CD/DVD not reading (Code 39 error)...

If they show up in device manager in windows xp and have an exclamation point there-the controller for that ide port may have gone bad and may it never work.  You have 4 Sata ports on the motherboard.  I would consider buying drives that use Sata instead.  They will also be faster.  You would have to go into the bios and make sure those ports are turned on. 

it is very hard for me to believe that both drives went bad at the same time.  You could also try the drives on another computer to make sure.  Regardless of windows xp you can put in windows xp disk and set the bios to boot from the dvd drive and if it boots from that drive without windows then windows has an issue.  If it will not boot from that drive and you can see the drive in the bios then I would say that the port has gone bad.  You have reseated both ends of the ide cable right?

Ken

Graindust,

I went to the bios immediately after I did the NVRAM that you suggested, and checked all of the drives sata and pata, everything was there as it was suppose to be, and turned on and I really thought we had solved the problem.  However, after restart I checked the "my computer" and nothing!  So I checked the hardware manager and there they were in all their exclamation point wonder!!  So right clicked to update driver, nothing.  Check hardware, nothing.  Still getting the "39" error.

I do believe witchcraft is what is needed with these drives right now!

Thanks, anything else??

magicbelle

Magicbelle

Yes it will install from hard drive or flash, but the software has to be able to see the drive or it will not install.

You need to go into the bios (F2 on startup) and expand drives and you should be able to see the cd and dvd there when you highlight the corresponding Pata drives---this is very important, if they are not there that no form of witchcraft or anything else will see them.  Once they are seen in the bios then the OS (Operating System) should see them.  Make sure that when these drives are highlighted that they are turned on (it will show OFF or ON and I believe some other setting.  Let us know what happens. 

I have a Samsung A707 Cell phone with software  to hook it up to the computer.  Everytime I install it it works fine, but when I restart the computer the hard drive are not there anymore and it changes settings in the bios.  So I would have to clear the NVRAM and then reset all the settings in the bios on first start after NVRAM and then restart and go back into bios to make sure everything shows.

PS I hope you have everything important backed up

Ken

There are 4 ports that you should have seen right above where you cleared the nvram.  The two on the right are 0 and 1 starting with 0 on the top and two on left 2 and 3.  One cable = one drive.  If you have two hard drives then you should have two ports available.  You will have to make sure they come with or buy sata cables (some come with and some don't) make sure they are long enough also.  One more thing if they do not have the same female power cable receiver then you will need an adapter power cable.

Ken

Ken, Gaindust,

I have firmly seated the cable to both drives, master & slave.  They will take a disc, lights flash a couple times, and nothing! 

As if they do not exist! 

Therefore, I have just checked into a Sony 22x DVD RW SATA Drive with lightscribe, etc.   69.99.  However, I need to copy direct from one disc to another, if possble without going to the hard drive first, can I install 2 of these with no problem and should I do a slave/master, or two separate sata drive cables?   Also, do you know if I would need to purchase the cable separately or would it come with the new drive.  I am getting ready to call Sony to be sure.

It is hard for me to believe that they both would go out at once too. 

magicbelle

Ellie

I would have liked to have seen the unit booted to the dvd or cd.  That would be before the OS and would tell the story completely.

Ken

I'd Sitll say u give Reinstallation of Windows XP a shot before u spend $70 for a DVD drive

Magicbelle

Ok - Go into the bios (F2 at startup) make sure that you can see the drives in the bios (expand drives by highlighting with up and down arrow keys and then I believe the right arrow key will expand it).  Then highlight boot options and expand that,  highlight anything that has a number by it and hit the space key to deselect it and then find your dvd player and highlight it and space so that it is the only option for boot.  Now open the dvd player and put a bootable dvd in it (your windows xp install disc is bootable).  Save these configurations and exit the bios and it should start reading the dvd and boot up on it and will bypass starting windows. 

If it reads the dvd and boots you could reinstall windows at that time.  If you do install windows many programs will have to be reinstalled to work properly and many drivers may have to be reinstalled.  Reinstalling windows is not a fast and easy fix.

But if it boots you will know it is the OS Operating System) that is at fault.  If it does not then You either had both cd and dvd go out at once (what are the odds of that) or the controller is gone.

Ken

Hi H2darizzo, reinstallation is not an option as I DO NOT have either drive working, neither the CD drive nor the dvd drive works.

Thanks

magicbelle

Ken, Graindust,

Please explain how to boot to the dvd or cd and I will try that.  We have come this far, might as well "find" a solution.  I think I was just getting too frustrated.

Thanks,

magicbelle

I am using Memeo Autobackup, and had it back up everything I could think of including my C drive, (when this stuff started) took 18 hours - as a second back-up plan.  (I have two back-up plans named. 

33.6G is stored in one plan and 102.9 is stored in the other plan (I have never removed deleted items from it).  So, I guess I would be safe.

Have never had to restore, again a learning curve.

I will have to mull this over a couple of days - too much work ahead of me, but will keep you posted.    H2darizzo gave a very good informational "what to do" and unless I hear more will follow that course.  Thanks for the reassurance  Ken - I do know what back-up means - those were the BAD experiences and all I got was OOPS and a bill.

magicbelle - Ellie

If ur cd drive is detected in the Setup screen(BIOS) it means that the drive is working outside windows and the problem is with windows.

Please take a backup of all the data that u need before doing a reinstallation

Put the Windows cd in the top drive of the computer and restart the system when u see the DELL logo start hitting the F12 key. U will get an option  which would say IDE/Onboard CD drive (or sometingh like that not quiet sure) u need to select this option and push enter and as soon as u do this u'll get a message saying "Press any key to Boot from CD" as soon as this message comes up press any key if u do it right u'll get a message WINDOWS IS LOADING FILES and then u need to select the Language and Keyboard Layout and hit Next and u'll come  up to a screen which will have an install now button and u can follow the instructions here.

Yes you will have options to install or not. If you reinstall you should not loose any data, but with a computer anything can happen and the only sure thing is if you have a backup.  I always have a backup on another computer and another on an external drive.

Ken

Sooo what up???????

Ken