ODD not detected by BIOS

hi there, anyone know how to make bios detect a cd/dvd drive?
yesterday, i removed the drive (plug-and-play GSA-T20N from LG) from my laptop (Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo U9200), and when i put it back in it was not detected anymore by my bios (phoenix 1.11). I should say I had started the machine once while the drive was not inside (of course the machine was turned off each time the drive was moved in or out). Now the drive seems to be ok mechanically (it opens and closes, spins when i put a cd in...) but is not detected by the bios and of course not by windows (W7 - sp1) either. I tried the various options in bios setup for IDE primary master (where i used to see my drive) without success. The IDE primary master line says [none]. I'm very concerned because if anything wrong happens to my OS i wont be able to boot from a cd, therefore i'd appreciate any help/suggestion very much!

 

make sure that it is pushed all the way in. If it is plugged properly it will be detected by the BIOS.

 

i seem to have pushed it in as hard as possible - so this suggests the ide (not power obviously) connector might be bad on either side? is there a way to check?

 

First just try pulling it out, blowing in the connector and putting it back in (you'll know what I mean if you ever had a gameboy).

If that doesn't work then try unplugging the CMOS battery and putting it back in to reset the BIOS. It's a long shot but the only thing you've got to lose is your date and time. Just set it back to what it was and you're ready to go.

 

thanks monk, i'll try that - just how do i unplug the cmos battery on a laptop?

 

There are three types on CMOS batteries:
1- Socket (if I can say battery). In this case it can be removed using the fingers nail or a flat screw driver. Remove the battery for 30 seconds and than put it back in its socket.

2- The battery is soldered to two wires. The other end of the wires are connected to a plug. In this case just unplug the wire from the socket connected to the motherboard and plug it back in after 30 seconds.

3- The motherboard is soldered directly to the motherboard. Usually in this case there is a jumper than can be shorted to reset the BIOS to its default setting.

SOCKETED BATTERY



BATTERY WITH WIRES and a PLUG



SOLDERED CMOS BATTERY



The above is for information only since I'm quite sure that your optical drive is not detected because it is not connected properly, or the connections need cleaning.

 

just came back from cdw (illinois, usa) and they told me the drive connector is proprietary, so there's no way to test whether the drive (which is ATA by the way) is ok, at least until i come back to europe AND if i can find someone with the same laptop. The cdw tech person, however, thinks that the drive is ok as it can be powered. He thinks it's a problem with the motherboard. This is puzzling to me: it was working fine before i removed it, therefore the bios was able to communicate with the firmware. Why not anymore???
I also dusted the connectors on both sides with an air can, to no avail...

i wonder whether i should try to reflash the bios - what do you think?

 

The drive connector probably isn't proprietary. It's the sort of thing they'd say so they can get you to buy a new one from them. Either they don't know what they're talking about/lying or there's something along the lines of what my laptop has which is a bridge connector sort of thing (that might be proprietary so there could be some truth behind what they said).

You could try putting the optical drive in a desktop and see if that works. Failing that you might be able to get it into the HD bit of your motherboard depending on what connector it has, you won't be able to boot into your normal operating system but you can use a live boot CD. If it boots then you know where you stand.

 

last thing: do you know if it's possible to boot from an iso image stored ON A USB STICK? (naturally i'd set the bios to boot off a usb device)

 

you're right, all SATA optical drives are standard and interchangeable, and all ATA optical drives are standard and interchangeable. The only difference between then is on the front plastic (the bezel).

I had a quite few faulty optical drives. They couldn't read CDs and DVDs but they were detected properly by both the BIOS and the OS.

Most laptops that have been sold in the last 5-6 years can boot from a USB stick or a USB harddrive. You can't boot from an ISO file though. You need to make a bootable drive. There are plenty of software that can be used to make a bootable USB stick. WinToUSB is one of them. You can get it from here. PendriveLinux is another one. It can be used for windows too. this is the link for it.

EDIT:
Do not bother refashing the BIOS. Your problem is not BIOS related

 

you were right: i flashed the bios back to a previous version and reflashed to the current one, and that didnt change anything, i still dont have an odd...
attached is a pic of the drive's connector (sorry it's blurry as i wanted a close shot, but you can clearly see 3 rows of 25 pins) - if you can identify it i can try searching for an adapter that would allow me to check whether the drive is faulty, which is what i really hope as the motherboard is really expensive...
thank you

 

The photograph shows a standard ATA optical drive. Tell me something, what do you have on the motherboard side? Do you have an adapter sitting between the optical drive and the motherboard? something like this might be?

Do you have another laptop with an ATA drive? Most laptop sold until 2009 have ATA drives. If you have an access to another drive you should swap between them. This should allow you to confirm if the optical drive is good or if it is fault. If you don't have access to one you could buy one from ebay. They are not really expensive; something like this one here.

 

hard for me to tell - i'd like to avoid taking the machine apart - perhaps you can figure it out from the attached pic?

a friend jsut let me have his notebook (presario cq60) but his ata odd connector is totally different from mine so i cant swap them either way...
thanks for the link to ebay's drive, the price is neat, but will the connector fit my machine?

 

your friend's laptop is relatively new and uses a SATA connetion. SATA and ATA (or PATA) connetions are not compatible. From the photo is doesn't look like there is an adapter between the motherboard and the optical drive.

 

sorry for my ignorance - i got fooled by the attached - i guess the "s" with the numbers should be attached with "ata"...
am going to order this to test my drive...
will get back with news...

 

I see what you mean.

 

btw, this is a sata; wont work for me right?

 

This actually will work because it is an ATA and not a SATA drive. If in doubt you can ask the seller to confirm that it has the same connection as your old one by sending him a link to photo in your previous post.

Basically there is a SATA drive and an ATA drive (also known as a PATA or IDE drive). The one you need is the ATA/PATA/IDE drive

The advantage of getting a drive (at least in my opinion) is that it would be easier to resell than the adapter you suggested to buy in the previous post. The adapter is good if you do a lot of testing. That said, ATA drives are been phased out so the adapter will become obsolete if your next laptop is a brand new one

 

too bad i didnt know before, i already ordered the adapter - but why does the seller state it's a sata interface if it's an ata???
anyway, it's ok because if it turns out my drive is dead and motherboard is ok (i pray for that), then i'll get a fancy drive (lots of cache, blu-ray, etc) - then i may need advice to pick a model: for instance the citrix company i'm getting the adapter from looks like they have good prices, whereas this company has models specially for my machine but they are very expensive - could the differences be with the bezel...?

 

my guess is that the seller has made an error in his listing. The LG GMA-4082N is an IDE drive. And the laptops listed on that listing are only compatible with IDE harddrives and IDE optical drives . Non of them supports a SATA HDD or optical drive

 

the problem seems to be with the connection of the drive to the motherboard - when i wiggle it a bit it may get detected - right now it is detected - sorry for the fuss!
i tested the drive's connector with an ide -> usb adapter and then it is detected fine, so the problem may be on the motherboard's side...
before i start looking into a new motherboard (ouch!), i was wondering whether i could try spraying some stuff electronicians use to clean circuit board contacts - pls tell me what you think...