Broken CD-RW drive?

Underscore

I'm pretty sure about this, but I just want confirmation before I go and get a new CD-RW drive. Today, my CD-RW drive just stopped working, the light just blinked off. When I reboot the computer, it sometimes works for a while, then goes off again, usually crashing my computer in the bargain. The BIOS IDE drive detection is really slow all of a sudden, and it often fails to detect the drive, or worse, fails to detect the DVD drive on the same channel as well. When I connect just the DVD drive, it works fine. So basically, I'm assuming my drive is knackered. But just in case, I'd like to know if there's any way this could just be a loose connection or something somewhere, as I don't want to pay just to find out that I could have swapped a few wires around and fixed the problem. The drive sometimes powers up and works normally for a few minutes after a reboot before giving out, so it can't be completely broken. Everything about this suggests a loose connection somewhere, especially since it worked absolutely perfectly until this afternoon, but I've already tried using a different IDE cable and a different power supply connector. I tried using a low-powered vacuum cleaner to clear some dust out of the insides of the PC, and it seemed to work a bit better after that, although that could just be a coincidence. So basically, I'm 99% sure I'll need a new drive, but I'd like a second opinion before I go and buy one. Anyone got any miracle cures for this sort of thing?

BigEejit

did you unplug the ide cable from it?, if, as you think, the CD-RW is the souce of your problems, then doing this would fix it ...
(some bioses may require that the remaining drive on that Ide cable must be the master drive .. i.e. you may have to move a jumper

Oriel

Try unpluging the DVD drive and attaching the CD-RW into the same IDE cable that the DVD drive was on and try again. You said you've tried a different power supply.

Failing that, reinstall the drivers for the CD-RW.

Failing that...

Underscore

OK, sorry for taking so long to reply here.

If I disconnect the cable from the CD-RW everything works fine (except I have no CD-RW, obviously). If I disconnect my DVD drive from the cable, and attach the end of the cable to the CD-RW and set the jumpers on the CD-RW to master, then it still gives out after a while. Looks like I'm getting a new CD-RW.

Oriel

Hmm kinda looks that way. Is it still under warranty or anything like that?

Underscore

I got it more than 2 years ago from Gateway (not with a PC or anything, I bought it separately). The warranty is probably long gone, especially as I've flashed the drive's firmware at least once, but I'll give it a shot. Thanks.