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View Full Version : Client's PC shattered my Windows CD!

MSgherzi
04-04-2009, 10:04 AM
I am fixing a client's computer which is the same machine from these two threads in this same exact forum..

http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5679
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5751

I decided to simply format the machine. So, it formatted and everything and then it began to copy the setup files. Well, it got to 41% and I was reading my CompTIA A+ exam book and all of a sudden I heard a VERY VERY loud pop. It was so loud it made me jump out of my chair. Obviously it froze on 41% so I felt to see if the PSU fan was running, it was. I shut off the machine, opened it up, and looked for anything suspicious. I smelt for any burning parts and even tested the PSU really quick and everything worked and seemed fine.

Well, I booted up the machine and it kept telling me that the floppy drive was missing "TLDR is missing" and I had the CD as the main boot device so I opened up the tray and saw my Windows XP cd shattered in pieces so much that the drive couldn't even close. This was a 3 or 4 year old Dell OEM and I've used it in the past to format at least 20+ computers.

I've never ever heard that sound or have had this happen to me ever before. I luckily still have a Windows Media Center Dell OEM and an official $200 Windows XP CD from Microsoft.

But do I want to try this again and risk breaking another CD? I feel like simply giving this machine back to the customer and just apologizing for the inconvenience but that I can't risk my stuff being broken because this kinda pissed me off.

What do you all think I should do? I have no sort of external CD drive to plug in right now. How the heck did this even happen?

I snapped a picture, here it is:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8538/dscf0297.jpg
I picked up some of the pieces and laid them back on the tray, most of them fell on the floor when I first opened it and I'm positive there's more pieces stuck deep inside the reader now that I have no idea how I'm going to get out.
Methical
04-04-2009, 10:24 AM
Wow, now thats something that doesn't happen everyday!
Simmy
04-04-2009, 10:29 AM
Cripes! I see the problem though - It's a 52x24x52 speed drive so you were effectively using a 64896 speed drive. You should have just used the slower 52x drive below it ;)

I'm glad I've got a backup ISO of every CD/DVD I own on my server now!
MSgherzi
04-04-2009, 10:33 AM
Cripes! I see the problem though - It's a 52x24x52 speed drive so you were effectively using a 64896 speed drive. You should have just used the slower 52x drive below it ;)

I'm glad I've got a backup ISO of every CD/DVD I own on my server now!


I've used that drive in the past to boot UBCD4Win and what-not. Why would the speed of the drive do that?

EDIT: I found my answer through Google. I guess I could always make a copy of my official Windows XP CD. That machine is custom built (and by the looks of it inside, very poorly done so) and the high speed drive was probably added for what-ever reason. But crap...I've never had that happen before but I guess you learn from experience, huh...
Jm Boyd
04-04-2009, 02:00 PM
Cripes! I see the problem though - It's a 52x24x52 speed drive so you were effectively using a 64896 speed drive. You should have just used the slower 52x drive below it ;)

Tell me you honestly don't think thats how it works!
Simmy
04-04-2009, 02:08 PM
Haha :D I knew I should have stuck a :p smiley at the end of it!
Marius
04-04-2009, 02:47 PM
ive experienced the same thing before...Usely its not the drive itself, but a "weakness" in the cd-disk itself...
nonchalant
04-04-2009, 03:21 PM
ive experienced the same thing before...Usely its not the drive itself, but a "weakness" in the cd-disk itself...

Yea, always a good idea to make a copy of important cd's and use them instead.
purple_minion
04-04-2009, 03:34 PM
Lost a StarCraft cd that way... wasn't there personally to experience it though.
dhrandy
04-04-2009, 03:43 PM
Yea, always a good idea to make a copy of important cd's and use them instead.
Exactly what I do. That's pretty crazy.
Bryce W
04-04-2009, 07:37 PM
Ive had this happen to me twice and its caused by a flaw in the CD. The first time I was using a crappy cheap cd (i bought these in the 3rd world) and the second time was a CD that had been flexed because it was in my backpack. It developed a crack and the forces of the CD spinning opened it up and made it blow up.

As for who to charge, I would eat the cost because it was a failure of the CD that nuked the reader, not the other way around.
MSgherzi
04-04-2009, 07:40 PM
I never paid for the CD, so I personally don't think it's right to charge them for it. It was given to me from Dell for one of my older Inspiron's from about 4 years ago. I also don't believe it's the CD because I've used that same CD at least 20 or more times before that to re-format dozens and dozens of machines, even last week I believe. Maybe that was the last run for it?
thor999
05-18-2009, 05:27 AM
Yep, keep ISO's of EVERYTHING that comes through your hands. I've got plenty of crap I'll never install on a PC I own but just in case, its there. Multiple back-ups, you'll regret losing that dumb copy of Compaq Millenium. Well, maybe thats a bad example;) BTW that pic is hysterical.
Jory
05-18-2009, 05:48 AM
Yep, keep ISO's of EVERYTHING that comes through your hands. I've got plenty of crap I'll never install on a PC I own but just in case, its there. Multiple back-ups, you'll regret losing that dumb copy of Compaq Millenium. Well, maybe thats a bad example;) BTW that pic is hysterical.

Please don't ever say the word Millenium. I still have involuntary muscle spasms out of fear every time I read/hear it. I'm pretty sure MS invented a machine that could see my nightmares, and then based Windows ME off of it.

Anyone that wasn't a technician in the days of ME should thank their lucky stars.
Andyuk2007
05-18-2009, 01:08 PM
Its always best to make back up cds of everything you have :-) I've got iso images of the disks on my external hard drive too.
balkazar
05-20-2009, 12:57 AM
Yes I too had this happen in my new Dell computer..only 2 weeks old....I researched this and from what I can find its caused by a stress crack or small flaw in the inner plastic part of the cd....it will catch there and finally after a few mintues just explode....I ejected mine and it came out in 1000 micro pieces.....sucked....called dell had them send me a new burner anyhow.....their tech told me the same thing about a flaw on the cd somewhere....just my 2 cents....



Always backup!


Balkazar