My computer has now now been repaired. I mentioned that I *thought* the DVD drive was making too much noise at the start-up and asked if it should be disconnected. The repairer says the noise was from one of the fans (which he has cleaned and lubricated). It seems there is nothing wrong with the DVD drive but he disconnected it anyway).
He replaced the power supply as it seemed to be working intermittently
The smaller (red) cable to the DVD drive is still in place. Is it just a case of connecting any of the numerous leads coming from the power supply? Will I need to change any BIOS settings?
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C
chop
Yep
Shouldn't have to.
P
Paul
formatting link
SATA drive - four pin analog audio on the left. It's almost never done that way any more. A more common option is the (useless) two pin digital output, which is apparently S'PDIF of unknown amplitude and line impedance. Many home built computers don't have the two pin digital input for it.
formatting link
IDE (ribbon cable) drive. This one seems to have literally everything on it. Two pin digital audio on the left, four pin analog audio next to it. MASTER/SLAVE/CABLESELECT jumper selection. IDE data cable (0.1" centers). Molex four pin power cable. The Molex is keyed so it only goes one way. Two of the four corners are cut at 45 degree angles. Yellow wire (12V) is closest to the outside of the drive.
formatting link
One problem is, the motherboard sound chip does not always have a digital audio DVD input on it. It may still have four pin analog audio. But since a lot of DVD drives no longer have the four pin analog audio, there is a mismatch between what the motherboard has for DVD audio versus what the drive has.
The drive has alternate means of doing audio, and the audio is done as data over the computer data cable. There is a standard for CD audio encoding, and the computer knows about that. You can even store CD audio on a DVD. I think something like 99 selections, and you can switch between groups of 99. I don't know anything about putting your entire audio cache on the one DVD. It's pretty hard to get all the details right.
In any case, we know you have an output and an input that match, because this was originally connected, so it's going to work. The female connector should be shaped for the cable, as a hint you're on the right track. I notice on the drive, there is a keying tab position for the digital audio on the left. That ensures the GND and signal wire get connected to GND and signal on the drive (prevents reversal). The motherboard may lack such goodness, so you'll have to check.
Paul
T
Tim Streater
Why bother. When Apple stopped putting DVD drives in Macs I bought a USB one from Amazon for £10 and use it once in a blue moon. Same for the floppy drive.
T
Theo
I haven't seen a motherboard with a CD/DVD audio input for a couple of decades, so I doubt this is going to be a concern. These days everything goes via the data cable: in the DVD's case the audio is part of the compressed video stream and the computer needs to decode it before it can play it.
The days when you could put in an audio CD, plug in to a headphone jack on the front of the drive and press a hardware Play button are long gone.
Theo
T
The Natural Philosopher
Yes, and no.
If you have the drive and it simply needs reconnecting, why bother?
T
Tim Streater
For when you next upgrade your machine and it comes without a floppy or DVD drive.
T
The Natural Philosopher
THEN you buy a DVD drive. Except What comes on DVD these days? Download and burn a thumb drive...
J
John Rumm
DVDs and Bluray discs... If you need a way to transfer same onto your network and make them available via plex etc, then a drive to read them is handy. Same goes for ripping CDs.
J
jon
I ave a portable drive for the very rare occasions I need to rip a disk.
B
Brian Gaff
Only you would know unless he can tell you. Normally there is one or two cables to connect to a drive. Depending on the age of the machine, it could be IDE or one of the various types or Sartor ones. Brian
J
John Rumm
Fine if you have a laptop I suppose, but less than ideal otherwise. Most portable drives these days are based on laptop style drives - these typically have poorer performance than the "proper" equivalents. Also if you have a desktop/tower etc with space of an optical drive internally, what is the attraction of having one hanging off the outside on the end of a USB like a techie soap on a rope?
T
Tim Streater
Because you use it once in a blue moon, and then put it away.
S
SteveW
And in my case, if my student son hadn't nicked it for his laptop, it could be left plugged into my satellite TV box and allow me to use that as a my DVD player, instead of using the dedicated DVD player and an extra remote that I can never find.
J
John Rumm
And there you have one of the downsides. If it is permanently installed in the slot in the case designed for such things, you don't need to put it away, or have the hassle of digging it out and plugging it in next blue moon.
T
Tim Streater
So you end up with a dirty great tower full of the things you might need once in a blue moon. Whereas I have both my desktop machine and a fileserver on my desk. Both are very small and quiet.
J
Jeff Gaines
You seem to have forgotten that the "P" in "PC" stands for "personal" and it is up to individuals how they use them, subject to Microsoft's approval of course.
T
Tim Streater
There ya go, y'see. The only "Microsoft" here is Office 2016, and two VMs with Win7 and Win10 that I fire up for testing purposes from time to time. Otherwise no viruses, so no anti-virus, no BIOS, no start menu, and so on.
T
The Natural Philosopher
My desktop is an HP EliteDesk. It's extremely small, and it has a DVDdrive. Probably the last in the series that does.
It only has a minimal boot SSDS. Te data is all on the server. That is a mini tower, because its got 3 large spinning rust disks in it. About 9TB of storage. And a DVD drive, Why not? it came with one...
One day it will get replaced. But it helps keep the office warm
T
The Natural Philosopher
The joys of PenguinPower.
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