Tech help

[BIRCHYBOY27]

Hi, i have an acer netbook which doesnt have a cd drive, bought a external usb one but i cant seem to get it to work. Anyone got any ideas of how to get it working? Thanks

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Potentially you'll need the driver for the external USB drive loaded but of course you'll generally need a CD drive to do this. Do a search for the drivers on the internet, download them, install them and away you go.

 

[juliant]

Have you had a look in the BIOS? Just thinking maybe something needs enabling....

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

No whats that?

 

[Fungus]

BIOS is a very basic bit of code that loads before Windows, and identifies all your hardware.

Assuming other USB devices work okay, I'd expect Windows 7 to automatically identify your drive and load the appropriate drivers when you plug it in. Are you using an older / other operating system?

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

Im using xp.

 

[juliant]

Do other USB devices work ok? Its a process of elimination to what the issue may be.

 

[Titus]

If it's an Acer Aspire One I'd throw it away and buy something else.

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

It is but i dont have the money to get anything else a the mo

 

[Deleted member 22389]

BIOS is a very basic bit of code that loads before Windows, and identifies all your hardware.

Assuming other USB devices work okay, I'd expect Windows 7 to automatically identify your drive and load the appropriate drivers when you plug it in. Are you using an older / other operating system?

He could also try the following. If he is running windows XP Pro there is a section called Control Panel >> Administrative tools >> Storage I think.

See if the external drive is detected here. If it has, may be do a quick format on it. NTFS It might sort it.

And your right Windows 7 should just detect it.

Make sure you select the correct drive lol

 

[juliant]

See if the external drive is detected here. If it has, may be do a quick format on it. NTFS

Huh? Its an external CDROM drive, format it?

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Huh? Its an external CDROM drive, format it?

Sorry thought he had an external hard drive. Did not read post properly.

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

Ok cant find it on disc management

 

[Fungus]

I have a Samsung netbook and bought an external CD/DVD drive. It requires TWO USB sockets (one for power, one for data), and came with a special twin cable. Is yours like that, or does it have a separate power cable?

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

It has and i am plugged into two ports

 

[Fungus]

So, what's your definition of "not working"?

If you put a CD (not a DVD) in, does it spin up or just sit there dead? If you go into "My Computer", does it list it alongside the C: drive and can you click on it?

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

I plugged it in and it said windows has recognised new hardware, then i cant see it in my compute at all.

 

[Fungus]

Then it does sound like a driver problem. The multi-language instructions that come with these things typically don't help much, but you should be able to get something off the company's web-site.

Anyone got any other ideas?

 

[BIRCHYBOY27]

Ok gone into add hardware wizard and it says this device cannot start code 10

 

[juliant]

Agreed

What make/model drive is it? Time to be looking at the manufacturer web site or Google. If XP recognises the hardware it points to drivers.....