(no subject)

[violachic]

What reasons would there be for my computer to stop recognizing its CD drive? Neither CDs or DVDs work, even though I can hear them spinning in the drive. So as far as I can tell, the drive works, my computer just doesn't want to recognize there's anything in there.

Comments

Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[ironheadjane.livejournal.com]

could be that something got confused w/ the drivers, and that is what is making it malfunction (the puter and the drive are not talking to eachother amicably). or it's possible that the cd connection to the puter has been disconnected.

Did you download anything recently or update anything on the puter? Have you downloaded the latest updates for your computer? Have you dinged or dropped it recently?

If it were an apple, I'd say, take it to the apple store. :)

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did reboot it :-) Several times. I know the automatic updates have been installed, I always let them install. I've downloaded a bunch of custom content for my sims, but I've been doing that for ages. I'm not sure I really -dropped- it exactly, but it did hit the floor a few days ago harder than I wanted it too when I put it down. I'm wondering if there's a place in the control panel or something that would show me some info, but if there is I can't seem to find it.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[ankh156.livejournal.com]

It's a laptop ?

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Sorry, yes, its a laptop.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[ankh156.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the knock didn't shake loose the IDE connecter. If it did, you'll have to open it and confirm the connections.

Try the device manager first.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[violachic.livejournal.com]

tanyad just walked me through all that on the phone, to no success. The Device Manager tells me it is all working properly. But under "device usage" it is all gray, which Tanya tells me it should be. If I uninstall the driver then reboot the computer, I get a message that there is new hardware found, but it doesn't seem to want to take me anywhere that I can install new hardware. But Tanya says she will come by later and actually take a look at the computer, see if we can't solve the problem.

I don't know what the IDE connecter is. I've only got the most basic rudimentaries of computers.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[tanyad.livejournal.com]

My guess is that the drop shook something loose, keeping it from realizing that there is a DVD drive connected.

Cross your fingers I can talk some sense into the recalcitrant beast!

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[grahamwest.livejournal.com]

If it finds the hardware the cable is connected okay. The greyed-out device usage makes me think there's a software driver problem. I wouldn't expect it to ask for a driver, Windows has built in drivers for CD and DVD drives so it should just add them. More likely it's conflicting with something else, or some other piece of software has damaged the drivers.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Any way to figure out what, and fix it?

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[jk-fabiani.livejournal.com]

keeping it from realizing that there is a DVD drive connected.

Could be. Oddly, it did recognize new hardware. I wonder if that's the DVD drive? If so, the cable may be connected still.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[ankh156.livejournal.com]

It's not difficult to find the IDE connector, but sometimes laptops are a bugger to get open. Let your friend try for you.

Re: Have you tried turning it on and off again? (that's a quote from "the IT crowd")

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that should be "which Tanya tells me it shouldn't be"

[tanyad.livejournal.com]

hey call me at home... I'll try to walk you through the device manager

[brotherskeeper1.livejournal.com]

It might be that your CD rom drive is bad. I had to have mine replaced a couple of years ago for this very same problem.

Good luck!

I'm from the sims 2 group you posted this on

[morriganrane.livejournal.com]

Right then, i'm suppling a temporary fix so you can play your sims 2 game untill you can figure out the problem.

You can download a no-cd patch so that you won't need the cd to play.
It won't harm your game (just make sure you rename the file you are replacing so that you have the origanal somewhere) although Maxis doesn't support them and says they will not supply tech help to someone using one. (but then you have to remember that maxis tech help always give the same answer anyway "delete all custon content and reinstall") its frowned apon because it is one of the file types used by software pirates to make their illegal copies work. (you have a legal copy so you don't have to worry about trouble like that). However i couldn't give this answer on the group because of the rules.

the link below is info on what exactly a no-cd patch is.
http://compsimgames.about.com/cs/firsttimehere/a/nocd_patches_2.htm

where to get the file. I have used this site before and have not had problems
http://spacetarget.com/games/pc_the_sims_2.shtml

Re: I'm from the sims 2 group you posted this on

[violachic.livejournal.com]

I'm so sadly technologically illiterate. I understand the concept of a no-cd patch, but the place where you get files confuses me. Does it matter if I get an exe file or a fixed image?