HELP! what to do when cd drive crashes?!?

[liloutlaws]

My laptop's cd-drive won't register in Windows XP, says there is an error. So uninstalling and then reinstalling the cd drive doesn't do anything. So I want to try and reformat, but how can I do that when the cd-rom doesn't work? I tried using an external cd-drive plugged into the usb port and then dLing drivers from the internet..but that didn't work either. Seems like all cd-roms just won't register. How can I fix this problem? Thanks!

[Erez]

if you CD is ok then try looking for a driver on the net.. but it could be that the CD-rom is just fucked.. (check in dos if you can get access to the CD-rom)

[liloutlaws]

i can't...and i already tried dLing drivers...i think the laptop is just virused up and needs to be formatted

[Erez]

well you can format it with out a CD-ROM unless you have more then one HDD (or have splited yours C: D: E: etc) and a copy of win98 or something one one of the HDD's..

[PATo355]

Try using a new driver , or reinstall Windows Xp , if that does not work then is a hardware problem , almost 99.99% of cd roms are detected by windows

[RC45]

Re-installing / formatting to fix "a malfunctioning" CD drive is foolish.

Why risk the loss of data - try swap out the CD drive first.

Hardware does fail.

[liloutlaws]

okay just to clear everyone up on what I have tried...
i already tried reinstalling drivers
adding an external cd-drive and reinstalling drivers

but my OS is not detecting either drive when I try to access it from windows explorer. The OS does know that both are there and even says that the external cd drive is operating normally.

that is why i think there is an OS problem. Since my mom just handed me this laptop there's a bunch of viruses that i want to wipe clean. So I want to format regardless....

i'm going to try and do the hardware swap and then if that fails try a network boot..if anyone knows how to do that....

any other suggestions?

[v0od0o]

I was going to suggest a quick virus scan, I saw a couple of viruses before that could cause that to happen. You don't have a cdrom so you can't install something you have on a cd, but you can always download a demo version of NAV, update with the latest updates from the web and give it a shot....

[liloutlaws]

Originally Posted by v0od0o I was going to suggest a quick virus scan, I saw a couple of viruses before that could cause that to happen. You don't have a cdrom so you can't install something you have on a cd, but you can always download a demo version of NAV, update with the latest updates from the web and give it a shot....

as in virus could cause cd rom to not register? i'll give it a shot, thanks!

[v0od0o]

let us know how it turns out

[liloutlaws]

never could find a place to dL free demo of NAV or MCAFFEE...i was thinking of conneting hd to my computer and formatting it like that. or use partition magic, partion and install xp onto that and then format the main drive again.

[v0od0o]

check out this for a trial version of Nav2004
http://nct.digitalriver.com/0001/

[PATo355]

I think the cd rom drive just broke up , maybe you should try getting a new one

[liloutlaws]

i will try that...but i don't think that's the problem..b/c installing a external cd rom drive didn't fix anything either...win xp just doesn't recognize that it was installed.

[s13sr20det]

1. Check drivers
2. Check Hardware Connection
3. If you have Windows XP and can restore back to a date where you remember it working do that. Oddly enough this does work once in a while.
3a. If you have Windows 98 or Win Me do a dirty re-install by going into C:\WINDOWS\OPTION\CABS\setup.exe

**You need to have your Windows Product Key. You can get this by going to run, type in "regedit" search the registry for "productkey" once you find this write it down, it will be something like
"A92S1-A4F68-GDF45-AD6AS" it should be in the "LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENT_V ERSION\"
part of the registry.
4. If you think it is virus related download AVG free edition from www.grisoft.com and run it. Works great and doesn't cost anything.

5. If your browser is highjacked download CWShredder.exe, highjackthis.exe and run them.
6. AdAware 6.0 is a great tool for removing spyware.