If you're attaching the CD-ROM's with the same cable or on the same IDE channel, I would suspect the cable or channel on the motherboard.
Does the problem go away if you use a different cable?
Does it go away if you connect to a different bus?
Have you tried connecting the CD-ROM to the same cable as the hard drive?
Did you make sure you set master/slave instead of relying on cable select settings? (Which don't work in such old hardware.)
Anyway, may things could be the root cause. I hope these suggestions help.
----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa Kachold
To: Main PLUG discussion list
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 10:55 AM
Subject: RE: OT: hardware question
A 300 MHz is going to be a tad slow. The current requirements for FreeGeek recycled equipment are 500Mhz and the older equipment works great for most users. After all what are we doing but browsing?
The best tool in my bag is a Big TACK or twisty wire with the plastic bitten off at that base, to insert into the tiny CDROM hole and release the drive bay door.
It's the "Hal 9000 drive bay door problem"...."I am sorry Dave, I can't do that..." Arthur C. Clark
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Obnosis ||
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obnosis | Obnosis.com (503)754-4452
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:42:03 -0700
> From: vltreude@deru.com
> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: Re: OT: hardware question
>
>
> Vaughn Treude wrote:
> > Hello, everyone. Here's an OT question that is at least
> > computer-related. :-)
> >
> > I'm trying to resurrect an old 300 MHz PC I was using to run an ISA
> > scope card, and to run an old test suite that only works on - get ready
> > for this - Windows 95. (It worked fine for that.) I was having trouble
> > with the CD-ROM drive. I replaced it with four others from my "old
> > hardware" supplies in my closet, and none appeared to work. The drives
> > would power up and the BIOS would recognize them but none wanted to
> > eject the tray. (Actually, one one of them, the tray would work a couple
> > times and then be stuck closed until I cycled power.) Could all these
> > drives be bad, or could it be that the old generic 300W power supply was
> > flakey?
> >
> > I happened to have a relatively new Antec supply; I'd swapped it out on
> > a newer machine on which I'd suspected supply problems. Well, the
> > problem wasn't the supply, but I was too lazy to return the new supply
> > to Fry's, so I kept this one as a spare. So I thought, good opportunity
> > to test my theory.
> >
> > Turns out that is is an old PC Chips M565 motherboard, sort of an AT/ATX
> > hybrid. It has both types of power connectors, so was able to hook up
> > the Antec. Then I discovered that the little switch connector on the
> > corner has NO remote power switch pins. It has suspend, reset, turbo
> > LED, etc. But no pins marked power or PS or RPS. I even downloaded the
> > manual, which was no help.
> >
> >
> Never mind, I re-read the manual. Supposedly the suspend switch input
> can work as a power switch, if you hold it down for several seconds.
> That didn't work, of course. I like to think I'm being frugal by
> reclaiming old PC's, as I did with this one a few years back. But -
> there's a reason computer hardware is cheap. :-)
> Vaughn
>
> > So this is weird. They _have_ an ATX power connector, but no switch
> > pins. The Antec has a rocker switch on the back, but switching that does
> > nothing, as I expected. Do I now have to swap the old supply back in and
> > hope the problem was something else? (Like four bad drives? Perhaps the
> > IDE2 port is malfunctioning and somehow confusing the drive? Maybe,
> > though I was actually able to access the CD during the brief time the
> > tray worked on one of them.)
> >
> > Or is there some sneaky way to make the Antec power up?
> > Thanks for any help I can get from the hardware hackers among us.
> >
> > Vaughn
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
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> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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