The cdrom drive on my folks computer seems to refuse to work at random times. They're running WinXP and have a Acer 50MAX drive. I think it might have something to do with the cable setup, since the cable connecting the drive to the sound card was accidentally removed. Not knowing which of the two ports on the drive the cable is supposed to connect to or which direction its supposed to face (it can attach both upside down and rightside up), I've tried every combination, some with better results than others. At times, the cdrom drive will be able to install a series of 50+ files, but then there will just be some random file that it won't be able to read. This same result happens regardless of the CD which is in the drive. This problem is incredibly frustrating, so hopefully someone here can help me out. Thanks.

Have you went into device manager and removed the drive restarted and let xp put it back in? You might try that.

the cable you are reffering to is an audio cable used for audio cd's. it should affect general operation if its removed so its more likely a different problem. if this is a problem that has been getting gradualy worse the drive may be dammaged or have a dirty lense. also make sure the ide cable (long flat connecter) is firmly pushed in to the back of the drive. do what you can but dont lose sleep over it, a cd-rom is only worth around £/$15.

oops that should read it shouldn't affect general operation if its removed so its more likely a different problem.