CD/DVD gone, not there anymore (SOLVED)

[OrdiDoc]

Strange problem that i have and i don't know what to do anymore.

I just realize that my CD/DVD is not there anymore. Because i have a triple boot on my laptop, i rebooted the computer and looked at Windows 7 and XP, not there either.

I tried all the tricks that i could find on the web but no luck.

I changed the hard drive, rebooted the computer, did an XP installation and there it is on a new install. After that it got stranger, i installed the chipset drivers and the VGA drivers and the CD/DVD was gone again. Removed the newly installed drivers and after rebooting it was there again.

I have never seen that before lets say that i would like to try anything to have it back. I have an external CD/DVD burner that i can use but i want my laptop one back

Do you think that you can help?

Thanks

[djohnston]

Have you changed any BIOS settings? Is it a SATA or PATA? Does it have a skinny cable or a wide one? Have you tried replacing the connecting cable? Can you see it in PCLinuxOS Control Center? What is the brand and model?

Something you said about the chipset drivers makes me ask, is there an audio connector from the CD/DVD to your sound card? Have you tried to see if the problem persists when that sound cable is unplugged?

[OrdiDoc]

I didn't change the BIOS setting, it's been the way it is since i got the laptop in 2008 meaning that CD-ROM is the first boot option than the hard drive.

I didn't open the laptop to disconnect or reconnect any wire, i only removed the CD/DVD by unscrewing 2 screws, looked at it, SATA connection, and replaced it the way it was...no luck.

Nothing about it in Linux Control Center and in Windows nothing either. In the BIOS it's not there anymore it is only saying CD-ROM in the boot options but if i look at the main page of the BIOS it's there but not under the boot options.

My laptop is a Acer 4520, the cpu is a TK-57 and i have 4 Gig of RAM on it with a 320 Gig HD and many partitions (XP, Win 7 and PCLos).

I don't thing that there is any audio connector from it to the sound card, it's a SATA connection and i don't see anything else.

Thanks for the reply

[ThirdOfSix]

I read your original post and was about to ask if you were using an ACER laptop.

Then I read your last post and saw that you are.

There is one series of ACER laptops that have a poor motherboard on which one of the main chips on the board has a problem.

I seem to remember that it is heat related.

Unfortunately, if I remember right, the first symptom of impending total failure is that the optical drives quit working followed by other port problems.

It seems like there was a temporary work around. But I just don't remember the details.

Eventually, the machine just quits.

It seems to be a progressive failure of one of the main chips on the board.

I am sorry, but I don't remember all the details. I researched it when mine was failing and then quit altogether.

The official fix is a new motherboard since that is one of those zillion pin chips soldered in place.

Of course, the cost of a new motherboard makes it a non-solution.

This may not be the same problem that you have. Mine was one of the ones that had an AMD processor and the seemingly identical machine with an Intel processor used a different chip and did not suffer from this problem.

I do hope that I am wrong in your case and wish you the best of luck.

[OrdiDoc]

The CPU is an AMD, for now there is only the CD/DVD that is not working.

Finally i think that the hardware is dead, i'm going to get another one later, for now i can use my external one so i'm not in a hurry and if the laptop stop working i'll get another one

Thanks for the replies.