Now here's a strange thing!
My PC's DVD player has started acting awkward. It stubbornly refuses to eject on command when a disc is in. It is OK when empty and opens first time every time. I put a dvd in and then have all on to get it to open up. You can hear a small thump as it activates, as if it were going to release it, and then nothing.
It must take at least 10 attempts to get the drawer to open when using the manual button. It is the same if I tell the dvd player to open from 'My Computer'. In this case there's a few thumps and eventually (about 6 attempts) the drawer opens and then closes immediately and then opens.
I don't think this is a mechanical problem. It's as if its getting conflicting signals from the PC.
Any ideas please?

Is it female?

I think it's turning that way :-)

Storm Worm hits computers across worldFriday January 19, 12:13 PM

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Computer virus writers started to use raging European storms on Friday to attack thousands of computers in an unusual real-time assault, head of research at Finnish data security firm F-Secure told Reuters.

The virus, which the company named "Storm Worm" is sent to hundreds of thousands of email addresses globally, with the e-mail's subject line saying "230 dead as storm batters Europe."


The attached file contains the so-called malware that can infiltrate computer systems.
"What makes this exceptional is the timely nature of the attack," Mikko Hypponen, head of research at F-Secure said.

Hypponen said thousands of computers around the world, most in private use, had been affected.

He said most users would not notice the malware, or trojan, which creates a back door to the computer that can be exploited later to steal data or to use the computer to post spam.

Power supply problem
I recently attempted to change 1 of my DVD drives (DVD+RW) for another one, DVD-RW.
After I had detached the power & data cables I realised that I would have difficulty in actually removing the +RW drive beacuse there was not enough space. I re-attached both cables, but from that point on both of the already installed drives woudln't work - the power supply to both seemed to have failed - neither drive door would open & they did not show up as being present in the system - but everything else on the PC worked as it has always done!
I assumed that there was some sort of a fault with the PSU, & got another one. Unfortunately after I had removed the old PSU & started fitting the new one, I found that this one does not have the right power connector for the graphics card.

SO.......
I re-fitted the old PSU & put all of the connectors back where they had come from - guess what - no power (apparently) at all to the PC as it would not boot up etc..
The fans on the old PSU still still run when I switch on & there is power to the case as the power on display built in to the case is ok.
I am inclined to think that the PSU is still the problem - would I be right in this thinking? The hard drives are ok as I have recovered some files from them via my son's PC & installed them on this one (My wife's).

The PC is a Medion & the PSU (400 watt) on it is, I think, one specifically specced for the PC as the manufacturer's model no is FSP400-60MDN - FSP being the company who made it, & I imagine that MDN indicates "Medion".

Any suggestions or ideas gratefully received.

Edit - 1955 hr - Have managed to get my PC tested with a multimeter - testing some of the connectors shows that there is power to the CD & hard drives - have also noticed that the fans inside the case & on the graphics card are running ok.

I assume from this that the PSU is not the problem, but that power is getting to the motherboard but not getting any further.

Help, please

Been thinking further about this - could it be that the problem is in the CMOS - if I do a reset could this help? Also If I do reset, will I need to do anything further, e.g. in the BIOS?
thanks

When I view threads on Moneyam, next to the poster name I have boxes where there should be a link icon. When I look at a post by Mega Bucks next to his name I have
Green Box with dot - Go to MB website
Yellow box with X - Send MB an EMail
Blue box with X - View MB's Profile

How do I get the items to display properly.

I am using WIN XP and IE7

I've noticed that ciscv.exe (memory indexing?) is using huge amounts of cpu - can I safely disable it?

jeffmack,

Can you send me a screen shot of what you are seeing please? ian@moneyam.com

Thanks

Ian

ciscv.exe is a potential virus trojan. Scan your PC with a good anti-virus utility.

If you haven't got one then try AntiVir at http://www.free-av.com/

Haystack - a quick google led me to believe it was a monitoring program for xp?

If you are right, my next (Norton) scan is tonight!

Many thanks.

I'm running Win 2000 on my office machine.

It has a CD drive fitted. When I put a disk into the drive the green light comes on but I cannot see it in Windows Explorer.

I brought in a standalone USB CD drive that I have at home. If I plug it in the Plug and Play recognises the new device but, again, I cannot see it in Windows Explorer.

In groping around the Properties of both drives I see a reference to:-

c:\winnt\inf\cdrom.inf

and references to:-
wnnt\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys

Might it be that the driver has become corrupt - or does anyone have any other suggestions. My IT chappie will be in sometime next week, but if I can fix the problem myself it is better.

TP

TP

I've known CD burning programs to do strange things to the CD drives, but rarely to hide it completely from Windows Explorer. However, you could try booting into safe mode which should stop any conflicting programs starting and then see whether you can access it.

The other things you could try are updating the driver, and uninstalling the drive and let Windows find it again on reboot. The uninstall option often works but in your case, you have partially done that with the USB drive - still woth a try though.

Op,

No. Can't see it in safe mode.

"The other things you could try are updating the driver, and uninstalling the drive and let Windows find it again on reboot."

Sadly that did not work either. Apart from uninstalling do you think I should delete either the inf or the sys file(s) ?

TP

M_P_H et al: Re: accessing Level 2 data in Excel or whatever. I've just seen your question. Let us think about that here back at base camp (my lot did all the L2 stuff for MAM). I will need to consult with MAM as well, but there may be a way. (We have to be careful not to break the conditions attaching to the use of L2 data.)

TP

It might work, but it's really shooting in the dark. I suggest that you rename the files rather than delete them, it makes it easier to keep track of what you've done.

Thanks Optimist,

I'll have a go on Monday.

Now I think about it I have quite a serious problem as even the Win 2000 repair disk needs access to the CD - which I cannot see.

TP

HELP!!!
Every time I click anything on this site I get a message saying ;
Runtime Error. Do I wish to DeBug.
Line: 43 Error: "SymRealWinOpen" is undefined.

What does this mean and do I want to debug. Terrified that saying I do want to debug is going to open my PC up to some kind of virus or attack.
please help, anyone who knows these things!!!
Alan

Alan,

Could you send us a screen shot please? Also have you run any upgrades on your browser recently?

Ian

Could you please reproduce this error then take a screen shot of the message and programmes running at the same time. Email these to support@moneyam.com, subject: Attention A. Talbot

Hi Guys,
How do I take a screen shot???
Only upgrade recently is to full MS works pro, but this only happens on this site. Reading up it seems it might be something to do with Nortons pop up blocker not trusting your HTML code that is embedded.
This is gobbledygook to me but there is a line that says let the webmaster of the site you are visiting know, as they are sure to want to know!!
Alan