Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

[WillyBWright]

I few days ago I did a Windows Update, restarted this puter, and now I can't read or write on my CD burner. Everything else seems fine. I uninstalled, reinstalled, and updated the driver, no help. The system seems to recognize it and claims that it is working. But every time I pop in a CD, it won't read it. It tries a few times and then the led just goes to flashing, indicating a problem. Last week I made a fresh System Disk. It also has a Zip that automatically stores whatever backup files the puter puts there automatically. Should I restart with the System Disk in the floppy drive and hope for the best, or might that make things a whole lot worse? I can't discount a hardware problem, but it was working fine until I did that update.

IBM Personal Computer 300PL
Windows 2000 Professional
AOpen CD-RW CRW2440

This is my sacrificial Internet PC. My good computer is offline, but could go back online if need be I suppose. I bought this used and don't have a Windows CD to reload, which it would't read anyhow I suppose. One driver I downloaded won't work, says not found ASPI Manager. Nero InfoTool shows ASPI loaded and working properly in both System and Nero tabs. Zip files include autoexec.nt, config.nt, and setup.log. Any ideas?

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

First thing I would do is see if can boot from CD - any bootable CD. At boot time, Windows pretty much isn't a player yet. That might tell you something about the hardware.

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

You can also try running chkdsk. The easist way is to go into My Computer, r/click the c drive> Properties>Tools>Error checking, click check now and select both options from the menu. Then reboot.
HTH
Eric

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Alas I don't have a reliable bootable CD. Closest I have is an old Windows 95 CD, but that neeeded DOS to be loaded separately and first. I do have one that I downloaded and burned from Limewire for my old Windows 98 computer and it included versions up to 2000, but it didn't seem to work. I'm hesitant to try it on this one and damage it. It could easily be loaded with nasties. I'll try as a last resort.

I tried the chkdsk with both boxes checked, no help. But I'm glad to know that's there. I learned something new today.

Would I screw things up booting with the System Disk in the floppy? Perhaps I should clarify. It's an Emergency Repair Disk from the same tools area the chkdsk is in and I made it just a few days before this problem arose. I haven't added any software or hardware since. Just downloaded a few movies that I'd really like to burn to watch on my good computer. The display is larger and the sound is better. I play straight from the avi files. My burner won't burn DVDs.

 

[i386]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Yes, if you don't have a way to boot to a cd, just use a 98 startup floppy and choose the option to make cd CD available. Once booted and a drive letter for the cd is assigned you should be able to read cd's from dos. If you can't, it wasn't a problem in windows, you need a new drive.

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Do you have another drive available to test with, like out of your other computer?

 

[Coors]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

yes, erd is good; always update them with 2000 reguarly. no restore, unless you can figure how to get restore console installed- I can't

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

I have the original IBM CD-Rom. It'll default right back in if need be. I'd rather network than yank the burner out of the good computer. Weighing my options at this point. I still have room for 2-3 movies before I have to purge. No hurry. And like I say, networking is an option that's probably overdue. There are a few software reduncies. I'd pick-up some disk space. Not that it's been a problem.

 

[Coors]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Have you tried device manager? R click "my computer"

 

[i386]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

I'm note sure where you are with this Willy. It's quite simple to determine if the drive is bad or if it's something in Windows.

 

[Surge]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

if the problem came on after you updated you could try using system restore. There should be a restore point set before you installed it. Good luck

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Have you tried reinstalling the burning software?

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

I had a whole bunch of info typed in for you guys and decided to pop in a CD for giggles. It seems to have come back to life on it's own. Certainly wasn't anything I did. The computer was shut down today. Maybe it just needed to be restarted the for the fifth time (or more) since the problem.

Thanks for all your help. Something you sugggested apparently worked. Wish I knew which one(s). But many thanks to all of you. As always, you're the best!

There is one difference that comes to mind. All the other times I had Restart tagged. I never just let it shut down then manually restart it. Maybe that's the thing.

 

[Skinnywater]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

I had a whole bunch of info typed in for you guys and decided to pop in a CD for giggles. It seems to have come back to life on it's own. Certainly wasn't anything I did. The computer was shut down today. Maybe it just needed to be restarted the for the fifth time (or more) since the problem.

Thanks for all your help. Something you sugggested apparently worked. Wish I knew which one(s). But many thanks to all of you. As always, you're the best!

There is one difference that comes to mind. All the other times I had Restart tagged. I never just let it shut down then manually restart it. Maybe that's the thing.

As long as it's working that's great.
BUT I did a MS update a couple of weeks ago and started getting DLL file problem prompts (WinXP). And it involved a media program on my laptop.
I did a search and was directed back to MS's update site for a patch for the previous patch, which was another update.
It cured the problem so you might want to do another Win update, just in case.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Windows Update killed my CD-RW?

Patch for a patch now that sounds good roflmao