Cd Rom won't read

[neveryonas]

I recently got this computer, a 333 mhz, that started developing problems with the cd rom...it would start randomly not reading disks, and then the icon for the cd rom would be an audio icon.
I thought maybe it was the cd rom, and tried one from another computer that I know works. And it is the same thing...just the audio symbol everytime you put a disk in. When you click to open it, it opens up an audio program, even though it was not an audio disk...I tried many disks, as well, that work fine in my other computer. So I know it is not the disks.
If I boot into dos, and try to read the cd rom drive, it says invalid drive specification...on boot up, where it lists the drives, it comes up as a secondary slave...and the full name of the cd rom doesn't come up, only part of it...with a bunch of 0000 in front and behind...
Wrong connections...or what is going on...please help

[saphalline]

Hmmm... older computers are particularly susceptible to misconfigurations. I think that's the problem here, especially since you know it's not a broken CD drive.

What kind of computer is this? Is it a Compaq or other brand name? Can you tell us the rest of the info on drives? Ie, what drives are present and how are they jumpered? You said the problems just started - did this start randomly or has something been changed recently? Also, have you checked the inside for dust and unplugged & replugged all the cables?

[Sylvander]

"If I boot into dos, and try to read the cd rom drive, it says invalid drive specification"
1. Are there any CD-ROM drivers loaded when you do this?
2. Which DOS prompt are you using? Win98 Startup floppy [will load CD-ROM drivers]]? Boot floppy [won't automatically load CD-drive drivers]? Boot to "Command Prompt only" [won't automatically load CD-drive drivers]?

"on boot up, where it lists the drives"
Are they set to "Auto" detect then?

"it comes up as a secondary slave"
Is it [or not] on the secondary IDE controller and jumpered as slave?

"and the full name of the cd rom doesn't come up, only part of it...with a bunch of 0000 in front and behind"
Not being correctly "Auto-detected"?
Is it correctly identified in the BIOS Setup?

[neveryonas]

Okay, I fixed the secondary slave thingie, wrong jumper setting,
as far as history of the computer, no it it is not compaq, it is a bunch of stuff put toegther...an Intel 33 mhz, and I reinstalled a win98 os on a harddrive,
originally using 98 start up disk....
It has been a orgy of computer parts....trying to get at least one going from a bunch that didn't work...
as I say, everything was working, when I placed a harddrive in with an os(win98), and then the cd rom slowly detoriated....to the point that all you get is this audio symbol...
of course, I tried fdisking...and formatting the hard drive only to realize that duh...I can't because, it won't read the cd rom in order to put a new os system on....
so I put another hard drive in, that had an os...and still same problem.
Is this something in the bios?
I don't know the bios all that well...
any suggestions...

[pave_spectre]

I had a similar problem once, and it was to do with long filenames, the computer refused to see it as anything but audio if the filenames weren't 8.3 format. I eventually got it to see long file names by disabling some of the Joliet or Rock Ridge extensions (can't remember which, it was a while ago) when burning the CD.

You might do a test by burning a few files with names in the 8.3 format on a re-writable CD and see if it will read those as data.

--EDIT--

My thread about the problem HERE (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=27954), you may be able to ingnore the bit about trans.tbl files.

[Sylvander]

How can we help if you don't answer our questions? :(

"I tried fdisking...and formatting the hard drive"
Did you use a startup floppy, and was that successful?

"only to realize that duh...I can't because, it won't read the cd rom in order to put a new os system on...."
I wonder if it will boot from a bootable CD.
How to make a “Smart Boot Manager” floppy
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41498
This makes it easy to choose a drive from which to boot.
How to make an EBCD bootable CD
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41485
At the bottom of this thread I show how to use "File Manager" [I used "Volkov Commander" in that case] to copy the Windows installation files to a HDD partition and run the installation from there.

"I put another hard drive in, that had an os"
OUCH! That's asking for trouble; the installed Windows OS should only work with the hardware on which it was installed. The OS is matched to the hardware. It should only work if the 2nd set of hardware is identical.

"Is this something in the bios?"
The CD-drive [same for ALL drives] needs to have its parameters correctly specified in the BIOS Setup. The best way to do that is to have all the drives [the "Type"] set to "Auto" ["Dynamically Auto-Detect"] in the BIOS Setup.
That way the drives are auto-detected at EACH & every startup; so if you make changes [switch drives around or change jumper settings] these are catered for. Once the BIOS parameters are correct, these are passed on to Windows. Then it becomes a question of whether Windows is handling the situation well or badly.

WINDOWS
You may have a corrupted registry.
a "repair" reinstallation of Windows should fix that if that's the cause.
I need to understand what is being seen as "Audio".
The CD itself?
Or all the files on the CD?
How does the CD-drive look in Device Manager?