OK. This is the story: I will tell it as I did it (as best as I can remember as it is a couple of days already)and you pick out where I went wrong.
I got a "Compaq" PC which I am working with right now 320Mhz Pentium 2 Windows XP with working "Compaq?" CDROM player. This machine is not in the equation and still functions on the net so I can communicate this story.

I picked up from a friend - an "Azura" PC Data Server 1.2Ghz Pentium 2 Windows XP with a working "Creative" CDROM player and it all worked.

I also picked up from my brother - a "Dell" PC 550Mhz Pentium 3 Windows 98se with a working Benq CD burner/player and everything worked.

It was suggested:
that I swap out the "Benq" with the "Creative" then I would have a burner on a faster computer. The "Azura"

Sounded simple enough.
I unscrewed and did the physical part of it, carefully pulling the ribbon out of the CDROM and the other cables and reconnecting the other CDROM in the same way.

That is as far as I took it. I then powered on the "Azura pc" and surfed the net - not testing the CDROM out.

"I will when I need it now and worry about it later"(I thought).

I found the pc acting a little slower while surfing(but did not attribute it to the CDROM) I just thought that maybe I got some spyware . >> I run antivirus 24/7 so I knew it was not a virus<<.
So, I downloaded "SuperAntiSpyware", installed it and let it run. It found nothing except 3 tracking cookies from sites I trusted so I left them alone. Speed did not improve.
I am thinking maybe the "pc brains" are scrambled with the CD swap and needs a reset.
So I "switched off or powered down" the PC for a couple of hours completely.
When I powered up later, I get the first DOS screen(when it starts up, and it stays there). Will not go farther.
>>>> Be aware that while I am doing the physical swap, I pull the power out of the wall. I do not know how long CMOS batteries last but these PC's are years old (so the batteries may very well be dead). <<<<
Sidenote >>>I know I have a 486 with a dead Cmos battery and ran the computer (powering it on and off each night for years - (with Win98 staying intact) after the battery died with no problems)<<< but I never swapped out hardware either.

Printed on the "Azura" DOS screen:-
==============================================================================
Main Processor : AMD Athlon Processor Base Memory Size : 640KB
_______________________________________ ______________________________________
Math Processor : built-In Ext. Memory Size : 511MB
Floppy Drive A : 1.44MB 3 1/2" Serial Port(s) : 3F8,2F8
Floppy Drive B : None Parallel Port(s) : 378
Display type : VGA/EGA Processor Clock : 1050MHz
AMIBIOS Date : 04/29/2002 Power Management : Enabled
External Cache : 384KB,Enabled SDR at DIMM(s) : 0 1
DDR at DIMM(s) :
_______________________________________ _______________________________________ __
Hard Disk(s) Cyl Head Sector Size LBA 32Bit Block P10 ATA
Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode
Primary Master : 39838 16 63 20560MB LBA On 16Sec 4 100
Secondary Master: CDROM 4 N/A
================================================================================
PCI Devices:
Onboard Multimedia Device, IRQ11 Onboard IDE, IRQ14, 15
Onboard USB Controller, IRQ12 Onboard USB Controller, IRQ11
Onboard Ethernet, IRQ11 Slot 3 USB Controller, IRQ11
Slot 3 USB Controller, IRQ11 AGP VGA, IRQ5
================================================================================
Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0..OK

And the cursor is flashing fairly quick on the bottom waiting.
~~~~~~

Hmmm. Okay. So I, first pulled the power plug out of the wall l then took out the BENQ burner and put back the CREATIVE CDROM as it was before hoping that things will right themselves when I turned on the power again. Was careful about unplugging and plugging it in carefully and the static thing.

No change. The cd light goes on but does not spin the disk.

that is where I am. What do I do next and how do I do it?
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
What I have at my disposal is a win98se legitamite CD, a WinXp cd, a Nero cd(which is for the Benq CDROM) and a 3 1/2" systems disk for Win98

Also a pc on the net with a 3 1/2" floppy and CD reader.
None of the computers are connected together and they all have flash drives(I don't know if they work at this moment - as the computers may be blind to them too)
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I realize I am going to lose stuff...but I have most of it backed up on a removeable Flash drive so if we got to start again, I can do that.

Just how to do it. So that the CDRom drive is seen.


I have done the setup and changed the "first read" drive to read from the CDdrive first and it does for a moment searching for boot drive and then it switches to the "C drive" and "Searching for boot record IDE-0...OK

If you are going to talk "jumpers" to me - let me know what that is -what it looks like and how high it is jumping.
I just hooked everything back the way it was - the nuts and bolts of it.Listing 3 machines and 2 burners kind of muddles the thought process here...
Lets start with the ONE machine: the Azura.
How is the optical drive hooked up ? ?
Is it on the same ribbon cable as the hard drive or a seperate one? ?
If seperate it should be hooked to the end connector of the ribbon cable and the jumper on the rear of the drive next to the ribbon connector should be set as master.

MBoard===============================Slave========Master.

If after doing this and re-booting a few times produces no jpy-joy disconnect the burner and re-boot a few times to see if the slow response is still occuring...if so post back with more details.
Meantime also check how much free space you have on that hard drive and when you last ran diskclean; defrag and your protection scans...

BTW...these are drive jumpers although they are not all the same the drive itself will have small hard to read diagrams on the top or rear...

I put back the original CDROM unit(Creative 36X MX which is not a buRner. I was hoping the pc would see its old unit and work. It does not do these things? I will leave the old unit in if it is going to be a hassle.
But, how do I get it to see the CD drive?I asked a few questions so you don't get to ask any new ones until you answer mine...As I stated in the beginning, everything is back to their original PC's. The BuRner is not in this unit. It is the original CDRom reader as before.
To answer your questions and "thanks for the pics"- they help

For the optical drive: if you mean CDRom...the 40pin ribbon is single strip with no extra connectors and goes directly to a mobo connector
Hard drive is connected to the first connection of a 3 connection ribbion(the other end hangs free and the other end goes into a seperate connector beside the CDRom one on the Mobo.
The jumper is on master.

Going by memory, I believe the hard drive capacity was at the 4 oclock position- I do not keep pictures or music files or videos, my registry is clean, no spyware, it has been defragged, basically there is nothing major on it as temporary files are cleaned out weekly & most stuff is kept on removeable flash drive. Win XP does not need drivers for optical drives,,however i see you listed one machine as Win98.
For that machine you will have to track down drivers for the CDROM from the manufacturer.There's also the possibility that one or more of the drives has simply gone South...
Brand new dual-layer burners are less than 40 bucks shipped however plain old CD players will be even less.
To eliminate confusion i would CONCENTRATE on getting one drive at a time running rather than swapping them all around.Fine. Just "say" you don't know squat and I will move to somebody else. The chances of 3 drives going south at the same time is ...- I stand a better chance at winning the lottery. And I am taking drives that worked in other machines (so they are still "warm" from being used.
Stop being a saleman. Oh, yeah...and your car.....buy another. They are cheap at $30,000
signed Joe Mechanic. "D.A.OK. You win...
I don't know squat.

How about a game of Chess ? ?Well, in this case - thanks for the pictures but that is as far as it goes. The original CD unit is back in and it is not seen.
You have not explained why that is or where I could go to find out why that is. It is not broken, nor are the connectors as I have numerous ribbons that I can swap with.
And everything is the way it was ( and yet something is different)

I am guessing this is a programming thing (as I was careful with all the connecting wires and stuff related....so, it is giving me a headache. Can't play yet.So...
Did you check your jumper settings?Quote from: JJ 3000 on January 21, 2009, 08:16:57 PM

So...
Did you check your jumper settings?

For the optical drive: if you mean CDRom...the 40pin ribbon is single strip with no extra connectors and goes directly to a mobo connector

Hard drive is connected to the first connection of a 3 connection ribbion(the other end hangs free and the other end goes into a seperate connector beside the CDRom one on the Mobo.
The jumper is on master.

Going by memory, I believe the hard drive capacity was at the 4 oclock position- I do not keep pictures or music files or videos, my registry is clean, no spyware, it has been defragged, basically there is nothing major on it as temporary files are cleaned out weekly & most stuff is kept on removeable flash drive.

Fine. Just "say" you don't know squat and I will move to somebody else.

"Azura" PC Data Server 1.2Ghz Pentium 2

Printed on the "Azura" DOS screen:-
==============================================================================
Main Processor : AMD Athlon Processor Base Memory Size : 640KB

I stand by my rudeness. If I take them out of machines that they were working in 5 minutes ago and now they don't work ?? tells me you are full of horse apples.
Maybe they have brainwashed you into buying new(that is what keeps the economy going) but I know better.
You sound like "front-line" material.

Maybe they have brainwashed you into buying new(that is what keeps the economy going) but I know better.