HELP: CD power problems

[d_dog666]

I'm currently helping a friend restore his machine to a working state. I appear to be having strange power problems whilst installing the cd rom (which was fine before).
I'm re-installing windows after wiping his c drive. I use the boot disk and try and start with the cd. Everything seems to go ok, but it can't find the the cd device. I realise that the cd is not responding (no power) but the power plug is in (and tight). So far I've tried every available power plug and the cd does not respond even when it's using the same cable that's attached to the floppy drive (so there is some power). I'm kind of at a loss as I'm not an expert, but I've changed the drives in my own computer serveral times without problems.

The computer is an old p133, but the cd rom (actually a samsung dvd rom) is new.
Does the power supply need changing or is there another way around this?

[Rick]

First place I would look is the power .
When the system boots are you able to open the cd-rom drive door?
If the drive door opens it’s not a power problem.
It’s more than likely a data cable problem.
Double check your pin 1 to pin1 connections and the master slave jumpers

If the cd-rom drive door doesn’t open when the system is powered up
Then you may have a defective drive.

[d_dog666]

As I say above, I already think it's a power problem as the cd rom doesn't respond with any of the power plugs even though the power works to the floppy drive. I haven't checked the jumpers yet. If they aren't set properly, can that effect the drive power supply (as in the cd rom not receiving power)? I assumed the default setting would be ok for now as it's a power issue and not configuration issue (well, I think).

[Paleo Pete]

Yes the jumper settings can affect it. If you have the drive jumpered as Slave and it's the only drive on the IDE channel, the IDE controller is looking for a Master drive, not Slave. It might still be getting power, but will not do anything.

In the above scenario the drive tray should still open, but it will not receive any signals sent through the data cable, since it is not jumpered to be the drive the controller is actually looking for...

I hope that makes a little sense...

[d_dog666]

Ok, that makes perfect sense (thank you). It still doesn't however solve the problem as you said that even with incorrect jumper settings the draw should open....it doesn't (I'm saying this from prior knowledge of the efforts that I made yesterday).
So back to the question of replacing the power supply.

[mjc]

Try pulling the IDE cable, because like Rick suggested, the cable can cause problems. If the drawer will not open with the IDE cable removed then , pull the drive and try it in a nonther machine.

[Rick]

Do you have another cd-rom you could try in the system?
If the power supply is working on the Hdd.
Then it should be ok for the CD also
You could unplug the Hdd and use that power connector for the CD
Boot from a floppy and see if it does anything

The process of elimination as to what is bad.
Power supply or cd-rom
These things have a bad habit of going DOA at the strangest times
While your in the case looking around.
Check for shorts
Even if it includes removing the cd-rom from the mounts
and bench testing it for power up.
Place the drive on a card board next to the system and attach a power cord to it.
Power up and see if the drive bay will open

[Nooyawkah]

I had the same experience, but with a brand new system. First the CD wasn't recognized, then a fan wouldn't work, etc. Different things kept popping up. It turned out to be a faulty Enermax 350 which the e-tailer took back for a full refund. As soon as I plugged the replacement in, the system worked like a charm.

[gwallen4]

Paleo Pete:

Hmmm. I've had CD-roms jumpered as slave as the only drive on the IDE cable and they were recognized and performed just fine (Win98).

[mjc]

That somewhat depends on the chipset, some will disregard any jumper setting of a single drive on a channel, but problems will occur if you add another drive to that channel and have both set as slave or master....

[gwallen4]

MJC said: That somewhat depends on the chipset, some will disregard any jumper setting of a single drive on a channel - -

Not exactly. If you jumper a single drive as slave, the setting won't be disregarded. It will be recognized as slave - at least in the several computers I've seen this done on.

Of course you can't have two drives both jumpered as master (or slave).