i already had tried the cable at both ends, however, when i opened the case i did noticed that the ide ribbon cable was really twisted and crumpled. maybe it is damaged. i will try a replacement. thanks evryone for your input. i welcome any other suggestions.

regardsThat certainly can't hurt to try. SOMETIMES it really is that simple.OK. CHANGING THE CABLE DID NOT WORK. HOWEVER, WHEN I UNPLUG THE IDE CABLE, REBOOT THE MACHINE, SHUTDOWN, RE INSTALL THE CABLE AND REBOOT, IT WORKS UNTIL THE DISK IS TAKEN OUT AND A NEW DISK IS INSERTED. THEN IT STOPS WORKING AGAIN. WHAT DO YOU THINK?That sounds like the on board controller. Do you have your optical drive on the same ribbon as your hard drive, or is the optical on Controller 2?it might be needing flash updated though i would be very careful , this cannot be erased unless it is possible to flash back to an earlier flash version.

Did they say anything bad about it when you got it back from the shop?

is it just that disc or are they all not working?

if it is on the same IDE then youll need to use the DVD as master and everything else as slave...

you can set that inside the pc using the jumpers (plasic thingies ) on the pins on the back of the DEVICE

it will tell you either on the device or in the manual what you need to do to ensure you have the right one selected!the optical drive is not on the same ribbon as the hard drive. it CONNECTS at a separate location on the MOTHER board. it is identified on the bios as secondary drive 0. the hardrive is primary drive 0.Hook it up as a slave on the Primary IDE channel to see if it's the drive or controller...Quote

it might be needing flash updated though i would be very careful

With all of the inherent problems and dangers with flashing a BIOS, please don't use it as anything but a last resort.