[TAG] cdrom problem

[Ben Okopnik]

On Sat, May 15, 2004 at 08:44:50PM -0400, Joseph Lalingo wrote:
> Hi, Bill;
>  I disconnected that troublesome cdrom that wouldn't work. It's a 52X 
> Goldstar cheap model.
> Originally it worked ok but an unfortunate click of the wrong keys on my 
> keyboard gummed up
> the works and I could no longer use that cdrom yet the LIGHT IS STILL 
> ON. I'm referring to
> the CDROM but Not my CDR(W) aka BURNER which still works fine.

Joseph, I have a strong suspicion that you're attaching a cause to an
unrelated event. You may have been doing some sort of "key-clicking" at
the time that the drive failed, but this does not mean that the former
caused the latter; once past the early 1980s (the days of Motorola 6800
and a few truly stupid 80286 implementations), computer hardware that
can be damaged by software (including any keystrokes you want to do) is
a myth.

>  So disconnecting the cdrom by unplugging the computer and 
> disconnecting the cdrom from its
> bus-line and four-pronged plug while the computer was unplugged and 
> reversing the procedure as if I installed it again didn't help.

It sounds to me like you've got a CDROM that's gone bad. No amount of 
twiddling is going to bring it back - unless, of course, it's plugged in
wrong in the first place. Otherwise, buy another drive and forget about
this one.

>  I suspect it could be a software problem with RH9 but I'm floored that 
> this problem continues.

Unless the drive works with other versions of Linux or other OSes and
fails to work with RH9, that statement smacks of much wishful thinking.


* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette *
-*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: <http://linuxgazette.net> -*-