PCMCIA CD Burners

PCMCIA CD Burners are very useful for the daily laptop users as the device is slim, approximate size of a personal CD player.

Make sure to follow the CD Burner Hardware Guide before continuing.

• Remove the PCMCIA cable from the CD Burner, which just leaves the power cable connected.
• Insert an Audio or Software disc and study what the LED does on the drive, check with the manufacture on what they mean.
• If the drive recognizes the disc, usually the LED will be steady green, then the drive is likely to be working fine.
• Eliminate the laser, during burning, as the cause by testing the drive on a different computer if possible with another PCMCIA card.
• If the CD burner needs Card Bus make sure the Laptop is compatible, contact the manufacture.
• If the drive is not recognized test the device in another PCMCIA slot, if possible test on another laptop. AND ALSO, make sure the card and cables are attached securely.
• Disconnect any other cards that maybe attached, except the one connected to the CD Burner.
• Uninstall any card & socket software, for troubleshooting purposes.
  Locate the IOSUSYS folder, in Windows 95/98 & ME and check that the file KMMINI2A.MPD or KMMINI2B.MPD is the latest version.
• Make sure that the CD Burner controller is not sharing an IRQ with the PCMCIA slot, this need to be separate. If any conflicts appear in the Device Manager for the device, uninstall it and restart the system, the ‘found new hardware’ wizard will install the drivers for the controllers and PCMCIA card. You will also need to install the PCMCIA drivers for the CD Burner, make sure they are the latest version.

By now the PCMCIA hardware should either be eliminated or the cause of the problem. If the its not the cause of the problem then move on and start looking at the CD Burning software.