Loose cable?

[Ned Bedinger]

Cardimon, Craig wrote:
> The DVD/CD drive on my second-hand computer sometimes functions. I have
> tracked the error down to a message that basically means I need a new
> cable connection between the drive and the rest of the machine. Should I
> trust this message? Is there anything else I can do before I crack the
> box?

Yeah, but maybe not the writer who wrote it :-(

The guage of wire inside disk drive ribbon cables is darned small. When 
they get bunched and folded and left to fry on top of something hot 
(like a hard drive, or some memory DIMMS), they can become fragile and 
might fail.  For example, if you try to reuse them when installing a new 
drive, they can fritz out when you unfold/untwist the cable from the 
position it has been in, then refold/retwist it again with the new 
equipment attached.  In this case, you'd have a problem that responds to 
a new cable. Caveat emptor--even new cables can be bad, so buy a good 
one, even an over-engineered one.

Also, I've seen a similiar message that turned out to be a harbinger of 
a failing board or BIOS. IIWY, I'd be backing up and shopping around.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com