Dell PRECISION WORKSTATION 450 manual CD drive problems, Problems writing to a CD-RW drive

Test the floppy drive light —

MS-DOS®

Insert a floppy disk, type dir a: at the DOS prompt, and press <Enter>.

Microsoft Windows operating systems

Insert a floppy disk, click the Start button, click My Computer, and then double-click the floppy drive icon.

Run the Dell Diagnostics — If any of the tests fail, contact Dell.

NOTICE: Do not attempt to clean drive heads with a swab. You may accidentally misalign the heads, which can render the drive inoperable.

Clean the drive — Use a commercially available cleaning kit.

CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the safety instructions in the System Information Guide.

Remove and reinstall the floppy drive — For the Dell Precision™ 650 computer, see "Removing a Floppy Drive" or for the Dell Precision 450 computer, see "Removing a Floppy Drive" for information on performing this procedure.

If the computer displays a drive error message, see "Error Messages" for an explanation.

CD drive problems

NOTE: High-speed CD drive vibration is normal and may cause noise. This does not indicate a defect in the drive or the CD.

Adjust the Windows volume control — Click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner of your screen.

•Ensure that the volume is turned up by clicking the slidebar and dragging it up.

•Ensure that the sound is not muted by clicking any boxes that are checked.

Test the drive with another CD — Insert another CD to eliminate the possibility that the original CD is defective.

Check the speakers and subwoofer — See "Sound and Speaker Problems."

Ensure that Windows recognizes the drive — Click the Start button and click My Computer. If the CD drive is not listed, perform a full scan with your antivirus software to check for and remove viruses. Viruses can sometimes prevent Windows from recognizing the drive.

Clean the disc — Use a commercially available cleaning kit.

Problems writing to a CD-RW drive

Close other programs — The CD-RW drive must receive a steady stream of data when writing. If the stream is interrupted, an error occurs. Try closing all programs before writing to the CD-RW.

DVD drive problems

NOTE: Because of different worldwide file types, not all DVD titles work in all DVD drives.

Test the drive with another DVD — Insert another DVD to eliminate the possibility that the original DVD is defective.

Ensure that Windows recognizes the drive — Click the Start button and click My Computer. If the DVD drive is not listed, perform a full scan with your antivirus software to check for and remove viruses. Viruses can sometimes prevent Windows from recognizing the drive.

Clean the disc — Use a commercially available cleaning kit.

Check for interrupt request conflicts — See "Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities."

Hard drive problems

Run Check Disk —

For Windows XP

1.Click the Start button and click My Computer.

2.Right-click the drive letter (local disk) that you want to scan for errors, and then click Properties.

3.Click the Tools tab.