Computer Sometimes Won't Read DVD Drive

[James]

We've been having thunderstorms around here, so I've been turning my computer off every now and then. We've had power outages, but my computer was off as those times.

Twice now, when I turn my system back on, I get this message;

Drive 3 not found: Parallel ATA, PATA-1 (PRI IDE Slave)


Then it asks me to his F1 to continue, or F2 to setup the drive. I hit F1, and the drive doesn't show up at all, and has no power to open the tray. I have to restart my system again to get it to recognize the drive.

When I have the chance, I'll open it up and see if there's anything to clean out or loose connections. But would there be any other reasons this is happening? Since it ONLY happens when I turn my computer off and back on (2 out of the last 3 times), and not WHILE the computer's running, I don't think it's a physical issue.

[whoreable]

sounds like you have a dell, if so go into the setup and reset the defaults to redetect the drives(press alt-f).

[Archduke Tips]

Do you use a surge protector?

[James]

sounds like you have a dell, if so go into the setup and reset the defaults to redetect the drives(press alt-f).

What setup? And what exactly would this fix?

Do you use a surge protector?

Yes.

[Fathom Zero]

I believe he's talking about the setup in the BIOS, you know, the F1/F2/DEL command during boot-up.

[Archduke Tips]

What kind of controller does the hard drive use?
The main types are ATA, RAID, and SATA.

If the drive uses a small cable with kind of a thin termination that only has a few gold pins on a small insert in the middle of it, then you have SATA.

If it uses a bunch of pins then it is ATA or RAID.

Its searching for a parallel drive, and you may have a serial drive. Sometimes this can get reset in the BIOS.

Also, your hard drive might just be fucked. When those things give out, it is very hard to fix them.

[James]

I have a SATA drive, but my computer isn't even a year old.

Keep in mind I'm talking about my DVD drive, not a hard drive.

[Archduke Tips]

Sorry, for some reason I was thinking hard drives. It should be the same type of controller though.

So what exactly happens when it doesn't read a DVD? Does it get the DVD spinning at all?

There is a certain difficulty in diagnosing a problem with a PC remotely because so many things could be causing the DVD reader to fail. My advice would be to live with it until the component that is causing the problem completely fails. Then you will know what was bad and you don't spend any extra money.