PC resets when inserting a disc :(

i'm eperiencing this problems since a month now, and still i can't understand it.

in short, when i'm in windows and i insert a disc, the PC restarts. The same even when booting from the bios screen BEFORE geting to windows.

so far i've tried with failure:

1) putting in a BRAND new drive
2) changing slave/master and eide channel settings
3) i unplugged an HD, graphic adapter and pci boards to see if the power was not enough to boot.
4)swearing/praying barious gods.

any suggestions about what the hell is happening?

karsten

 

LOL I've never tried that lol. Anyway, I had a simmilar problem not long ago, did you checked if the 2 cabels are ok? The first one - wider - connects the DVD/CD-ROM/RAM to the motherboard and that one in my case had a NOTICIBLE gap on it from some reason (old PC, burn, dust ?) lol! I bought a new one and everything is ok now. Maybe the other - thinner - cable that connects to the power pack is damaged in simmilar way so be sure to check it too. Good luck!

 

Can you eject the disc or does it restart when you press the button to eject?

 

you can eject. it seems that it restrts as soon as the laser starts reading.

PS i tried 2-3 cables too :/

 

i.e. if i put a disc in and switch on with boot from disc option it'll restart itself forever.

 

Check to see if your motherboard's manufacturer has posted any updates for it and apply any BIOS/firmware updates.

You've eliminated the possibility that it's the drive itself since you tried a new one (unless it was the same make / model), so it's either a problem with the board itself (either physical component failure or a flaw in the current firmware) or the power supply isn't supplying enough power to the 4-pin molex connectors (which use the higher five and twelve volts).

It takes a fair amount of current to pull the tray in / load the media and then spin the drive up / position the laser, so it's possible that insufficient power is to blame. You did remove the hard drive, video card power, etc, but unless you're hitting any of them pretty hard when using the CD-ROM drive, they should be in an almost suspended state power usage-wise.

 

i don't think it's a matter of firmware updating since before i had a drive that was working fine... concerning power to the pins, i can check that in the bios... i'll post the values when i get home.

in any case i'm not hitting hard on any pc part... the resets happens even before getting to windows as i stated

 

my power detail:

VcoreA 1,287V
+3,3Vin 3.264V
+5Vin 4.775V
+12V in 11.656V

good, great, low? or what else? i have no clue

 

Assuming that you have dual IDE connectors have you tried swapping them over?

When you say before windows do you mean it's attempting to boot up Windows and crashes?

Have you tried booting something from the CD-ROM? Something like the Windows Set up disc, linux, memtest? Try it without the Hard drive attached, that way you can determine if it's a hardware fault or Windows being crappy.

I had a problem similar to this before and found that the wrong driver was loaded.

 

tried both eide chans, and played with master/slave settings.

no windows can boot and go, but when starts to read -> crash

BUT ALSO if the machine tries to boot from CD from the BIOS start ->crash

so i guess not a matter of drivers at all

 

Sounds like your motherboard is feckled then.

 

but the hdds work just fine... how can it get f*** up so that only cd drives are affected? ?_?

and also i hope it is NOT broken because i can't afford/want to buy a new PC right now... T_T

 

are you trying to read a DVD in a CD only drive?

 

oh god.... No.

a cd/dvd in a dual layer dvd burner drive

 

Make sure you have the most up to date BIOS for your motherboard as it may have issues.

Anything in the BIOS to select PIO, LBA mode or Ultra DMA modes? It could be that the BIOS is auto setting it but getting something wrong which is causing the computer to crash. Normally these would be PIO - Mode 4, LBA Mode enabled, UDMA - Mode 2, however play with them as you might find a setting that works. You should be able to select CD-ROM / DVD-ROM as Hard drive type.

 

I'd replace that powersupply. When you initiate the CDROM drive, it puts a load on the PSU you have and if that PSU is starting to flake out, it can dip below spec and cause your motherboard to reboot.

That is the first device I'd replace first as it is the cheapest component to replace compared to the motherboard.

 

I had a problem like this last year. Everytime i put a CD or DVD on the drive, it would read it and then restarts the PC.

In the end, it was the damn computer power suppy dying... I replaced it and the problem disappeared.

Don't know if it's the exact same problem you are experiencing, but the symptoms are the same.

 

Have you tried looking at the drivers for the drive? Have you disabled the upper and lower filters? it possible that windows is dying due to a corrupt driver or upper/lower filter thats loaded and just rebooting. Normally you should get a BSoD, but its possible its going down so fast that its not getting a chance to display that.

If it where me I'd check the drivers, filters, and possibly an reinstall of windows before I started throwing hardware at the problem. If that doesn't help I'd look at the power supply and possibly the motherboard since you've already replaced the drive. It sounds almost as if its the PSU, maybe your power rails going to the drive are bad and its shorting everything out.

Edit: Missed the part about it happening outside of windows too, ya its most likely your PSU, and at and extreme the motherboard.

 

Try removing other things from the motherboard that are taking up power, like Johnny said this sounds like a power supply problem.

 

it's certainly electrical from the sounds of it. Have you tried the drive on another computer? I think that would be the easiest step to take in order to narrow down the culprits.