Hello, everyone. I heard this was a good tech support forum, so I've decided to post my problem here.

First, let me say I have been unable to find a manual for my drive from the manufacturer's website (www.cyberdrive.com.tw).

Now, here's the problem: I have an internal CyberDrive CD-RW 40x/16x/48x. Up until yesterday, it had been working perfectly. Now, when I need to boot off the drive, its green LED (the only one it has) will blink, and the drive will not spin up, nor recognize there is a disc in it. The drive is still recognized in the BIOS. I have tried plugging in a different power lead from the PSU, but it still does the same thing. I am, however, able to eject the tray by pushing the button on the bezel.

Can anyone please tell me how to regain the use of my drive, without having to buy a new one? It's an old drive, for an old computer.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Can the drive work in Windows? If not, then its probably dead.

It may be because you are trying to run a "dvd" in the cd-rom drive. Are all connections tight ? Can you get other cd's to run ? Is it on it's last legs ? Fat chance, but try updating drivers for it.

Take the disc out of the equation by using one you know works. An audio CD is best, you can test that on your stereo first.

The drive is identifying itself correctly, so the lens may need a clean; equally it may be a problem with poor head alignment, scratched lens... a fault with any number of the moving parts inside.

Basically, try cleaning it. Maybe shake it around a bit. Then buy a new one. Something to do with sustained operation at thousands of RPM; CD drives really do die.

Thats a bad sign noting the drive is on its way out, typically they will blink incessantly and do nothing, fortunatelly new drives on newegg are inexpensive

no.

cough up matie. old drives die some times.

if it helps ive got 4 spare sitting here. where u live? ill mail u one if u live in the uk.

im nice like that.

Typically, the drive will blink a certain # of times to indicate the specific problem. Look up tech support for the specific drive to interpret what the # of blinks mean.

That said, if your drive is blinking, it's probably toast. Cost of repair and/or postage back to the factory would be cost-prohibitive considering that a new DVD burner runs about... what... $40?

Thank you, all, for the troubleshooting tips. I had always figured some other component would die before the optical drive, seeing how the machine is a seven-year-old Pentium III box, and the CD-RW drive was only installed in 2002.

Thanks again for the help! These forums are, indeed, as helpful as I had heard.

Sounds like the head has 'skipped'. My friend has a HP pc where both of his drives do the same as yours. They don't recognize discs and just blink at you.

You might as well just buy a new cd drive or get a DVDrom or RW drive. They aren't expensive.