Geek help please!!

Poststructural Pub
1

My husband’s computer at his bookstore is an older model, runs Windows 98. The CD-ROM drive has been screwy for quite a while - it used to load CDs just fine but has been refusing to read any and will pop up a message saying the drive is not ready. When I look in Device Manager it says the drive is just fine.

He needed to renew his anti-virus and for some reason couldn’t get it to download from the site, so he called Norton and they sent out a CD. So I thought I would replace the CD drive. Simple. Nothing to it. SURE!

First I tried a lot of things that I found on the Internet, mostly from the Microsoft Knowledge Base, to see if I could get the CD drive to work. It didn’t so I went to CompUSA and bought a new drive.

I installed the new drive, reusing the old cables and wires because I didn’t want to mess around with things anymore than I had to. Left the case off so if I needed to fix anything it would be easy to get to, plugged all the cables back in, turned the computer on and . . . . . . now the monitor won’t work!!! It makes noises like it wants to come on, but then it shuts off. Unplugged everything, replugged it all in, and it still won’t come on.

Went home, unhooked my monitor from home, drove back to the store, hooked up my monitor and . . . nothing. It shows a self-test that says the monitor is fine, check the cables and PC.

Check which cables??? I didn’t mess with any cables. I reused what was there. It’s all plugged into the right holes (since they made it idiot proof and things only fit in one certain hole in one direction).

I took out the new CD drive and put the old one back in, and the monitor still won’t work.

I don’t think I had any static charge. I didn’t get zapped when I was working on the machine. I didn’t mess with anything except the CD drive and unplugging and replugging all the wires. Do you think I fried some circuit board?

I’m going to call CompUSA tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions. I have until January to return the drive.

My husband doesn’t want to buy a new computer, since this one was doing what he wanted and he doesn’t play games or watch videos. Right now I’d settle for just getting it back working again the way it was, without the CD drive.

Other than replacing the computer outright or dropping the whole thing into the river, any suggestions? Should I use the new cables? The old ones look fine and worked fine before.

2

check your CD rom ribbon cables on both the CD Rom AND on the motherboard. They can get loose mucking about.

A ribbon cable that’s either partially plugged in, or plugged in upside down (possible in older pc’s) can cause this problem. It’s not a monitor problem.

Usually, the cable is plugged in such a way that the red stripe on the cable is toward the power cable on the CD rom.

see picture
http://www.nuggetlab.com/comptia_files/equipment/hd_Close-up%20of%20IDE%20drive%20and%20ribbon%20cable.jpg
and note how the red stripe points to the power cable input.

If you have a slightly newer drive, the cables will only go in one way.

In any case, double check for secure seating..both on the drive AND the motherboard. I’ve run into this exact same problem several times, and reaching down and gently pressing the cable end where it attaches to the motherboard generally solves the problem. Check all the ribbon cables (floppy drive, and hard drive cable if it has it’s own)..i’ve fat-fingered cables out of place several times, and not always the one I’m working on :wink:

3

A bare-bones PC is so inexpensive these days that it really may be time for an upgrade.

Win 98? That thing’s earned retirement.

Seriously, once things start going wrong on old PCs… Finding parts gets hard. Finding drivers gets hard. Risking your data on a creaky machine is iffy…

4

As much as we get comfortable with our old setups and like to hang on to our old equipment, the reality is that this stuff was NOT made to last. If none of the DIY suggestions work, you could try taking it to a local computer store that does their own servicing and pay them to fix it, or pay one of those Geeks-on-Wheels type outfits to come around and have a look.

djm

5

Take good care if calling the portageeks. Quite a few of them are really good at making things up and charging an arm and a leg for something trivial (but making it sound so difficult).

6

When you turn on the PC, does it make any beeping sounds? If everything is
OK, it should beep once. If not, it will make a series of beeps, like Morse Code,
which can be looked up to find startup problems:

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

7

Thank you Wanderer - I swear I didn’t even touch any other part of the cables other than the end of the ribbon cable that is plugged into the CD drive and the two little bundles of wires that plug in - but I suppose it’s possible that I tugged too hard and the rest came loose. I’m going to mess with it some more today when I’m calmer. Last night I was ready to just put it out in the middle of the street and let the cars run over it.

Fear - it does sound like the CPU boots up okay but of course with no monitor I can’t see if it’s sending any strange messages. I’ll check out the sounds link but it’s not playing strange music, which I know means trouble if it does.

As far as an upgrade - my husband is not the most technologicaly savvy person in the world. For about 10 years he operated his business without a cash register, just a calculator and a money box. Every time we get some new gadget he gripes for weeks about how difficult it is to do things. Even now he has problems setting the VCR to tape (no way are we getting a DVD-R until this VCR dies and we absolutely have to). I shudder to think of getting an HDTV and the setup mess - I hope he will agree to pay for someone from the store to set it up, even though the sale ads in the paper now are saying it’s a $179 value, which is the amount he takes in from the store on a good day, or about two day’s pay for me. So I’d rather not have to put up with him during an upgrade. There’s really nothing on the computer that’s absolutely irreplacable anyway. I’m trying to remember to either put my digital pictures at home on line or save them to a flash drive just in case the home computer dies.

Last night my husband was saying he really doesn’t need a computer at the store anyway, that he could just bring books home and list them on Amazon from here and check his mail from home. I can see how long that would last - until the first time it interferes with Survivor or Monday Night Football!

Thanks for the suggestions folks, I’ll try to fix it today and report back.

8

Good luck :wink:

9

Yay! It’s working!! I’m so happy! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I did have to give up and have expert help though. I pushed on all the wire connections and even swapped the old ribbon cable for the new one that came with the new drive, but to no avail. So I checked with a small computer repair shop up the road that I drive past every day, and they said the minimum charge was $20 but it sounded like an easy thing to fix. So I brought the CPU to them and sure enough, it was something loose, but not a cable or wire. It was one of the memory cards. He put it in properly and it worked great.

Thanks to all who helped, and thanks for not treating me like an idiot. :smiley:

10

Around here the ‘portageeks’ hardly deserve the term.
After I completed my A+ cert this year, I inquired at best buy and cicuit city about possible part time work on their geek teams.
They generally won’t hire you if you have certifications or formal education of any kind (this is what they told me in person during an interview) as a way of keeping cost low. Instead, they have an in-house training academy of some kind or other.

There’s also been a few investigative reports done by local TV stations into these ‘portageek’ teams, and their undercover findings were pretty shocking; not only did they know little about what they were talking about, they were caught red handed on several occasions intentionally disabling something on a computer they were called out to fix.
I’m trying to find a link to some of these newscasts, but they’re at least a couple of years old; i’ll throw one up here when i get em.

11

No one is born knowing this stuff. You’d only be an idiot if you didn’t ask. :slight_smile:

Now that you’ve found a good local shop, please consider them for your computing needs.

It’s very hard for local shops to stay in business and compete against online stores…when you find an honest place, they deserve your business, even if slightly more expensive then their online counterparts.

Also, for what it’s worth, a lot of repair shops have a minimum charge of $40 to $60 if they open the case. A $20 minimum charge is not bad at all!

Just my $.02.

–James

12

They were also given and trained to use unlicensed diagnostic software.

13

http://consumerist.com/consumer/geek-squad/

They like to steal your porn, too.

14

The guys were really nice and I certainly will go back there if I need help again. Their charge if you bring the computer in is $39.99 an hour, with a $20 minimum. If they come out, it’s $89.99 an hour. I was just relieved that I hadn’t fried the motherboard!