CD Drive problems

I'm not exactly sure what forum this should be in so I'm going to put it here. My internal cd drive hasn't worked for a few months. The busy light flashes and it seems the drive is attempting to read the cd. Unfortunately the drive was never read by the notebook. A few days ago my laptop totally stopped working and began to display "disk read error". I replaced the HD. I also replaced the cd drive, hoping that it would fix the problem. The CD drive did not work and I have no way of installing the OS onto my computer. Suggestions on how to fix my CD drive or install the OS without a CD drive would be helpful.

 

I suspect it may be a dying power supply, but I recommend you take it to a repair shop. Once you lose the ability to install an OS on a machine, that's about it.

 

I keep it plugged into the AC power source though. I rarely run it off the battery.

 

try to fix it

 

How do I "try to fix it"?

 

Did you try to replace the original drive and see what happens??? It could that the drives connection is lose. I have had this problem on my desktop, but not a notebook. It turned out to be a lose connection. Try to clean all the connection, and make sure that all the cables are securely hooked to the motherboard and drive, then put it back in and try again.

 

Google a bit and you will find ways of installing xp with usb pendrive. Thats if you got a 1gig pendrive and your bios can boot from it. If you can't then get an external floppy drive and download dos etc and load the usb drivers. Then install your OS that way.

Or ssee if you got an external cdrom.

One other way I could think of is using pxe boot, boot from network. But I haven't got a clue how to set it up. Think you would need to setup a pxe server first.

 

Sorry, I forgot to ask: can you boot into the BIOS screen? If so, then it is NOT a power supply issue---by which I mean the AC adapter itself, the rectangular block and power cord leading into your notebook, and the connector at both ends of this device.

If you cannot get anything on the screen, but hear sounds within your laptop, then it could be your power supply is dying but is delivering some power to the components.

That, or it could be the decoder card for the DVD-ROM drive itself that's fried. Or the PCI slot that decoder card is connected to. Or the PCI slot's connection to the motherboard. Or the...etc...sorry I really want to help you, but without the equipment in front of me I really don't know what to say besides take it to a repair shop.

I agree with BaNZ's idea of using a USB device as substitute before you do however.

EDIT: Opps I saw you said CD-ROM drive. Same difference?

 

If multiple things are dying, it almost always points to the motherboard going out. You should take it to an authorized service center and have them look at it.

 

How would you install the USB drivers from DOS? Can someone elaborate on how to install the USB drivers and how I would install windows from there?

 

dont start going through all these things .just bring it to a service center and let them look at it .

even if you are able to install windows , you cant do any thing because you dont have a disk drive .

 

Most laptops cannot boot from a USB Device from the Boot Menu, and if his Hard Drive is not working, He/She cannot get to that stage.

As suggested, do make sure all connections are tight. Or unscrew the Drives, and go trigger happy with a can of compressed air all over the Interfaces. Try tightening all screws on the bottom of the laptop before you take anything out.