On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 17:34:11 -0400, "Gary Brown"
<garyjbrown.TakeThisOut@charter.net> wrote:
>
>>>My daughter's Dell 4300 is suffering from multiple problems.
>>>The DVD drive was removed and now is not recognized
>>>when reinstalled.
>
>> Was the original problem that this drive didn't work and if
>> so to what extent was this problem manifested? Where is it
>> not recognized, in the BIOS drive enumeration or just in
>> Windows?
>
>AFAIK the drive was working when it was removed. The BIOS
>didn't show it but the message suggested it was looking for a
>hard drive (?!). I don't know who removed the drive or why but
>it was working before.
>
>This one doesn't normally reside in my house. I brought it
>home to work on it.
You might recheck the BIOS settings, and clear CMOS (pull
battery for a few minutes while AC is disconnected if there
isn't a jumper to do it).
>
>> Is it possible the new drive isn't jumpered correctly?
>
>I tried all jumper positions.
If it was connected to the same cable as another drive, it
might be that the other drive is jumpered as "single"
instead of master w/slave now? Western Digital hard drives
are one example with a separate "single" jumper setting.
>
>> Have you tried (including changing bios settings to consider
>> it the primary boot device) booting to the DVD drive
>> w/bootable disc in it? This would tend to isolate whether
>> it is a windows(?) problem or drive itself isn't working.
>
>I tried all (both?, this thing has the simplest BIOS settings of
>any I've seen by a mile). And a new out-of-the box drive
>didn't work either. I will try the drive in another PC.
>
You might try plugging the drive into the other ATA socket
on the board (assuming it has two), and if the hard drive
has to be temporarily unplugged to make that happen, just
leave it disconnected for a moment and then see if the drive
is detected and if it would boot a bootable disc.
>>>Also, a newly installed wireless LAN causes the PC to
>>>freeze whenever the internet or another node is accessed.
>
>> You might try a newer driver.
>
>It is the latest driver just downloaded from D-Link. I was
>cabled to the router before. They moved the modem and
>router to the basement cable connection to reduce clutter.
Use D-Link's utility to see what the signal strength is, if
it works at least enough to do so.
>If it isn't the OS the only other common point of failure is the MB.
>Unless the two problems are unrelated. That the BIOS doesn't
>report a DVD suggests hardware or firmware. The freeze when
>accessing the internet suggests software.
Yes, that's what's odd about these two problems, though they
might be coincidence. Lots of things aren't likely but are
possible like a crack in the board or pulled and/or cold
solder joints among the subcircuits leading from the
southbridge to the ATA connector.
Is the other (hard) drive PATA? If so, see if it is
detected plugged into the other board socket.
>
>> If it's like many of the OEM systems that people have
>> brought to me to check out, it could be riddled with
>> viri/malware/etc, you might scan it.
>
>It might have virus protect. Without internet or DVD adding
>virus protect would be difficult. Flash drive is the only outside
>communication right now.
>
Flash drive would work so long as it's large enough... many
programs on a CD will install still if copied from the CD to
another media.
>> Stay informed about: DVD Not Recognized, Wireless Hangs 
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