Quite often in service centers people ask: “My CDRW-DVDRW combo drive has started to read poorly or does not read one of the media types at all.” Similar questions are found quite often in various forums on the Internet. That is, after six months to a year of operation (as a rule, immediately after the end of the warranty period), the drive stops reading CDs or DVDs. Usually the problem appears gradually. First, rewritable discs of one of the formats begin to be poorly read, then it is the turn of disposable CD-R or DVD-R blanks to be poorly read, and finally it is the turn of factory-made stamped discs. This problem is usually not related to contamination of the optical drive system. A dirty lens and a translucent mirror located underneath it equally degrade the reading quality of both types of media. The fact is that two laser modules are installed in the reading head of universal combo drives. One of them is used for reading and writing DVD standard discs, the other for CD discs.

Over time, the brightness of one of the lasers may decrease. This happens either due to changes in the parameters of the laser emitting crystal itself, or due to changes in the parameters electrical circuits through which it is connected. There is a simple way, accessible to almost anyone who can hold a screwdriver in their hands, to restore such a drive to functionality and prolong its life. Let's look at the solution to this problem using the example of widely used NEC drives. From the tools we need a Phillips screwdriver to disassemble the drive, a small flat-head screwdriver and a thin black marker or felt-tip pen. Carefully remove the covers from the drive, unhook the cable going to the reading head, and remove the electronics board to gain access to the optical head from the bottom side of the drive. Approximately as shown in the photo:

photo No. 1

This is a bottom view of the read head of the NEC1100A drive. We are primarily interested in small trimming resistors installed directly on the head. These resistors regulate the current through the laser diode and, by changing their value, you can change the brightness of the laser radiation within certain limits. In the figure they are circled and designated by numbers 1 and 2.

The location of these controls can vary greatly between different drive models. For example, this photo shows the optical head of a newer NEC4570 drive:

photo No. 2

The required resistors are also circled and marked with numbers. In principle, nothing more complicated. You need to take a thin screwdriver and slightly increase the brightness of the desired laser. You can find the right regulator experimentally. Let's assume that our drive reads CDs well and reads DVDs very poorly. We take a marker and make marks on the resistors to remember the position of the engine, which was made at the factory when setting up the head. Then, we twist one of the resistors, for example number 1, to its extreme position counterclockwise. We assemble the drive and check the reading of CD and DVD discs. To do this, it is convenient to use the program Nero CD-DVD Speed. If the reading of CDs, which were previously readable well, has sharply deteriorated, it means that we have turned the regulator of the laser responsible for reading this format. We return the resistor slider to its previous position. If the quality of reading CDs has not changed, then we guessed right and turned the brightness control of the DVD laser. That's what we need. After we have found the desired regulator, we turn it approximately 5 - 10 degrees clockwise relative to the position that was set at the factory and which we marked with a marker. Reassembling the drive and checking readability DVD. If this does not help, we tighten the resistor further, ultimately achieving the best reading quality. The method is simple, but quite lengthy, requiring, in addition to accuracy, a fair amount of patience. But it often allows you to bring back to life a drive that is already intended for disposal and save an extra thousand.

Installing and replacing CD-ROM drives is fairly easy. In most cases, they are configured as master devices and connected to the secondary channels of IDE, EIDE or Ultra-DMA controllers, but they can also coexist as slave devices on the same channel with hard drives or other storage devices. The main thing to remember is that the BIOS cannot directly support the operation of a CD-ROM drive (even if the BIOS recognizes it at system boot stage, and compliance with the ElTorito standard allows you to boot from a CD). You need a real mode driver to work with a CD-ROM drive in a DOS environment or a protected mode driver when working in Windows environment. This section describes the basic installation steps for a typical embedded IDE CD-ROM drive.

Installation of jumpers.

An IDE-type CD-ROM drive can be connected as a master or slave device to any of the drive controller channels on hard drives. Assigning a particular status to a disk drive is done using one or two jumpers located on the back of the device (next to the 40-pin signal cable connector). Before installing a CD-ROM drive into your computer, you need to determine its configuration.

If it is connected as the first (or only) drive to the secondary channel of the drive controller, then it must be assigned the status of a master device by rearranging the jumpers.

When connecting a CD-ROM drive to a primary or secondary controller channel that is already used to service a drive, it must be configured as a slave device.

The sequence of actions is as follows.

Turn off your computer and unplug its power cord from the outlet. Remove the cover system unit so that you can reach the drive bays.

If you are installing an IDE drive, connect one end of the 40-wire signal cable to the drive controller connector located either on the system board or on a separate adapter card. If the drive is equipped with a SCSI interface, the only differences are that the signal cable is 50 or 68-core, and the host adapter in most cases is a separate board. Do not confuse the orientation of the cable connector: the colored core of the signal cable corresponds to pin 1 of the drive controller connector.

Find a suitable bay to mount the CD-ROM drive. Remove the plastic plug on the front panel of the system unit and slide the drive into the open bay. Locate the four threaded holes for mounting the device. In some cases, you will have to use additional guides in order to “expand” the drive and bring its dimensions into line with the dimensions of the bay1. Drives with pull-out trays are usually mounted horizontally, and devices designed to install CDs in containers (caddy) can be installed “on edge”.

Connect the signal cable and the four-pin power connector to the newly installed drive. Securely secure the device into the bay using screws. Do not over-tighten them to avoid damaging the drive. If there is no free four-pin connector in the system, then the power supply to the disk

In specialized cases designed to build powerful servers, a drive bay design is sometimes used that involves the use of special guides for devices.

Connect the drive using an audio signal cable (with small four-pin connectors) to the corresponding input connector (CD-audio) on the sound card. This will allow you to play CD music directly through your sound card. Make sure the signal cable included with the drive is compatible with the connector on your sound card. If this is not the case, then you will need a special cable (such connectors are included with most sound cards).

Setting BIOS Settings

Despite the fact that CD-ROM drives require driver programs to operate, most modern motherboards are able to identify AT API IDE drives at the BIOS level. If you are dealing with such system board, then you need to configure the BIOS settings in order for the computer to recognize the CD drive.

Turn on your computer. As it starts, watch the monitor screen and wait until a message appears telling you how to enter the BIOS setup program. Most often it looks like PressFlForSetup (Press the F1 key to enter the setup program). Click on the appropriate key and enter the program.

In BasicSetup mode, select the section in which you can specify parameters hard drives and select the connection point and status of the CD drive in accordance with the positions of the jumpers on it: slave on the primary (PrimarySlave) or on the secondary (SecondarySlave) channel, or master on the secondary channel (SecondaryMaster).

If this option is provided, select the Automatic Drive Detection mode - this will allow the BIOS to identify the newly connected drive. If the BIOS does not provide automatic recognition mode, then select None or NotInstalled for the CD drive - in this case, the CD drives can be accessed only after loading the appropriate driver.

Save your BIOS settings and exit Setup. The computer will automatically restart.

Assembling the system unit.

After installing the CD-ROM drive, double-check that the signal cable and power connector are securely connected. Carefully lay the wires in the system unit case. Check to see if you left any tools, mounting screws, or extra cables inside. Now put the system unit casing back in place.

Software installation

To complete the CD-ROM drive installation procedure, you must install the driver programs that are located on the floppy disk or CD that came with the device. Operating Windows systems, as a rule, automatically detect the presence of a new CD-ROM drive and offer to install protected mode drivers (or select the appropriate driver yourself). If you are running DOS, you may have to run an installer that will copy the HDD real mode driver files and will insert into system files AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS changes required to ensure that these drivers are loaded at system startup. If there is no such installer program, then you will have to make changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files manually (this was discussed in the “ Software CD drives"). After installing the drivers and rebooting the computer, the CD-ROM drive will be recognized, marked with a letter, and ready for use.

At times, the TV is equipped with only an antenna input - nothing more. Applies to portable models, old, Soviet-made. Why does a TV need to connect a DVD player? Savings: avoid paying for new equipment. Plasma panels are not cheap. Decide for yourself whether it is worth damaging your eyes with a cathode ray tube. Let's discuss how to connect a DVD to a TV. Along the way, we will reveal the reason for the unsuccessful capture of the image directly. Technology moves forward, let’s follow on its heels.

Why can't I connect the antenna input of my TV and RCA?

Physicists introduced the concept of bandwidth. Analyzing the signal, you come across a term. Cable, air, Earth's atmosphere, cascades electronic devices. Turns out, low frequencies Images and sound do not travel through the air for long - they fade quickly. Engineers quickly came up with a method to correct the problem. Frequencies have been found that successfully pass through the invisible ether and medium. First of all, the cable. Frequency found, how to lay it down useful information? Modulators are used. One parameter of the carrier frequency changes according to the information law.

A carrier is a harmonic (sinusoidal) oscillation, the frequency of which is much higher than the spectrum of the transmitted information. Musicians consider notes of 20 kHz to be the highest; they will carry information, overcoming the ether, cable frequency is at least 150 kHz (the middle of the LW range).

If you change the carrier parameters with a low-frequency signal, the spectrum becomes symmetrical with respect to the carrier harmonic. We remember what was said: the engineers established that the wave easily passes through the cable and air. The throughput of the ether (more precisely, the atmosphere) is monitored; some waves pass better, others worse. The process cannot be modulated by adjusting the parameters to the needs of the task being performed. The technological development of humanity is too low.

Change cable parameters. Broadcast products are designed to meet the needs of users. It is possible to create conducting lines in a convenient way and convert the signal again before emitting it from the antenna, but the technique complicates life. The presented explanation is slightly simplified; on HF and SV broadcasting is carried out using the ability of the wave to bend around the Earth. The effect is demonstrated to a greater extent by DV.

Converter satellite dishes uses the conversion scheme described above. High frequencies are reduced, transmitted by cable, deciphered by a TV set or set-top box. The main thing for readers to understand is that the information transmitted by air or cable is not distributed by a carrier frequency because of a good life.

The receiving side carries out the reverse process of removing information from the carrier. The signal received by the antenna and cable input is amplified. The task is performed by the high-frequency path. The length of the connecting cable is one and a half meters (a typical DVD player), there will be no strong attenuation, the loss is determined by the length of the medium. The need to introduce a carrier disappears; the DVD player transmits information to the TV in the form reproduced by speakers and screen. Technical solution will allow you to isolate the modulator and demodulator path from the design of the devices.

We got the so-called“Tulip” (RCA), which occupies a dominant position in video technology:

1. The yellow channel transmits the image signal without a carrier.
2. The white channel transmits mono sound, the signal from the left speaker.
3. The red channel transmits the sound from the right speaker in stereo mode.

An analog signal is generated, do not attempt to connect the DVD player to a computer monitor. The display is a purely digital device. Accordingly, the signal structure does not at all resemble RCA. The industry has produced a mountain of adapters, adapters that perform the conversion. Now readers understand the features of directly connecting DVD to TV. The antenna input is high frequency and will try to find the missing carrier. Channel bandwidths 1 – 12 will not see the DVD player signal.

DVD player connection cable

Adapters for connecting a DVD player to a TV

How to connect DVD to TV? Look around the store for an RCA adapter to an antenna connector (issue price 640 rubles). You can hardly watch 3D on TV. The converter is contained in a small box and requires power. Network adapter alternating current 230 volt 50 Hz included. By connecting the DVD player on one side, the TV on the other, we watch movies from discs. Not a bad option, but not suitable for some for two reasons:

1. You need to pay for additional equipment (adapter).
2. The store is far away, I want to watch a movie now.

For struggling enthusiasts, other enthusiasts offer:

• There are discarded consoles from the 90s lying around the house. Remember Sega, Dendy, and other boxes where the game cartridge was inserted.
• Each set-top box contains an HF (RF) unit that converts the signal for supply to the antenna input of the TV.
• The unit is equipped with at least two tulip output connectors (3RCA).
• Hobbyists have noticed: if you apply a signal to the 3RCA input (yellow, white channel), the antenna output produces a usable image.

How the switching is carried out inside remains a mystery. It doesn't matter why the circuit oscillates from one output to the other. We remove the HF (RF) unit from the set-top box and, if necessary, short-circuit the contacts of the off button (if there is one) with a jumper. Then we inspect. It happens that not all outputs are connected to the circuit. We install jumpers. Individual outputs are shunted with resistors; they can be short-circuited by removing resistance altogether.

Tulip connection

All that remains is to supply power to the circuit. Traditionally, 8 - 12 volts are used (measure with a Chinese tester). The phone adapter will not work, from the set-top box, walkie-talkie - please! If there is a 7805 stabilizer chip, see if the power comes from it. In this case, connect the phone adapter to output 7805. There will be no difference. The 7805 stabilizer simply converts 12 to 5 volts. A similar high-frequency unit contains a video recorder. Find the input information, try to adapt the device to your needs.

Connecting a DVD player to a TV via a SCART connector

Especially gifted people are recommended to understand the layout of SCART connectors. A universal tire that has almost everything. Having dug out the dismountable SCART plug, the connector corresponding to the TV, forget about the problems. Experienced radio amateurs disassemble the layout, resolder it, and use it. Below is a picture of a SCART connector; we also add that the yellow RCA connector is called composite video. See which terminals transmit sound and image:

• Image:

1. Input: yellow tulip plug.
2. Output: terminal 18 SCART – ground of the incoming video stream, terminal 20 SCART – signal of the incoming video stream.

• Sound:

1. Left column. Input: white tulip plug. Output: terminal 6 SCART - left speaker input signal.
2. Right column. Input: red tulip plug. Output: terminal 2 SCART – right column input.

SCART connector pinout

The audio ground is common to both channels and is located at terminal 4 of the SCART. The illustration indicates the component connector in colors. Pins are indicated in red, green and blue. We'll look at this option later. Know that the difference between a “tulip” and a SCART is only in the layout. You can connect the pins with wires without any adapter. Finally, many are probably interested in the question of where to get land for RCA? We assume it is the outer braid (screen). Just in case, measure with a tester. If it rings with the DVD player's circuit ground, that's it. However, there are simply no other options.

If someone hasn’t figured it out yet, you need to solder the cable to connect the DVD to the TV yourself. To do this, you will need to find a dismountable SCART connector, 3 RCA plugs under the “tulip”. Many DVD players, especially indigenous Chinese ones, have an output component video. Differs from composite in improved quality. In this case there are 5 plugs, three of which carry video. Difference signals between color levels are transmitted. High quality is obtained due to redundancy.

The RGBs mentioned above are suitable for component video in some cases. There was information that this does not work with all DVD players and TVs, there is no need to check it, for the simple reason that you can’t go through all the options, but we agreed earlier that the store is far away, or you don’t want to spend money. Therefore, we begin to solder.

• Image:

1. Input: red YPbPr connector.
2. Output: terminal 15 SCART – difference between red and brightness Pr, terminal 13 – ground Pr.
3. Input: blue male YPbPr connector.
4. Output: terminal 7 SCART – difference between blue and brightness Pb, terminal 5 – ground Pb.
5. Input: green YPbPr connector.
6. Output: terminal 11 SCART – image brightness Y, terminal 5 – ground Y.

• Sound:

1. Left column. Input: white male YPbPr audio jack. Output: terminal 6 SCART - left speaker input signal.
2. Right column. Input: red plug of YPbPr audio connector. Output: terminal 2 SCART – right column input.

The audio ground is common to both channels and is located at terminal 4 of the SCART. The question arises of how to correctly number. The answer is simple. SCART contains a mechanical key - protection against incorrect activation. Use it to navigate. We looked at the connectors for connecting DVD to TV.

Many users are faced with the problem of buying new drives, be they external hard disks or optical media drives. It would seem that I connected them and that was the end of it. But for some reason the system categorically refuses to recognize them automatically. What to do? Here knowledge of how to enable any type of disk drive in the BIOS will come to the rescue. In most cases this is the most relevant solution.

BIOS does not see the drive: what should you do initially?

Although it is customary to write about the problems of why this or that proposed solution does not work at the end of the topic, it is better to immediately see what problems may appear initially.

As many experts believe, the very problem that the newly connected drive is not displayed in the devices section is that it is not supplied with power or there is simply not enough voltage. Therefore, you should check these parameters initially.

Rules for connecting any drives

On the other hand, the problem may also be that the drive is not connected correctly. As a rule, in most computer systems The Master/Slave connection rule applies.

In this case, the cable connector, designated Master, is connected to the main hard drive, and the Slave is connected to any other. In the same way, you cannot connect the Master to the Slave connector and vice versa. At best, you can only achieve that the drive is detected, but loading operating system will become impossible.

How to enable optical drive in BIOS

So, first, let's look at optical drives. The simplest solution to the question of how to enable a disk drive in the BIOS is to go into the BIOS using a standard key or key combination (usually Del, F2, F12, Esc, their combinations or dedicated keys on laptop panels) and find there relevant section.

Depending on the BIOS version and manufacturer, this may be home page(Main), section standard setting(Standard CMOS Setup) menu additional settings(Advanced or Advanced BIOS Features), etc. Here you should make sure that the drive is in the list, call up the menu by pressing the Enter key on it, and then set the value to Enabled.

If for some reason the user does not find his drive in the list, it is worth turning to the boot section (Boot Sequence, Boot Setup or simply Boot), where in the boot devices you can scroll through the available devices (for example, use the primary boot device 1-st Boot Device) . This is usually done using the PageUp and PageDown keys. If the device is detected, then everything is in order and the user simply did not find it.

How to turn on an external hard drive?

Now let's see how to open the drive in the BIOS settings in the form of a connected external hard drive. There are subtleties here - it all depends on what standard it has.

So, to begin with, as usual, we enter the settings of the primary I/O system, after which we look for the tab corresponding to the drive parameters. Now you need to be very careful. Depending on the type of drive, you should find the lines either SATA, IDE, or USB. As a rule, if the connection is made correctly, at least one of them will display this device, even if you don't know its standard. Next, we look at what is opposite the drive. If the Disabled parameter is set there, go to the additional menu and change it to Enabled.

Do not forget that without saving the changes the drive will not work. We use the appropriate BIOS commands. In the standard version, in order not to rummage through sections of the main menu, just press the F10 key, which corresponds to the Save & Exit Setup command, that is, save and exit the settings. After this, a confirmation window will appear with the choice of using the keys (Y - yes, N - no). Press Y and wait for the system to reboot.

Priority start of system boot

How to open the drive in BIOS is already clear. Let's look at one more important point. Let's say you need to change the boot order and install an optical drive or external hard drive as the first device. This approach can be used when installing a system, troubleshooting problems, or simply to boot the OS from an external HDD.

As is already clear, we go to the boot section and install the required drive (disk drive) as the first boot device, and then save the changes.

Instead of a total

As can be seen from all of the above, the problem of how to enable any type of disk drive in the BIOS can be solved quite simply. However, this technique may sometimes require additional steps. So, for example, in some cases you need to check the device in the corresponding manager, which can be called from the “Control Panel” or by command devmgmt.msc from the “Run” console. Perhaps it will need to be turned on (enabled) here. For some non-standard devices that are not automatically detected by the system, you may need to install the hardware manufacturer's native driver. However, it is also worth paying attention to the physical condition of the drive or hard drive. If the microcontroller fails, there is nothing you can do - no matter how hard you try, the device will not work.

Hello, friends. I decided to write an article on the topic: the computer does not see the Windows 7 DVD drive. The tips written below are also relevant for other versions of Windows.

Nowadays, probably few people use CDs, DVD drive mi, but even if a breakdown occurs, do not rush to order a new drive. There are many reasons why it stops working. If the failure is in the drive, then you can solve the problem by knowing some secrets. I’ll say right away that the drive is not always the main problem. Next, you will learn about the main breakdowns and how to fix them. There is also a video at the end of the article with another solution to the problem.

Features of the problem

Try to identify the nature of the breakdown. Let's start by checking the disks. We take the disks and try to start them, if some of them start, then we begin to look for faults in the technical part. There is also a moment when a failure occurs during the operation of the operating system, then the disks are not readable at all. The same fate will affect disc recording.

How to solve the problem programmatically? Think about what programs were recently installed on your PC. Perhaps they were playing games. Sometimes during installation they randomly install “their own” virtual disks, in the end they conflict and problems appear with the DVD drive. Another popular cause of “breakdown” is the Alcohol or Daemon Tools programs - as you understand, they are needed for installing these same virtual disks. All of this can affect the operation of the drive.

How can everything be checked?

The answer is simple: remove the programs listed above and try to start the drive. If everything starts up and works, then the answer is obvious. If you haven’t noticed any changes, you’ll have to dig further. Another popular problem is driver glitches. In this case, use Device Manager. Go to “Control Panel -> System” or for those who are used to working with the keyboard, press “Win ​​+ Pause”, then select “Device Manager” on the left side.

If we remove the above software and open the device manager, we can still see the virtual disk drives installed by the programs we mentioned above. You need to watch them in the “DVD and CD-ROM drives" Now let's use the right mouse button, menu and delete them. Then restart your computer. See if any changes have occurred.

What other actions can be taken? We list below:

— click the “View” menu, select “Show hidden devices”;

— find the “SPTD” driver in the device tree (it is located in the “Non-plug and play device drivers” section);

Is there a positive result? If not, move on. Find among the 2 or 4 controller channels in the IDEATA/ATAPI controllers section the one to which the DVD drive is connected. As a rule, each such channel has a different name. Open each channel one by one and look at “Device Type”.

What we are looking for is "ATAPI CD-ROM drive". What to do next? You need to look at the “Enable DMA” checkbox. If it’s standing, then remove it, if not, then put it up. Then reboot, look at the result. When everything started working normally with the option disabled, check the box and reboot again. Leave the working option. For best, the “Enable DMA” feature should be enabled. Sometimes this condition It is considered the only possible one when Windows 7 is installed.

How else can you configure the drive?

Go to device manager and open the DVD drive there. Next, as in the picture, select your drive, click “Properties” and go to the “DVD Region” tab, see what region is indicated here. If the region is “Not selected”, then we leave it as it is and do not change anything. If the region shown is not yours, set yours. Please note that you can only change the region 5 times. Try additionally changing “Not Selected” to any other region. Reflashing will help you get everything back.

What to do next if there are no problems with the hardware?

• The first thing we look at is the train. Maybe you did something recently on your PC that could have damaged it. Replace it - maybe you have a spare one, or you can borrow a replacement from one of your friends to check, or buy a new one. Next, look at the power plug.
• Open the tray, blow out (as far as possible) the insides of the drive. Why is this needed? During operation, the DVD drive becomes covered with dust, this directly affects the operation of the laser. If there is a layer of dust on it, then the discs will not be readable or will be readable, but selectively.
• If you have previously encountered the repair of any equipment, then you can use this advice. Carefully disassemble the drive, soak an ear stick in alcohol and clean the laser eye with it.
• For those who are not good at repairs. Not everyone can properly disassemble and reassemble a DVD drive. Tip: Use a cleaning disc that has brushes. If the drive recognizes the disk, it will spin it and the brushes will remove dust from the laser.
• The second option is flashing the drive firmware. Try to find the firmware on the manufacturer's portal, download and follow the instructions for proper installation.

Also watch the video, it shows another solution to the problem