I have been using my SONY CRX 140 E-RP (8X.4X.32X) CD-ReWritable Kit for almost two years now without a flaw.

While in the middle of a burning session using WinOnCD software (original software that came with the drive), the computer suddenly got hanged up and the unit tray would not open when pressing the eject button.

After rebooting the computer I realised that the drive was dead. POST will not detect the drive, and it does not show up in device manager either. The drive makes no noise and shows no sign of activity (no LED is on nor blinks).

I opened up the computer and checked for a loose connection (power and IDE cable) but everything was firmly in place. I even tried to plug in a spare power connector to no avail. Also tried to configure the drive as slave (it was originally set up as master) but that did not work either.

HAS MY DRIVE SUDDENLY DIED ? Any hints as to what might have happened and if I can try something to bring it back to life?

My system configuration is as follows:

Windows 2000 Professional
Enermax 365 watt power supply
ASUS Motherboard A7V333
AMD Athon XP 1800+ processor
256 k DDR RAM memory
Primary IDE Master:ST340823A
Primary IDE Slave: FUJITSU MPA3035ATU2 HD
Seconday IDE Master: SONY CRX 140 E-RP (8X.4X.32X) CD-RW
Seconday IDE Slave: PIONEER Cd ROM DR-A24X

Sounds to me the drive is not getting any juice, externally or internally.

Try replacing its power lead connector with another connector, maybe you're in luck.

try to connnect the drive to a power cable in your pc that you know works,say from another cd drive.if this fails to make youe writer respond i think you might find that its furked.time to buy another,try a liteon