Bad CD & Battery?

Question

The CDRW/DVD modular component does not work. The battery does not charge. When I remove the battery, Windows shows no battery and when I plug it in, either in the left battery bay or the modular bay, Windows shows there is a battery and it's charging (in either bay). It never does.   The CDRW/DVD can be unplugged and plugged in and nothing happens. You can open it, the light does come on. I can plug in the floppy drive and it works. I can even boot off of it.   Going into the setup at boot with the floppy in I see the floppy installed in the modular bay. When I go into the setup with the CDRW/DVD in it I see nothing in the modular bay.   Right off the top of my head, I'm going to assume that these components are dead. I guess I'm just looking for validation or some trick I've not tried.   I've updated the BIOS with the newest version.

meegosh · Answer

Have you run the dell diagnostics? Hit F12 when your booting up and run the tests. This will let us know if your components are working or not. It sounds like you may have a bad board if neither the battery or CD-ROM is being detected properly. Any more information you can provide? Have you dropped the machine recently? Is it under warranty?

Pirahnya · Answer

The battery IS being detected, but it's not charging. The CDRW/DVD is NOT being detected, but the Floppy IS.

The BIOS shows a battery in the bay (either bay). The BIOS does NOT see the CDRW/DVD, but WILL see the Floppy when it's in.

If it a bad motherboard, I would assume it would not see anything.

I have to have the floppy in to run the diagnostic program and the program finds NO errors.

meegosh · Answer

Is the machine out of warranty? I would say pick up a new battery and and CD-RW drive off eBay or something similar if the warranty is up. If not call Dell and tell them exactly what you told me. They will replace CD-RW drive most likely and will stiff you with buying a new battery.

Good luck! Let us know what you find out.

GreyMack · Answer

Pirahnya, I believe you've done nearly all you can to verify the optical drive and battery are bad, short of replacing them or swapping them with compatible parts from another system for confirmation. Just to assure what you and meegosh have concluded, the odds are against either of these being a problem on the motherboard.

GM

Pirahnya · Answer

Thanks all. Unfortunately, the notebook is out of warrantee and after pricing a new CDRW/DVD from Dell ($221?... OMG), I will be hopefully purchasing one from somebody else. Again, thanks. JWH

meegosh · Answer

Check ebay they are usually pretty cheap. You can find used ones for 1/4 of dell's price. Just check the pictures for Manufacturers date's on the stickers. This is the only way you can tell how old the drive is.

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Bad CD & Battery?

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