VOGONS


First post, by rwGast

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Its been 26 years since I have fiddled around with IDE and DOS boot disks. Im not sure if i have a pile of bad CD-ROM drives, or im doing something wrong.

On IDE channel 1 I have a CD-ROM, and channel 2 has a zip disk and tape drive (these are both set to cable select). I have tried the CD-ROM as cable select and master. The bios sees all ide drives fine. The boot disk detects the CD-ROM and installs mscdex. I can switch to D: but when I try to DIR, the CD drive doesnt light up or spin and i get this error.

1PI-iorGjOqc_ZsKzqJZjirObU13q0sSd=w600-h600
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1PI-iorGj … JZjirObU13q0sSd

Reply 1 of 7, by wierd_w

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I cannot see your image, due to incorrect google drive permissions.

However, this sounds like your ATAPI driver does not correctly work with your drive.

I'd try going down the (long) list of generic atapi drivers, to see which, if any, work with your drive.

I'd also isolate it all by itself on a channel, to remove other possible causes of failure, then document my findings here.

Reply 2 of 7, by rwGast

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
The attachment 20260701_052704.jpg is no longer available

I have tried the drives on channel 1 as CS with nothing on channel 2 and still had this behavior. I have tried generic drivers and brand drivers for lg and mitsumi, which are the brands of drives im using.

Reply 3 of 7, by wierd_w

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Does this drive work in another machine?

Does it audibly spin up the disc?

Is this a factory pressed disc, or a CDR?

etc.

Reply 4 of 7, by Matth79

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

The bit after the name looks like corruption, maybe try a different cable

Reply 5 of 7, by rwGast

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have no other machine to put ide drives in, this has happened with 2 different drives. Its a factory ms win98 cd, i never hear either drive spin up. Hopefully its the cable, will try a different one after work.

Reply 6 of 7, by rwGast

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I also tried two other drives, and they wouldnt open. I figured they were just garbage, could a bad cable/driver stop the tray from opening?

Reply 7 of 7, by wierd_w

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

A bad cable can, but it's unusual.

The most likely culprit is 'drive belt broke, or turned into sticky goo over a decade ago', when confronted with 'tray wont open.'

https://youtu.be/21AnFs3DaKI?is=CHWZrYMqG6hY6EH6

'Disc does not spin' can be a related failure: the disc wont spin if the tray does not fully get pulled in, and hit the endstop sensor. That can fail to happen if the belt has failed.

The belt capstan+motor continues for a small bit after the tray is pulled in, as the mechanism then pulls down the spindle hub on the disc, hits end of travel in the mechanism, and engages the switch. This tells the drive that the tray has *fully* inserted, and that it is safe to spin up the media, and attempt to find the track with the laser sled.

If the belt has degraded or broke, there is not enough grip to pull down the spindle hub, and the endstop sensor does not trigger, so the drive never enters 'ready' state.

As mentioned though, your drive is giving bad ID string reads, which suggests a bad cable, or other electronic mode of failure.