PLEASE HELP........CD-ROM not Recognized in Latitude CPx

Brian, I am having the same issue with my Dell cpi laptop.  I am running Windows ME, and the problem you're experiencing describes my problem exactly.  I am hoping someone can help us!    Donna

I am not absolutely sure but you might have a hardware conflict or your registry might need to be edited.   This might help.

Hardware conflict - You should check Device Manager to be sure all of your devices are recognized properly by Windows. To do this, go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel, double-click on System, and finally click on Device Manager at the top. Check the list of devices for any items with a conflict (a yellow exclamation mark on the device).

There could be a problem with the Primary or Secondary IDE controller.  You will need to search for the entry 'NOIDE' in the registry. Please bear in mind that editing the registry is not supported by Dell or Microsoft.   Before using the Registry Editor you should make a copy of the System.Dat and User.dat files that are in the Windows Directory. Then go to START | RUN and enter the command "Regedit" and click on "OK". Then click on 'Edit' in the menu bar, and select 'Find'. Type in NOIDE in the 'Find what' box, and make sure that only the VALUES and MATCH WHOLE STRING ONLY options are checked. Then hit 'Find Next', and Windows will search the registry. If it finds an entry for NOIDE, hit the 'Del' key to remove it. Then hit 'F3' to finish the registry search. Finally, exit out of the Registry Editor and shut down and restart the system.

Brian

I posted the same issue a couple of weeks ago... I still have to find the answer.. Let me know if you find out what works.

Brian

      I found an NOIDE item in the registry.. I removed it and everything now works.   Thanks.... What is NOIDE?  and how did it get in to the registry?

 

Alan

Dear EKS4141

I just tried this on my Dell cpi Latitude running Windows ME and I too found a NOIDE.  My CD rom is now working properly!  Although I am curious as to how this occurred, I am more excited that my laptop is back up and running properly!  THANK YOU!   Donna

Welll.........................it's me again...lol    I have attempted everything / all listed:  going into my Registry Editor and searching for "NOIDE" -------- no luck what-so-ever, nothing by that name turned up throught 4 repeaded searches, following the directions exactly; going into my Device Manager.............still no luck..........I swear I think that old CPx is hexed......irregardless of what I do, absolutely nothing. stubbornly, changes.  I honestly believe it has indeed developed "artificial intelligence" and cultivated it to an extremely high degree, and the CPx's sole purpose and existence in this lifetime, is to exasperate, and frustrate me to no end.  It does not matter what I do.....Absolutely NOTHING works....I'm pretty throughly disgusted, and now ready to simply "trash" the CPx.  Completely reformated the disk again, bought a new copy of Win98 SE, installed it on a "clean" hard drive, then---just to be certain---I ran scandisk, then defrag.  I had nothing but the basic Windows Desktop with only the very basic icons.  Went ahead and got another new CD-ROM from DELL and returned the last new one, inserted it, rebooted the system, and, ALAS, all that shows up is A Drive, and C Drive.................I think I've simply had it with the system...............I swear it has a mind of it's own, with the sole purpose of frustrating me !! ........lol   I'm gonna try to get it to work for one more week only, then stop wasting so much time on it, and just donate it to GoodWill, because I could not honestly list it on eBay in good conscience...............I honestly believe this system is hopeless......At least we tried.

Thanks for all, and anyone's assistance,

Brian..........................

Brian,

  If you have a cable to hook your modular CD-ROM to  the back of your laptop it should work like an external drive.  I realize this is not the set-up that you want but I think it would work so that you could at least use your CD-ROM.  Simply hook the parallel cable from the back of the CD-ROM module to the back of the Laptop.  Again, this would be an external set-up. (your internal cd-rom can be used as an external)

Then boot up the system and see if the CD-ROM works.  This is worth a try.  Good Luck.

P.S. If your Dell did not come with this cable you should be able to purchase one at a computer store for about  ten dollars. 

Donna,

I am glad that you were able to fix your Dell.   Good work!  Edward.

Hi "EKS4141"..........

Thanks for all of your patience and assistance.  I will try connecting it w/a Parallel and see if that will work.  As you offered, at least that's better than nothing, and I can at least use, and access, the Drive under relatively normal conditions.  Hmmmm, I'm wondering.  If this works, will I also be able to insert the Floppy Drive into a Modular Bay, and then access both the Floppy, and the CD-ROM simultaneously ?!?!?!

Thanks again, and take care.........

Brian

PS:  Sure glad that there's so many more individuals out there far more intelligent and computer literate than I...............lol   thanks again......

Hi Brian,

 Yes, you should leave your floppy in the bay.  It should work also.  That way you have two drives at the same time.   Hopefully, this set up will get you going.  Good Luck!  EKS

Hi "eks"

Thanks again for all your assistance.  I was also wondering.........the extremely expensive Architectural Design Software that responds best in Win98 is now coming out with their latest update to work perfectly with the very latest version of XP and its updates.  The upgrade is quite expensive itself, as a licensed user for 9 yrs. I can receive it at a substantial discount ( 795.00   ..............whew !! geeeeez, some discount...LOL ), anyway, even though I have a couple of much newer, more powerful DELL Laptops, I'm sure you can understand my sentimental attatchment to the CPx, as it was my first Laptop, and for the fact I doubt it would have very much market value, even though it's in "like new" condition, many, many upgrades, and expensive programs, a nice leather DELL carry case, individual smaller DELL cases for the modular drives, and I've neatly labeled everything............lol  I guess I would rather label myself as a organized "neat freak" rather than referenced as "a" retentive....LOL.   Well, sorry for the long reply, but I wanted to ask you, when, and if, I upgrade the CPx  OS to WinXP, I wonder if the CD-ROM would then be recognized since XP appears to be so user friendly, and pretty adept at noticing when new hardware, software, plug-n-play, etc..... is added ??   I have a spare 24x CD-RW / DVD Combo Modular Drive as well.  I have one for each of my much newer Latitudes, and got the spare for a good price.  I wonder if it will work on the CPx if WinXP is installed ?  I've noticed over the years that the CPx has many parts that are interchangeable with the newer models, but there are some aspects that are very proprietory.  The Modular Drives are interchangeable, but the CPx bay is on the right, and the newer ones are on the left.  Anyway, I would be extremely appreciative of any advice you may have regarding the CPx, keeping it, maintenance, upgrades, etc......  If nothing else, it would be a neat little laptop to keep around to use as a WP with WordPerfect or MS Word, or some other non-demanding programs...............take care, and thanks again..

Brian

Brian,

 The new operating systems are much better at recognizing attached devices.  Win98 and earlier OS are not really plug and play capable. All the newer operating systems are very good at plug and play.  If you can upgrade the OS to WinXp that might fix the problem.  If you already own WinXP or some newer OS then just upgrade it now for free.  I would not use Win98 because it is outdated.

When it comes to computers I am not that sentimental.  I would only keep the CPx around if it works and has a purpose.  If you can use it as a portable word processor then thats fine, it has a purpose.   If it were me, I would not spend over $100 to fix it.  Eventually you will need to upgrade to a better and faster computer and I would save the money for that. Regards, EKS

Brian,

 The new operating systems are much better at recognizing attached devices.  Win98 and earlier OS are not really plug and play capable. All the newer operating systems are very good at plug and play.

When it comes to computers I am not that sentimental.  I would only keep the CPx around if it works and has a purpose.  If you can use it as a portable word processor then thats fine, it has a purpose.   If it were me, I would not spend over $100 to fix it.  Eventually you will need to upgrade to a better computer and I would save the money for that. Regards, EKS