S C
S L S

O O O
|
|
O O O

That or this is most likely how it is currently set:


M S C
S L S

O O O
|
|
O O O

This is how it should be set:


M S C
S L S

O O O
|
|
O O O

The other cable is most likely an audio cable, which is only needed if you intend to play music CDs on this drive, but if you are leaving your CD drive connected then you really don't need to worry about it for this drive.


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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

wil my cd Drive re apear when ive gone through the BIOS settings program?

Should look like this:

M S C
S L S

O O O
|....
|....
O O O

That or this is most likely how it is currently set:


M S C
S L S

O O O
....|
....|
O O O

This is how it should be set:


M S C
S L S

O O O
..|..
..|..
O O O

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Ive just set the jumper to slave on the back of the CD re-writer and I didnt go in to the bios I just let the compute load up and it said building driver database and now my cd rom is back and a new cd driv hs appeared in my compuer folder what now do i need t go back to msdos

Ok, you should be fine...everything should be back to normal and you should be able to boot to your OS in your normal manner.....

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

I have been in the bios setup and there is a list of the computers components which include these which do I set to auto detect. Ive set my re-writeable drive to Slave which do I choose??

Primary IDE Master AUTO
Primary IDE Slave Not Istalled
Secondary IDE Master Auto
Secondary IDE Slave Not Installed

Because when I double click on the new drive it says D;/ drive not aceesable, the device is not ready.

If it is on the same cable as the CD drive then the Secondary Slave should be set to auto detect.

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.