Sony CRX-230EE internal drive in external case problem

[jonah hex]

i just installed a new external Sony CD-R/RW drive into an enclosure, and it won't recognize the drive. i have tried MA/SL jumper, but no go. the unit powers up, but no drive letter shown. i am busy looking for Sony drivers, but that's slowly going nowhere.

any help?

much...

[mjc]

Which OS?

USB or Firewire?

Onboard or add in card for the USB/Firewire?

[jonah hex]

XP SP2
USB

have tried different USB cables, but still not.

[Paul Komski]

Run diskmgmnt.msc and see if the drive is reconised there. If the drive was never partitioned/formatted that would be the place to do that.

If not in Disk Management then run devmgmnt.msc and see if the drive is shown under disk drives.

[jonah hex]

how to run Disk Management?
when i went into the Device Management, the drive is recognized as: USB Storage Device USB Device, under Disk Drives, with no drivers installed. i tried to update drivers, but the usual "cannot find better drivers", came up.

thanks again...

[Sylvander]

Below is an image of my Device Manager display with with decies shown "By Connection".
It shows the Fujitsu IDE HDD that's fitted in an external USB 2.0 connected enclosure by ViPowER.
The HDD is the only thing that doesn't need a driver.
The "Enhanced Host Controller", "USB 2.0 Root Hub", "SmartCable", "Storage Adapter Bridge Module" all have drivers installed.
In my case I'm running Win98SE, and drivers for that OS were supplied [on a driver CD] with the "SmartCable" [which has the USB2 circuitry built into the cables' plug] that is made and supplied by the manufacturers of the enclosure, and is used to connect the enclosure to a USB2 socket.

Are the drivers for your USB enclosure/cable supplied in the WinXP installation files?
Are they all shown as installed and working?

[Paul Komski]

how to run Disk Management?
You didn't say whether the drive is seen in Disk Management or not and if so whether it contains any partitions. What to do next depends on whether the disk has been partitioned or not and whether there is any data on the drive that you do not want to lose.

If it is there and just contains unallocated space - right click on it and choose to partition or initialise the drive or follow the wizared for partitioning and formatting the drive. Normally a new HDD would just have unallocated space on it and does not become functional until it has bee initialised in this way. Once initialised (partitioned and formatted) Windows should assign drive letters and only then can the drive show up in My Computer.

[Sylvander]

" i just installed a new external Sony CD-R/RW drive into an enclosure"
Versus...
"You didn't say whether the drive is seen in Disk Management or not and if so whether it contains any partitions"

It's a CD-RW drive Paul. :confused:

[ErnieK]

I think someone is getting a wee bit mixed up. jonah hex said
i just installed a new external Sony CD-R/RW drive into an enclosure

So formating of drive not required

[Paul Komski]

My mistake - went off on completely the wrong track. However if the drive is recognised in Device Manager it could be the uppr/lower filters problem requiring the patch is available on the web.

Googling for http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=upperfilters+patch&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

might give you a heads up but I'm rushing off just now.

[jonah hex]

thanks for all the info.
?'s: How do i get into/run Disk Management?
Which patch should i download?
the drive came from a bulk load. does this affect anything?

again, thanks

[Sylvander]

CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive appears to be missing after you install Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320553/en-us)

You delete the "upperfilters" & "Lowerfilters" registry settings as the link instructs.

[Paul Komski]

You can get a script from dougknox at http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_cd_dvd_fix.htm

It may or may not work for this relatively common problem.

[jonah hex]

ok

Sylvander: Will this screw anything up?
Paul: Do i run it before i plug the drive in?

fin: Where/what/how do i access Disk management?

much...

[Paul Komski]

Paul: Do i run it before i plug the drive in?
I don't think it matters but you should probably reboot in any case.

[Sylvander]

"Will this screw anything up?"
I believe it won't; it's recommended by those in the know.
But it's always a good idea to have backups so you can always recover the way things used to be.
The ultimate fall-back backup is an image of the partition that can be restored from utside of Windows using a program loaded from a bootable floppy or CD. Try the free trial version of Image on the free "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD] below.

Pauls method is more automated, therefore less liable to error, so I urge you to use that.

1. How to make a free “Smart Boot Manager” floppy
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41498
This makes it easier to boot a chosen drive [particularly the one holding the EBCD].

2. How to make a free EBCD bootable CD
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41485
This has a number of useful utilities included including "Image" [for DOS, by Terabyte] & "File Manager".

[jonah hex]

before i leave for a bit...
have tried Paul's fix, and so far no go.
again, when i plug the USB into the port, under Disk Drives in System Management, it is added as USB Storage Device USB Device, with No Drivers Installed.
i will mess with the registry when i get home, but just thought i would let you know how it is going.

do i need drivers from Sony, or are drivers not needed, as Ernie said?

thanks for taking the time, and if someday i can help with something, i will...

[Sylvander]

"when i plug the USB into the port, under Disk Drives in System Management, it is added as USB Storage Device USB Device, with No Drivers Installed."
If the devices are displayed in Device Manager [does XP use "System Management"?] "By Connection", the drive itself should be identified and needs no driver, but all the USB devices above it should have drivers.

"do i need drivers from Sony"
No, it would be the enclosure or its connecting USB cable that would have drivers to accompany it [only for those OS's that don't include the drivers]. Who is the manufacturer of your enclosure?
My first USB 2.0 cable had faulty circuitry inside the plug and didn't work.
The replacement worked fine, so in my first case it was a hardware fault.

[Paul Komski]

System Management is not clear to me; perhaps another phrase is appropriate.

Device Management in the attached pic shows a USB disk drive.

[jonah hex]

sorry bout that...
System/Hardware/Device Manager/Disk Drives: USB Storage Device USB Device
not recognized under Disk Management.
have switched cords, no go.
will try the Registry option and let you know.
found the enclosure disk, and it installs an USB Toolbox, which doesn't seem to do anything.

slow boat...

[jonah hex]

registry fiddle brought nil.
the enclosure is a generic brand, so i think i might get a Vantec enclosure.
one more shot is trying it ayt mine folks home and office.
if there are more steps to take, please oblige...