[techtalk] CD-ROM crapped out.

[A Kozic]

This is a non-linux-specific Q, but hell, I'll give it a shot.

I got a frantic call from my hunny today... Apparently Starcraft crashed
on him, and when he tried to start it back up, the CD drive wouldn't
respond.

So I try to access it in linux, and it acts as if there is no CD in the
drive. I try different CDs. The CDs spin for a bit and the drive light
comes on, but that is it. It won't recognise a music CD to play through
its headphone jack either.

Boot into windows, same problem. The drive is visible, and everything says
it is working fine, but it swears there is no CD.

All the cables are still plugged in tight. That is the extent of my
hardware troubleshooting skills.

Nothing new was installed & nothing was changed recently. The CD drive has
been working very happily for a while now.

Someone suggested it could be dirty. I tried using a CD lens-cleaner CD,
but that did nothing.

What sort of troubleshooting can I do? (In Win98 or RH7. I don't care
which, as long as it works.)


My SO goes stir crazy when he can't play Starcraft, so if you know
*anything* that might help, please let me know. (On list or off.)

--A Kozic


-------------------------------------------------------------
     A Kozic        | The way you live without gender is you
  ak38 at drexel.edu   | look for where gender is, and then you 
akozic at hushmail.com | go someplace else. --Kate Bornstein