Arrrgggh! Dell! Home confuser!

[Dr-Electro]

Ok, the old pro needs advice. (pass the smelling salts, somebody will faint for sure)

A friend has a Dell Dimension at home. The computer is connected to a cable modem (woo and yay) but the modem and PC are no longer on speaking terms. (boo and hiss)

I removed all the USB drivers for the modem. Good step, everything fine so far. Now, Winders XP and the Dell are not reading the CD drive! (boo and hiss)

I have tried looking for patches for that particular chassis using XP to no avail. Do any of my brilliant children have any good ideas? There might be pie in it for you.

[Playbus]

Fixing PC's is my job and I will gladly help you.

I have a really bizarre problem with a modem, and if I help you fix this maybe you can help me with that!

I have questions:

Umm I don't want to patronise you.....how good are you with PCs? What else have you done so far to try and fix it? Just so I don't come up with stuff you've already tried.

Does the CD Drive still show up, and just not read CD's, or does it not appear in Windows at all anymore?

[Dr-Electro]

You must be fairly new here.

I have more than thirty years experience with computer hardware. The nickname Dr. Electro is a reflection of my troubleshooting prowess. I wrangled my first computer hardware in 1968 and I haven't stopped yet.

The computer I'm fussing about belongs to our librarian. She calls me "The Magician" and always hollers at me first for help.

I have tried reinstalling the cable modem. I used the original (Motorola Surfboard) CD. It didn't work. I then tried uninstalling all the drivers and software for the cable modem and USB drivers. I let Windows reinstall the USB root hubs and drivers.

Now, the CD drive has stopped reading disks altogether. I have experienced this particular problem with Windows XP before. There should be a BIOS patch file to flash the system BIOS and allow CD drives to read normally again. I haven't found the flash file for her computer yet. That is what I really need.

My level of tech support from work does not (naturally) cover her home machine.

[Playbus]

All quotes from Dr-Electro

You must be fairly new here.

Fairly, yes.....

I have more than thirty years experience with computer hardware.

Ah. Quite a bit more than me then.

Well if I think of anything revolutionary, I'll let you know!

[Dr-Electro]

That's all I'm asking for anyhoo. Thanks!:D

[Lewiji]

Have you checked the device manager for any conflicts? Also, are there any processes running that might be interfering?

You being the master of computers, I really don't know what to suggest :p

[wyrd_fish]

hast thou check for IRQ conflickts...

(just a thought, does USB even uses IRQs?)

[Playbus]

Posted by wyrd_fish
does USB even uses IRQs

No.

I don't think

[Stringy Pete]

System restore to before the problems started happening???

Might not fix the cd drive, but it will have a good stab at the USB modem.

[Wahoo]

dell, gah, if only the "dell" logo on the side of the computer actually did what it was told and deleted the whole computer :D

[Cainam]

Just a thought, but have you tried switching the hard drive and CD cables at the motherboard? I know it sounds odd, but sometimes this can work, but I have no idea why. Also, if you have another CD drive, try using it in place of the one that is there.

[mini_ninja_pir8]

just a thought,

you might have to remove the cd drive,

or,on second thought , you might have to delete the whole hardrive yourself, and get her to get new xp software,

either that, or back everything up,delete everything, and use the cd's included in the xp pack(if there was any) to install everything again, or just use system restore and make a few adjustments,

im not entirely sure about this,

so microsoft.com is my bible!:D

[Dr-Electro]

I Haven't returned to my friend's house yet, so I haven't torn into the hardware yet.

No, USB is a virtual-driver device. It does not use an IRQ. I have experienced the CD drive problem before. I tried switching the cables, replacing the drive and a few other odds and ends. I can make the PC boot to the system restore (Windows XP) CD and from there can reformat the hard drive. Reinstalling Windows at that point is a snooze. The slowdown here is to do all the work without losing six years worth of files that pertain to the marching band and all its contests and student rosters.

My friend is supposedly making a complete backup according to my instructions. Of course, I always find little hidden goodies they normally overlook, but that goes with the business.

I was actually hoping that one of you had a link to and file name of the BIOS flash that I can get to without having to wade through Dell's website. The site has been slower than a turtle in reverse lately. I keep getting time out errors no matter where I connect from.

Anyway, I will be going over to their house this weekend to try to finish up. Wish me luck!!

[mini_ninja_pir8]

good luck, fair maden

*snigger*

anyhoo, i find system restore useful, and my xp came with HP restore cd's(not in any way to do with xp,i dont think), very useful,and somehow, i dont know where these six cd's are(im on our laptop,so its very annoying)

the dell site being slower than any slow animal, well, i have a (supposedly) 56k modem, with (on average) 32.0 kbps, so most of my sites i go onto are slow(damn dial up)

anyhoo, gots to go,

have fun:D

[Dr-Electro]

*snap!* That's the other thing I forgot to post! They didn't set a restore point. (end users, hunh!) They have owned the computer long enough for the warranty to run out, but no restore point!

[Playbus]

I've got a hellishly fast netpipe here at work and the Dell site is usually pretty responsive for me. I go there a bit anyway to get stuff for the Dell machines the company has.

So I'll see if I can get you that link today, Dr-E.

I need to know the exact model of Dell Dimension it is you're working on, though, please. Thanks


:D

[mini_ninja_pir8]

theyve gotta have the restore point,

ah well, its an uphill battle from here