Hard Ware help! (Dvd or CD Rom Install)

Hello all,

I just learned of this topic on BTS and I am having a PC issue you folks may be able to help me out with. I have a Dell Dimension 4400, Pent. 4 1.69 processor 512 mb ddram 128 AVI Catalyst Video Card, 160GB Seagate Hard drive which I bought about 7 years ago. I have been upgrading it and keeping it functional, and have yet to have any issues installing new components, until last month.

I recently recieved another Dell (not sure on the details) that had a DVD rom in it. so I pulled it out and installed it into my second bay (below my original CD rom drive). After booting up I had no DVD rom and had lost my CD rom. I have the drivers for both downloaded, but my PC locks up on install. Soooo

1st) is there a way to get my DVD and CD rom to work again?

2nd) is my Processor to slow to handle what a DVD rom needs?

3rd) why won't my CD-rom show back up with the DVD rom disconnected?

I am sooooo at a loss at this point and ANY advice would be much appreciated! I know a little about PC's but I've never been trained or anything like that.


Coven

Off the top of my head I'd start with the physical properties.

For example, Make sure they are jumpered correctly.
Doublecheck the cable connectors. Some are marked specificly for master/slave/mobo.
Reseat the ribbon cables on the cd/dvd's, and the motherboard, even if they look ok.
Reseat the power connectors.

Do this first, to eliminate a hardware problem. Then move on to troubleshoot bios settings/OS/drivers after that is eliminated.

Let us know how it goes.

reply to post by makeitso

You lead me on the right path!!!!

Jumpers were fine... I needed to unplug the IDE wire from the motherboard. I had a connection on the very end that was bent and wasn't connected. a little delicate bend later it all showed back up in my BIOS, and I'm currently watching a DVD on my computer for the first time. (wow... that makes me feel much older than 25)

Thanks so much!



[edit on 1/14/2008 by coven]