Windows 2000 Tips and Tricks, CD-ROM May Not Work Correctly After Upgrading

CD-ROM May Not Work Correctly After Upgrading To
Windows ME or Windows 2000

If you have just upgraded to Windows Me or Windows 2000, or added some of the new media applications, you may have noticed that some of your CD-ROM drive features are not working as expected. Hopefully, the following will show you why as well as how to fix it.

One problem stems from the playback of audio files from CD-ROM disks.

While audio files consist of digital data, ones and zeros, the sounds that come out of the CD-ROM drive may be in either analog or digital form, depending upon the device that’s playing the music. This could be speakers, headphones, etcetera.

When you install Windows Me the new default settings can disable a CD-ROM drive’s front-panel output to the headphones. This is because the headphone jack is analog, however Windows Me defaults to digital output for CD-ROM drives.

When you install Windows 2000, it too can also configure digital CD-ROM audio output, however the default installation leaves the setting at analog.

Having Windows configured for digital when you need analog, or for analog when you need digital, can mean the difference between some “easy listening” and “deafening silence”.

As your probably already know, audio boards, CD-ROM drives, as well as other multimedia devices support different features. That long unused 2-pin connector labeled “Digital Out” or “Reserved” on the back of some CD-ROM drives is now usable on newer drives. Windows digital audio, however, doesn’t use this connector, as digital audio data is output through a CD-ROM drives ATA or SCSI connection (the ATAPI or AT Attachment Packet Interface).

Now that you know the nitty gritty, if one of your devices isn’t playing your tunes as you expect, or it did before and now it isn’t, fixing the problem may be as simple as checking a box.

Here’s the steps for Windows Me (For Windows 2000 see below)

1. Right click the My Computer icon on your Desktop.
2. On the context menu that appears, click Properties, and then click the Device Manager tab.
3. Make sure that View devices by type is on.
4. Click the plus + sign to the left of “CD-ROM” to expand the branch. (Obviously this assumes a CD-ROM is installed.)
5. Select the CD-ROM drive name that appears and then click the Properties button.
6. Click the Properties tab. If the setting Enable Digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device is on, then turn it off, and if off, then turn it on.
7. Click OK twice to close the dialog box, and then check to see if the audio from your CD-ROM is working.

Here’s the steps for Windows 2000

1. To access the device manager, right click the My Computer.
2. Select Properties and then the Hardware tab.
3. Make sure that View devices by type is on.
4. Click the plus + sign to the left of “CD-ROM” to expand the branch. (Obviously this assumes a CD-ROM is installed.)
5. Select the CD-ROM drive name that appears and then click the Properties button.
6. Click the Properties tab. If the setting Enable Digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device is on, then turn it off, and if off, then turn it on.
7. Click OK twice to close the dialog box, and then check to see if the audio from your CD-ROM is working. If changing any one of these settings causes your audio output to not work, then you should reverse you change.

Comments:

1. Another problem affecting CD-ROM performance is that of the operating system correctly reading any form of data, not just audio data, on CD-ROM drives. This can be caused by improper drivers (Windows makes a good guess), incorrectly placing an IDE CD-ROM drive on the IDE bus of the motherboard, incorrect jumpers on the drive as well as the software being used. This is especially true when playing music.
2. Starting with Windows 95B, Direct Memory Access (DMA) is available for storage devices. By default, Windows 95B, 98, and Windows 2000 turn on DMA for hard disks, but not for CD-ROM drives. If DMA is manually turned on for a CD-ROM that doesn’t support it, the CD-ROM may not work properly.
3. To change the DMA setting for a CD-ROM in Windows 9x, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article number Q258757 How to Enable Direct Memory Access (DMA).
4. For more information on Windows 2000, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article number Q247426 DMA/PIO Settings Are Hard to Find in Microsoft Windows 2000.