Troubleshooting CD-ROM drives and adapters

Symptom 1. The drive has trouble accepting or rejecting a CD: A typical problem of motorized CD ROM Drives:

Check the CD slot for any obvious obstructions, if there is nothing obvious, expose the assembly and check each linkage and motor drive gear carefully. Remove or free any obstruction. Disconnect the geared DC motor assembly and try moving the load/unload mechanism by hand. If you feel any obstruction or resistance, you should track it down by eye and feel. Replace and worn or damaged parts of the mechanism, or replace the entire load/unload assembly. Also check the geared motor for any damage or obstruction. You can also replace the entire CD ROM drive mechanism outright.

Symptom 2. Read heads do not seek:

Check for foreign matter or objects which might interfere with normal carriage movement. If O.K. Then measure the voltage across the linear actuator at runtime, if there is no voltage applied, then the motors drive circuitry is probably defective. Replace the entire drive.

Symptom 3. Disc cannot be read:

First check the CD to make sure that it is the right format, inserted properly and physically clean. (Cleanliness is very important to a CD.) Try a different disk to confirm the problem, if it reads correctly then the problem may be on the original disk itself. If problems persist the check the drive interface cable between the drive and its adapter board. Be sure the cable is connected properly and completely. Check CD controller board (SCSI etc.) Plug another device into the same port and test that device. If problem persists, replace the adapter board.

Symptom 4. The disk does not turn:

Be sure that disc is seated properly and is not jammed or obstructed. Be sure that drive is properly configured for operation. If the computer does not recognize the drive, there may be a setup or configuration problem. Clean drive heads and try again. Check CD ROM adapter operation with another SCSI device. If operation does not improve, replace the drive.

Symptom 5. No audio is generated by the drive:

First test the headphones & speakers on another device to verify operation. Check drive's audio volume control in the front panel. If your drive has a front panel headphone jack, then plug in a proper set of headphones to this jack and set the volume control accordingly to verify operation. If speakers or headphones DO work through this front panel output but not through the sound card or adapter then the output audio adapter may be defective, the adapter card may be configured incorectly, or the drive may be defective outright.

Symptom 6. Audio is not being played by the sound card:

Check the 3-wire audio interface cable from the CD-ROM drive to the sound card adapter. Check or replace this cable if defective. (if the cable and connections are intact and audio IS available at the headphone port, replace the sound card.) If that does not work, replace the CD ROM drive.

Symptom 7. You see "Wrong Dos Version" Error message when loading MSCDEX: You are running a version of DOS that does not support MSCDEX:

If using DOS 5.0 to 6.1 you may need to add the SETVER utility to your CONFIG.SYS file in order to use MSCDEX v2.10 or v2.20 properly (that is, DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE) This is important because MSCDEX (v2.10 and v2.20) refuses to work with DOS versions higher than 4.0 SETVER is used to fool MSCDEX into working with higher versions of DOS.

Symptom 8. You cannot access the CD-ROM Drive letter:

If you see 'invalid drive specification' this is typically a problem with the CD-ROM drivers. The DOS extension: MSCDEX is probably not loaded. Switch to DOS and use the MEM/C function to check the loaded drivers and TSRs. If you see the low-level driver and MSCDEX displayed in the driver list, then check the CD-ROM hardware. Make sure the data cable between the drive and the adapter board is inserted properly and completely. If problems persist, replace the adapter or SCSI board. If you do NOT see the drivers loaded in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files, check that the drivers are included in the startup files to begin with. Make sure the label used in the D/ switch is the same for both the low-level driver and the MSCDEX. If the label is not the same, MSCDEX will not load.

Symptom 9. Error message: "Error not ready reading from drive D":

Check that a suitable and proper disc is inserted in the drive and that the drive is closed properly. Make sure that the low-level device driver and MSCDEX are loaded correctly. If the drivers do not load, there may be a problem with the adapter board or the drive mechanism itself. Also check that the data cable between the drive and adapter board is connected properly and completely. If problems persist the suspect a problem in the PC power supply.