Please help..

[Technorevo]

However odd and improbable this may seem, I really need an answer to this question. Is it at all possible for a device, such as a DVD writer, to damage other components in the CPU specifically connected to the same strip from the power supply. If it is possible, please explain in greater depth how and why it may occur. I really need this information so that I can properly contact a vendor regarding an issue that I have.

From what I know, if the resistors on a DVD writer were faulty then the current from the DVD writer would be too strong and the current on another drive may become too weak. Causing this type of fluctuation of current to occur then it could cause another component, such as a HD, to fail. Am I correct? Please help me out with this.

[Enablingwolf]

Is it at all possible for a device, such as a DVD writer, to damage other components in the CPU specifically connected to the same strip from the power supply.

I don't quite get what your trying to explain here. I will fumble along as I do know though. :D
I assume by the terms you are using: "strip" you mean lines? Like the wires that come out of the PSU and plug into your drives and other components? Another thought.. Your using a P4 or A64 CPU? Then it would have it's own line for power and not be on a four pin molex like hard drives,CD ROM's,DVD's or even fans. It would be the smaller square kind.
It is possible that you have a spike of some sorts and it damaged your CPU. What power supply are you using? What are your system specs? You left me with more questions than answers since the question was .. well kind of vauge on the parts you are using.

But to give a basic answer, a PSU if it goes out of specs from bieng 1) cheap 2) overloaded 3) cheap and overloaded,. Will in fact damage your CPU if it goes to high due to a load. I would assume the DVD is functional or is it dead or malfunctioning also. I am guessing, it may of been a PSU related incident and took out parts from a spike. Since I don't have much to go on this is a guess.
[guessing]If you have a low performing PSU it will make you CPU seem sluggish from voltage starvation. You could run a quick check with a multimeter, to see if your rails are up to par. [/more guessing]
other than that Ican't think of what would kill or damage a CPU off hand with a DVD Drive unless you hit it ,since there is no cabling/wires that connects the two together. But anything is possible I guess.

[David]

Im not quite sure what you are getting at either - do you mean if you have a DVD drive and a hard disk coming off the same cable from the PSU? Are you asking if the DVD drive is faulty could it damage the hard disk?

I guess it could be possible but im not sure.

Welcome to the forums btw :D :welcome:

[Xaotic]

Welcome to the forums!

If I'm understanding what you are saying properly, undervoltage to a HDD could potentially cause failure, but it would require a significant shortage, far outside of spec. A more likely event damaging a HDD on the same voltage rail would be a short or voltage spike. In either event, it would be hard to impossible to prove culpability to the manufacturer for the DVDR, as the HDD could have been the cause as well as other component failures, for example power supply.

What are the specifics of the case?

[Technorevo]

I'm sorry I didn't post more specs last night. Here they are:

MB: Asus P4S8X (http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4s8x/overview.htm)
Original PSU (included with case): SLK3700AMB (http://www.antec.com/Detail.bok?searchpath=7f0000011025a3e97547c&category=Enclosures&start=1&total=17&no=178)
Current PSU: Enermax EG651P-VE
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 2.53GHz
RAM: Corsair 512MB DDR333 PC2700 64Mx64
Video card: ATI RADEON 9700 Pro AGP 8X 128MB DDR
Original IDE HDs: Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM and Maxtor 80GB HD from Best Buy (can get model if necessary).
Current SATA HDs: 2 Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB SATA/150
Original CD Writer: Sony 52X x 24X x 52X (can get model if needed)
Current DVD Writer: LITE-ON IT SOHW-1633S
OS: Windows XP Professional, also used Debian and other live CDs

I used different combinations, but it seems that the computer is only screwing up when the DVD writer is connected. I've exchanged this writer 3 times in 3 months and all 3 of them have went bad. It is unlikely that both power supplies are bad, seeing that they work fine. My friend is also using the old PSU that supposedly wasn't working correctly, or so LITE-ON IT says.

[Enablingwolf]

Question; Does Windows seem really sluggish and lock up? The light just stays on in read mode? When a CD is inserted.
I had a similar issue with a drive until I replaced the offending unit. I assume you have used other brand drives in place of the Lite-On. If you have, did it function correctly, until Windows loaded up. What is happening that is making you assume the drive specifically is bad or causing issues? Once this narrowed down the answers can be alot more specific. Trouble shooting is narrowing the issue down and ruling things out.

[Technorevo]

To be honest I've narrowed down the issue very well by using several components. I've switched PSUs, from the original above to the current one that I'm using now. I also used a Sony 48X24X48 CD writer that worked great. I even used my old IDE HDs with my SATA HDs for a period of time while I made the transition. Note that I first bought a LITE-ON SOHW-1633S back in November, but I didn't notice any problems until mid-January. It started when the drive stopped reading my DVD-RWs, then finally it stopped reading DVDs altogether. However it would still record them, but could not read them.

Finally I gave in and exchanged the drive. BTW these drives are very loud and I assume very power hungry. After I exchanged the drive, the other one had the same problem. I thought it must be a problem with my PC, so I removed one of my HDs and the DVD writer seemed to work temporarily. I then hooked up my 650W Enermax PSU and it worked fine.

Within two weeks though I started having the same issues as before, but this time it wouldn't read anything. It recognized the drive, but it literally wouldn't read a disc. I even tried to reboot and reinstall Windows but the drive would act like it's reading and the light would flash but it wouldn't recognize a disc in the drive.

I contacted the manufacturer because I honestly believe that the first drive is the culprit for the majority of my problems. The drive that I have now will read discs, but Windows becomes very sluggish while it's operating. I think the HD I'm using now, other than the identical one that failed, is partially corrupted and about ready to fail too. I bought these HDs in December, so it is unlikely that I got 2 bad SATA HDs.

This model of DVD writers may have a design flaw, or a series of bad resistors. I admit that I may be biased towards the DVD writer being the source of the problem, but the computer works well without it. I will try to post more details, but I'm at work at the moment. If someone can use a multi-meter to thoroughly test this drive, please check to see if the current is doing anything strange. Thanks for your replies!

[Xaotic]

There are several tests that could be done on the drive, but unfortunately they are proprietary and I cannot release them. At this point, based on your testing, the drive is the culprit. There have been many similar issues on various models of preproduction drives that I have seen. Fixes for these have ranged from simple firmware updates to hardware ECs. In any event, these are retail drives and should not have such errors occurring.

Have you checked Event Viewer for CRC errors? These may indicate that the drive is not operating properly. With XP, these may ramp the UDMA mode down into PIO mode, resulting in sluggish performance and slow system response. You can also check the UDMA mode in Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers > (Controller the device is on) > Properties > Advanced Settings. In XP, it will show the complete UDMA or PIO mode. 2000 will show either DMA or PIO.

[Technorevo]

Here are the errors being logged in Event Viewer:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: atapi

The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Source: atapi

The driver has detected a device with old or out-of-date firmware. The device will not be used.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Source: cdrom

An error was detected on device \Device\CdRom0 during a paging operation.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Source: cdrom

The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It said the device was/is using UDMA mode 4. The last time I exchanged the drive the firmware was already up-to-date on the new drive. I hope that there wasn't any hardware modifications.

When I went to view the information about my DVD writer in device manager, the computer became very sluggish like it does when it's burning a disc. What could be causing that?

[Xaotic]

Timeouts and bad blocks are not good. Typically, they are due to signalling, transceiver or controller PCBA issues. One last shot before calling bad drive and back to the drawing board on trying another drive(preferrably exchange for a differing model). Have you tried replacing the IDE cable? It will need an 80 conductor cable for proper noise rejection and operating mode. If this has been tried, then the drive is definitely the source of the errors.

[Technorevo]

Yep, I've switched between a 40 and 80-pin connector cable. I've even switched between primary and secondary slots. I believe that the drive is currently set to primary slave with cable select, on an 80-pin connector cable. Did you happen to mention that it's possible that the first drive could have caused my HD to go bad? You seem like you know a lot about the hardware aspects, can you please let me know if there is anything else that I can do. Thanks!

[Xaotic]

While it's possible for one drive to take out another component on the same rail, it normally requires a catastrophic failure or weak component. It's not usually a likely issues though.

There are a couple of questions on the bad HDD. Do you still have the drive? If so, does it still recognize in either BIOS or an OS? If you haven't RMA'd the drive and it's still recognized in BIOS, then running the manufacturer's diagnostics on the disk with the DVDR disconnected may give a better picture of what was happening on the bus. If there are bad sector errors on the disk, then it's going bad will not be directly related to the optical drive failures. Controller errors could indicate either hardware problems caused by the other drive or simply bad luck. No errors would likely show that the cause of failure was the presence of the other drive on the bus.

At this point, you definitely have a bad or incompatible optical drive. Given the continuing failures that are occurring, the best recommendation I could make is to exchange the drive for a similar model from a different manufacturer or perhaps a different model from the original manufacturer.

[Technorevo]

I still have the HD, but I did request information for an RMA from the distributor since the drives was OEM. It doesn't recognize it in the BIOS or OS, so the drive is unrecoverable without professional assistance. I can't afford to get the drive recovered, but I would like to get the equipment replaced from the DVD writer manufacturer if their drive was the culprit. LITE-ON is sending me pre-paid packaging so they can test the drive. Is that my best choice at the moment?

[Xaotic]

Yes, as far as the optical drive goes.

You stated earlier that you had two drives purchased at the same time. If they are identical models, you may be able to try some recovery. The component that has gone bad is most likely going to be on the PCBA(printed circuit board assembly). If they are the same model and size drive, then you should be able to remove the PCBA from the good one and attach it to the one with problems. This should allow you to attempt to boot and recover data. There are typically a couple of screws, a ribbon connector and a socketed connector attaching the PCBA to the chassis of the drive.