ATAPI CD-Rom problem

[ellisb39]

I was given the ATAPI CD-Rom36X drive and would like to up-grade my grandson's computer but can not get computer to recognize a disk when clicking on the drive letter.
It is listed when booting up, shows up in the disk manager, saysno problems. All works well except computer does not see the loaded disk. Says "G:\drive is not accessible".
An IDE CD-Rom works fine. Have tried the drive in a couple of other computers, same results. I'm rather certain it is something
rather simple but I have tried everything I can think of.
Your help would be appreciated, Ellis

[alguzman]

Try some of the following:

1. Open up machine and make sure the master/slave jumpers are set properly on the cd-rom drive. Remember that if the cd-rom is set up on the same cable as the hard drive the cd-rom has to be set up as slave. If you put the cd-rom on the second controller by itself you can set it up as master.

2. Make sure the drive ribbion is connected correctly. The rule is the colored stripe on the ribbion goes toward the power connector on the drive. Check the drive controller usually the mother board will mark what end is pin 1 that is where you will connect the side of the ribbion with the strip.

3. Check the Autoexec.bat file and see the line where it says lastdrive=xxxx Make sure it reads Lastdrive=z and reboot.

[NDD]

I was given

Maybe that's the reason. I'd never give away a working CD-ROM
Seriously - try using a CD lens cleaner on this one.

[alguzman]

Good Point ND!

[ellisb39]

alguzman & ND, thank you for your reply. I have gone back and checked everthing. The drive letter is Z. I'll have to tell you the truth about the "free" part of this story. I bought 3 of them from a used computer store here in Orlando that was going out of business. Have bought from him for years, he has always been very honest and up front. Expect that is why he had to close shop. I do not have a cd disk cleaner but I will get one tomorrow.
Will reply tomorrow.
Let me ask one last question, should the computer pick up on the ATAPI drive just as it does on the IDE? I of course do not have any soft ware for these drives. I thank you for your time & help, Ellis

[Psycho Logical]

From www.ata-atapi.com/

What are ATA, ATAPI, IDE, EIDE, ... ?

"ATA and ATAPI are the real names for the mass storage device interface that is frequently called IDE and EIDE. IDE and EIDE are mostly used by marketing people who do not know what they are selling and by writers for magazines who do not know what they are writing about.

"ATA/ATAPI is the most popular device interface today. Of the approximately 140 million hard disk drives made in the last year, 90+ percent are ATA. The remainder are various types of SCSI inteface drives. And the vast majority of CD-ROM drives are ATAPI devices."

See also ==> ATA Packet Interface (ATAPI) / IDE

See also ==> Unofficial IDE/ATA Standards and Marketing Programs

[ellisb39]

Alguzman, I went back and checked everyting again, connections seem all ok. ND, I bought the Laser Lens Cleaner Disk but the disk wont clean because the CD wont turn(you owe me 10 bucks + tax. ( I was going to put a Smilie on here but don't know how)

Psycho Logic, I have been reading the info and the leads you gave me. Put them in my Favorites and will do much more reading. I have built about 30 of these machines for family and friends, from new and used parts and all ways running into some wall. But I enjoy it.

I thank all three of you for your help, Ellis