My CD ROM/Burner are somewhat half dead, XP does not recognize them! Please help.

March 18, 2008 12:42 PM

My CD ROM/Burner are somewhat half dead, XP does not recognize them! Please help.

I'd like to point out that everything was going well for my computer until about a week later after I downloaded the SP3 update. I'm currently kicking myself.

OS: WinXP Professional 5.1 SP3, v.3311 (Build #2600)
CPU: Intel Pentium D , 2.99 GHz, 1024KB Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (1920x1200x32bpp 60Hz) Sound: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [BCC0] Memory: Used: 583/2046MB

About 3 days ago my computer got a blue screen that said;

'I/O Error \Device\harddisk5\dr19 was not completed before the timeout period expired'

After that I couldn't turn on the computer because it would shut itself off 5 seconds after I press the button. After about 6-7 tries, the computer finally started but gave me the following error;

Drive 4 not found: Parallel Ata, Pata-0, IDE1 Master
Drive 5 not found: Parallel Ata, Pata-1, IDE1 Slave

Needless to say, the computer doesn't see the drives, but device manager says they are working fine, along with BIOS.

Any thoughts? I'd like to just format at this point but how is that possible with a bootable cd?

Thanks in advance

posted by cheero to computers & internet (5 comments total)

As far as format/reinstall goes, have you tried putting a bootable disc in the drive and restarting, to see what happens? If BIOS is recognizing them, it seems that you should be able to boot.
posted by owtytrof at 1:18 PM on March 18, 2008

The CD Rom opens fine and takes the disc, but it doesn't run it.
posted by cheero at 6:08 PM on March 18, 2008

This is a tough one. But I can suggest a few tools that might help you hunt down the problem.

You should download a program called Device Tree ( http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?article=97 ). Unfortunately, you have to register to download it. After, you open it, let it enumerate the drivers and then check the \Device\Disk\dr19 and other sections in that portion.


Also, maybe the Sysinternals tools Filemon & Diskmon will be useful. ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896642.aspx - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896646.aspx )
posted by frankie_stubbs at 10:20 PM on March 18, 2008

Another note: consider posting screenshots and logs at the SysInternals forum:

http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=6
posted by frankie_stubbs at 10:27 PM on March 18, 2008

System Restore? (Go back to somewhere before this shit started... then format!!)

Or.. might not help but - my disc drive is fine for everything but running the disc for a format as in it just won't spin it...

If you have another drive on hand, see if that makes a difference?
(I can't format unless I put another one in first.)

Also coincidences rarely are but loose screws and whatever cause all sorts of troubles too?
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 1:50 PM on March 19, 2008