ok guys.

heres the basics:

i have a pc with 2 cd devices. when i close the drawer on with cd-drive, the pc reboots. no warning or dialogue, almost like hitting the reset button. it does this at any point of the pc being on (ie initial device search and mem test), so i know its not a windows or app. problem. i suspected it to be an IDE problem, so i moved the drive/IDE set-up about and the same thing happened. then, i disconnected the IDE cables to both CD drives (so just the power cables were attached) and low and behold, when i opened/closed one of the cd cdrive drawers, it rebooted
so. i now know its not IDE related, but i dont know enough about the relationship between my PSU and my MBoard. I generally dont know much about power. my theory is that when i close my cr drawer, regardless of wether a cd is actually in it, the cd drive begins to draw power and for some unknown reason, this causes the supply to the MBoard to go funny. Im tempted just to buy a new PSU, but can someone tell me if they think it maybe something else????

i thank you all in advance for any help

You could have too mnay devices eating the juice required for stability, or it could be a case to remove old grease off processor regrease with a rice grain amount smoothly rubbed over the processor and making sure heat sink is dust free clean and spinning fast.

Ive just been fiddling around with the power. I stripped off the floppy power and one of the cd'rs, but i still get the problem.

can i ask why you say about re-greasing the CPU cooling unit etc?? sorry, its just that im trying to leave the motherboard alone incase i damge it as im just a normal guy with a pc and get a bit freaked by pulling out things etc
i dont mind touching IDE and power cables, but to be honest id rather leave the whole CPU alone unless i know for certain thats where the problem lies.

cheers again though

Yeah, I didn't really get that about re-applying thermal grease to the top of the CPU either. Why would a processor get hotter from opening/closing the CD drawer?

For the record, though, I presently have no other suggestions!

Ah, yes I have (that didn't take long, lol) !!

If you can get the CD drawer in and out and cause a reboot before Windows loads, then disconnect the power from your hard disk as well as your floppy drive. The floppy drive only gets accessed very briefly during the boot process, whereas the hard disk will spin up and consume a lot more power than the floppy drive.

It really does sound like a power problem but nothing you've tried so far backs up the theory - take the hard disk out of the equation and see whether it helps.

By the way, is this a high-spec PC with a low-end PSU .... or an older PC upgraded with newer, power-hungry parts like a big graphics card and/or multiple hard disks ..... or neither?

it was a first suggestion. Could be atapi.sys error atapi referring to the cd rom drive.

Change that driver. See if that works.

I suggested about cooling processor coz if you imagine a system that requires a certain amount of energy then when a component adds extra energy thus making the system very hot then boom.

Oh OK - heat dissipation throughout the system case and the processor being a vulnerable part that needs protection from a fluctuation in temperature. I think I see what you're getting at

Myself I build PC's not for a living but for my own pleasure. You have to be like a medic, so many different things could cause these errors.

I had a socket 7 mobo few years back that did what you wrote as the problem.

I totally cleaned it out, greased processor, made sure fan was clean and running, cables stripped and tied up for max air flow.

I get the feeling it is a driver error, just two days ago after slipstreaming sp2 for xp pro running unattended setup was browsing through cds i thought were blank and found a bad cd, the cd rom would not read it and BSOD. atapi.sys error windows has been closed down etc..if i had set my system not to show BSOD errors and just reboot it seems similar to you problem if you catch my drift.

Could be a driver error, cd error or heat problem. take your pick.

Thanks for all the feedback people

i tried taking the HD out of the power-consumption equation, bit the problem still happened. i also have had a desk fan near the pc for the past couple of days to see if anything changed, but it hasnt. my gfx card has a sep. fan, i have a large case fan, and my chipset has its own fan, so heat really shouldnt be a problem. as for thr drivers, i did re-install the cd-rw and cd-r, but only using the XP drivers that are the standard XP drivers. there was no additional/updated drivers available from the manu's website. i dont see how drivers should affect it anyway when theres no IDE attached to each device. i know its not the firmware, as it would have to be corrupt on both drives and become corrupt at the same time.

ive written to lite-on to find out what happens when you close the tray of a cd-r, and how much more power it pulls etc.

other than that, i dont know what else to try. its a bugger when theres a power problem, cos power is the very thing that is on every component

lol, yeah, power problems do generally take a while to diagnose!

I know that this is a really bizarre question but have you tried unplugging the power leads from the CD drives and then switching on the PC and pushing the eject buttons? I know that nothing should happen but, when all the logical ideas turn up no conclusive results, trying a bit of nonsense for a couple of minutes sometimes gives a surprising result!

Another idea with a bit more substance behind it: Have you tried swapping the power leads so that you use the known-good lead to the hard disk in the CD drive instead and a spare lead (if you've got one) in the other CD drive?

Also, have you tried a different mains lead and/or a different mains wall socket (preferably in a different room)?