connecting to the net whilst using a dvd drive?

[Stef]

My computer's starting to play funny buggers with me.
I have this new problem, where everytime I insert a CD/DVD into the drive my internet disconnects?
I've asked a lot of my friends who are more computer literate than me (ie- they can turn it on without help, lol), and none of them know what could have caused this.
I havent installed any nnew hardware or software that I recall.
Anyone have any idea of what could cause this?

[boingo]

My computer's starting to play funny buggers with me.
I have this new problem, where everytime I insert a CD/DVD into the drive my internet disconnects?
I've asked a lot of my friends who are more computer literate than me (ie- they can turn it on without help, lol), and none of them know what could have caused this.
I havent installed any nnew hardware or software that I recall.
Anyone have any idea of what could cause this?

I did a check on the net, but I didn't find anything as it's a difficult thing to think of the right search question. I did, however find a site where you can ask about the problem: http://www.askdavetaylor.com/ask.html


PS. You missed out the "O" in Melbourne for your location.

[darkfrog]

I would say it's a power problem or some conflict with MoBo and your network card.

What connection do you have?

[cosmicB]

Off the top, I'd shut the PC down, and open the tower, and relocate the internet card into a new slot... plus check that all cards and connections are secure in their places.. especially the drives... and give a little push on the cpu to set it...

Switch-on with the covers off...

If you can't switch-on without the covers inplace, tape the cover-open detection switch, or disable it in bios...

Tap the powersupply and cards with a sliver of wood, while the PC is Net connected... Changes tell where problems might be...

If I had that problem, I'd probably format C...

How is the internet connection cable wire?.. Is any of it spliced improperly?.. or check the wall phone outlet.. is there any green corrosion?..

Have you made any bios changes lately?..

Did a wicked lightning storm pass over lately, just before the problem started?.. Did lightning strike very close, and the TV or stereo come on by itself?..

Was or is there a tiny loose piece of metal bumping around in the tower, on the mummy board..?

Did you recently replace the mummy board?..

Did water spill on the tower lately?..

Does that PC have an overheating problem?..
Are the fans working properly and silent?..

Did you drop the tower?.. Drops can crack circuit boards... Hold a bright light behind a circuit board to check for cracks...

Do you plug and unplug hardware into the tower without shutting down first?..

[boingo]

Wow, cosmicB, No wonder I didn't have a clue how to help.

[cosmicB]

First thing to do is to either check the power-supply for bad regs, zeners, and caps... Or try a substitute power-supply...

_____________________________

"And when religion suffers from dilusion.. they calls it reality"..

[femaleadmin]

First thing to do is to either check the power-supply for bad regs, zeners, and caps... Or try a substitute power-supply...

_____________________________

"And when religion suffers from dilusion.. they calls it reality"..

[monosodium]

Wow, cosmicB, No wonder I didn't have a clue how to help.

To be fair what CosmicB suggested was well meaning technique called "clutching at straws" with the exception of formatting the machine (which is a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut in the unlikely event it is a software configuration fault).

As it sounds like a physical problem rather than software though it's more likely that reseating the cables will fix it if anything will. Not a job for the uninitiated.

As for whacking parts of the machine with a bit of wood - truly inspired...

Best test would be to just try ejecting and closing the drive drawer without a disc in it and see what happens then... See where it goes from there. Without knowing more about how Stef's connection works, we're in the dark really.

[cosmicB]

In this problem, the first thing to do after all the checks don't show anything, is to substitute the power supply...

A new power supply is about $60...

You can get a used power supply from a junk computer, at a garage sale, for about $2...In this problem, the first thing to do after all the checks don't show anything, is to substitute the power supply.. and the CD rom...

A new power supply is about $60...

You can get a used power supply and CD drive from a junk computer, at a garage sale, for about $2...


In topic.. "tapping things with a piece of wood.. it works often... IC chips internal gold wires sometimes aren't flash welded properly... Tapping the bad chip will sometimes make a faulty weld fail or stutter.. which is why sometimes a kick will fix an electronic device... Plus, electronic connections create their own dirt of corrosion, by electron flow, and the heat of current, even if they are air-tight sealed...
The alternative to tapping transistors to determine intermittents in transistors is to slightly heat them up with a hair drier, then cool them down with a 1/4 second burst of freeze spray... If there is a gold wire problem that will show it up...


It isn't viewed as "clutching straws" in the electronics trade...
It's a basic method of fault diagnosis when the problem isn't obvious, or is a rare one... It's called, "doing a general hardware evaluation"... The whole evaluation might take from five to ten minutes after you have access to the circuit boards...

Way too often the problem was caused by user abuse... like the lady who brought her new stereo in for repair... It had sound only on one side, on speaker... I found a dime in it on the circuit board... The coin had shorted out the amplifier chip, and burned it out on on side... While I was reconnecting the stereo, her kid enters the room, and says out of the blue, "I never dropped a penny into the radio"...

We used to get tv's into the shop, that had huge plant tray water marks on top, and serious water damage to the interiors... You can't water plants on top of tv's.. and it's not a good thing to wash circuit boards with windex.. especially when the set is on...

A general hardware evaluation is too often oh so necessary.. because the usual info from the average consumer client, is "Duh..? Umm? It was working yesterday.. and um duh, now it's not working today?"..

[monosodium]

It isn't viewed as "clutching straws" in the electronics trade...

Yes it is. My stepfather was one of a small number of manufacturer authorised (for a number of major manufacturers) specialist repair centres here in the UK and as such I grew up in and around the business, everything from bespoke audiophile valve amplifiers to delicate surface mount boards requiring component level repair. I trained within the company and as such I'm experienced enough to smell BS from a great distance.

Anyone who actually knows what they are talking about calls what you've described the "radio rentals" method, because (a) most radio rentals engineers of the time when the phrase came about were poorly trained imbeciles, and (b) they knew if people kept whacking their equipment hard enough then they'd break it properly and they wouldn't be covered by the warranty.

As I say, telling someone (especially someone who doesn't know what they're doing) to open up their machine and hit it with a bit of wood is clutching at straws, it's BS and you know it.

[cosmicB]

It's not so much "wheat farming", as it is "recognized trade electronics troubleshooting"...
What other method is there to troubleshoot electronics hardware problems, besides going by the book..?

Tapping, heat treatment, and cold treatment, are easy crucial to quick-troubleshooting intermittent IC's.. then come the probes, and scanners.. which are about $300, and 2-grand to 8-grand, each.. and a three month course to learn to use properly... Easier is to tap with a stick, and watch for a reaction... but admitidly it's not the same as a fully loaded state of the art 50-grand electronics bench, with a 20-year veteran technician... but is something anyone can do, to basic troubleshoot difficult electronics problems... I'm not saying use a hammer a stake, and drive the stake right through the chip's heart.. just use tiny straight-on gentle taps...

It's how I pegged down a job, the day I quit a crappy job...
I turned in my salesman car and samples. and walked home... Three blocks down the road I drops in at a video game rental.. and tells them I can repair anything they've got.. and I'll do one for free...
The three managers gang up, and point me to an antique ballgame video game, which hasn't worked for years, and their techs have tried everything, and can't figure out the fault...
I gets into the back... Yikes!.. the size of that absolutely huge circuit board, full of 100's of obsolete IC's... I takes a pencil, and starts tapping the chips... On the 11th chip, the picture flashes for a part of a second... I ask for the freeze spray, and sprays three chips... On the third chip, the unit fires up working... I subs that chip, and the baseball game is working like new.. and the guy hires me...


Try subbing the power supply...

[cosmicB]

I subs that chip, and the baseball game is working like new.. and the guy hires me...

The whole point is you do what works...
It ain't in the books.. It's in an ingenuitive feeling you get, that tells you what needs be done to find the fault... then you trust your feelings...
With this technique I can troubleshoot things I've never met...
I use this ability to know which rocks are loose and dangerous, when hiking in the mountains.. and every time I'm bang-on... It's like I become one with the mountain... I can walk deep-woods game-trails blindfolded... You could too, if you opened that part of your mind... Ever try deepwoods hiking at midnight, without a light?.. It's a Rush!.. And even a bigger rush when you hears a cougar's growl cut the night's crisp air...

I dumped the video game job after I had played all the video games and pinballs till they were all just boring... I dumped that job, and drove home...
Five blocks from the video rental I stops in at a mailing machine warehouse, and tells them I can repair anything they've got.. and can troubleshoot it without seeing it...

The guy is grinning silly at me, like maybe he's recalling making soft yellow poopies in his diapy.. or just did.?? He tells me about a machine sitting in the warehouse... He describes its shape and size, and how it isn't functioning properly...

I dives into self trance, and finds that machine in my mind's eye... I imagine I am looking at the machine, without its side covers on... I imagines holding a can of red paint designed to stick to troubles... I splash the imaginary can of paint on the machine.. the paint sticks to a large wheel on the backside of the machine...
I asks him what is that large wheel in the middle of the back side?
He tells me that's the clutch...
The trouble is in the clutch, says I...
Next day he phones me at 7:30 AM to tell me I've got the job, and have won-out over an 873-applicant competition... Turns out that the clutch needed replacing, just like I said...

You do what works...

Tapping works for IC chips, sometimes... Tapping even works for touching highly venomous critters... Soft tapping on a blackwidow's back, pacifies her.. and she will permit you to toy with her legs, and to pick her up... Ditto for rattle snakes...

You do some reality, cuz it works...

If this CD fault is real, and not just a gay-class gamey fabrication, then try subbing the power supply... The fact that there has been no-response tells me this fault is likely non-existent...

[monosodium]

The whole point is you do what works...

You do, when you know what you're doing and what you're tapping and why you're doing it and what to do if / when something happens. You don't recommend it to complete strangers who do not understand those things.

My point is that recommending to complete strangers that they randomly whack the insides of their machine with bits of wood, which is essentially what you did, is at best dumb, possibly expensive and definitely dangerous.

[cosmicB]

"My point is that recommending to complete strangers that they randomly whack the insides of their machine with bits of wood"



Not "whack"!.. TAP lightly.. just enough to force hair thin gold wires in IC's to wiggle... Too often those welds are crappy... A tiny tap on an intermittent chip can momentarily restore the chip's function, long enough for you to determine what's the culprit... There's absolutely no danger in it... PC's are powered mostly by 12 volts... It takes 32-volts to even start to feel shocks.. unless you've gone and put your tongue on bare wires...

So if you are a complete stranger to the PC.. then introduce yourself to the PC, then go on tapping lightly with a sliver of dry-wood.. but not a pencil with a metal tip, and not a pencil lead either.. both are conductive...

I'm not saying to stick your fingers into a power supply.. just friendly tapping, like the black-widow does to his mate...

[monosodium]

"My point is that recommending to complete strangers that they randomly whack the insides of their machine with bits of wood"



Not "whack"!.. TAP lightly..

The essence is the same when you tell that to someone who doesn't know or understand electronics or computers...