How to Install DVD Writer or CD
Writer
Internal or External SCSI , IDE or USB
How to install
dvd writer article
When it comes to
installing a CD writer or DVD Drive there are about 5 different
types, these can be divided into , internal or external.
Internal Types of CD
and DVD Drives
When installing a CD writer or
DVD writer type of drive make sure you have the following items.
a)
Phillips screwdriver
b) Suitable CD or DVD drive
c) A pc with a spare 5.25” drive bay
d) Audio cable “ runs from the sound card to the drive,
enables you to play audio cd’s and listen to them via the sound
card”
e) A dual or single IDE
data
cable
if required
Before beginning any
kind of work with computer components
always remember to earth yourself to reduce
the risk of ESD “ electro static discharge “ damage to your
computer or any of it’s components.
Internal Drives
IDE CD and DVD
Writer Installation
To begin with make sure
your earthed, remove the case. Sometimes these can be a little
stubborn.
Remove the blanking
plate on the front of the computer, covering the slot where the
drive will go.
On the back of the drive itself look for the device jumpers it will
have 3 settings “ master , slave or cable select “ choose cable
select, this will make sure the drive works regardless of
whether the drive is connected to a master or slave position on
the IDE cable.
Slide the drive into the
computer and connect the IDE cable.
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When it comes to IDE
cables and connections here we have a few choices. Pretty much
all computers will have two IDE channels / ports on the
motherboard ,
The primary or first
will have the computers primary hard drive connected as the
master, the other connection on the cable “ the slave or
secondary “ may be free, you can use this,
But it is preferable
to put any other drives onto the secondary IDE channel if it’s
free. This way a channel does not get too overloaded if the hard
drive and the CD or DVD drive are moving lots of data around.
computer-adviser how to install dvd writer article
In
order of preference
1. Use the
master connection on the secondary IDE channel / port if it’s
available , if not
2. Use the slave connection on the
secondary IDE channel
/ port if it’s available.
3. Otherwise
use the slave connection of the Primary IDE channel / port.
4. If you have
no free IDE connections, you could always add a PCI IDE card.
Ok so once you’ve
connected the IDE cable , now connect the power.
Next connect the
sound cable this will run from the Audio port on the CD or DVD
Drive to the connection on the sound card, it generally says
something along the lines of CD or Input on the card.
Once all the cables
are connected, secure the drive in place with 4 small Phillips
screws that should have come with the drive. It’s important to
secure the drive after connecting the cables as most cases make
it a little hard to get all the cables in with the drive
secured.
Now the drive is
installed, put the case back on and power up, hopefully the
computer will now see the drive.
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To Install an
Internal SCSI CD or DVD drive make sure the drives SCSI number
setting does not conflict with any others as above.
Next connect slide
the drive into the chosen drive bay, connect the
SCSI data cable.
Make sure the end of
the cable is terminated, this might be after the drives
connection or actually on the drive itself.
Otherwise the drive will not be recognised.
Next connect the
power and the audio cables.
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Troubleshooting
If the drive fails to be
recognised it could be a couple of problems.
Firstly the drive setting in the BIOS is not set to auto detect the
drive.
To rectify this,
reboot your computer and hold down the BIOS entry key ,
generally the key is the F2 or Del key, but not always. Once you
power on your computer it will tell you the BIOS entry key with
something along the lines of “ Press **key to enter setup “ .
computer-adviser how
to install dvd writer article
Once you’ve entered
the BIOS check the drive settings of the cable and channel that
you installed the drive on for example secondary , master or
primary slave .
Make sure the setting is Auto / Detect If the drive is still not being
recognised the problem will probably be with the jumper settings
on the rear of the drive, so I’m afraid your going to have to
remove the drive to check this.
Other things to try
are a different IDE cable as they do sometimes fail.
To verify this or the integrity of the drive, try to find something
else to plug into the
cables
connection. This will
tell you if the problem lies with the cable or the CD or DVD
drive.
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how-to-install-dvd-writer article
External Types
There are about 4
different types of external CD / DVD drive , we have USB ,
Parallel, SCSI and Firewire.
External drives are
generally very easy to install
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USB CD & DVD Drives
To install a USB CD or
DVD drive it’s just a question of plugging the drive into the
USB port ,
After a few seconds
the computer will recognize the drive and may install the
drivers itself if your version of Windows has a compatible
driver within it’s driver database. But more often than not it
will ask you for a drivers CD.
Just insert the CD
and then point Windows towards this and it will then install the
drivers and it’s now installed.
computer-adviser how to install DVD writer article
External SCSI CD &
DVD Drives
If you have an external
SCSI drive , there are a couple of points worth noting. All SCSI
devices have to have a unique ID number.
On each device there
will either be a set of jumpers or a number panel, use this to
choose an number that is not in use.
To check which number
are in use , you can either get this from the devices section
within control panels or , just reboot the pc and you will see
the SCSI card authenticate each device it’s connected to.
Once you’ve chosen
the ID, power off your computer and connect the device.
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Always make sure the
computer is switched off before adding or removing SCSI devices.
Also make sure that if nothing else is connected to the drive a
SCSI terminator or termination on the drive is set to enabled.
This tells the SCSI
chain of devices that the CD / DVD drive is the last device in
the chain. If it’s not terminated and it is the last device the
whole computer will just hang until the connection times out
which can be a few minutes.
Once connected the
system will automatically pickup your CD / DVD drive and you
should be ok to begin using.
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how to install DVD writer article
External Parallel CD
& DVD Drives
External parallel CD / DVD drives are a little old now, but they
are still available, if a little slow due to the speed of the
Parallel
port.
Connect the drive ,
and simply install the software and the drive should now work
fine.
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to install dvd writer article
External Firewire CD
& DVD Drives
To install a firewire drive the install procedure is pretty much
the same as installing for USB plugging the drive into the
firewire port , after a few seconds the computer will recognize
the drive and may install the drivers itself if your version of
Windows has a compatible driver within it’s driver database.
But sometimes it will
ask you for a drivers CD. Just insert the CD and then point
Windows towards this and it will then install the drivers and
it’s now installed.
computer-adviser how to install dvd writer
article
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what to look for , checkout our DVD buyers guide
If your looking for a CD writer checkout
our info page first
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