Installed dvd rom on old system with win xp. It automatically recognized the rom. However, it would not recgnize a cd or dvd media. Media are fine (recognized in another system). Rom works fine, came from another unit.

What could be wrong?

I've had this happen before. For me the cd/dvd rom was working fine, then all of a sudden it stopped working, I believe it was due to Windows Update updating the drivers for it and screwing it up. All I did was go to Device Manager and uninstalled the cd/dvdrom. Then I rebooted, windows picked it up and it worked fine.

In addition to what asimo suggests look to see if the jumper is set correctly. There's Master, Slave & Cable Select. If the jumper isn't set correctly for the system it could cause the problem you're seeing. It could also be a problem with the ribbon cable. Many times I've seen little nicks or connectors that came separated from the cable.

is this burnt media? or retail media? just want clarification if your drive could read any media or none.

//krunk (^_^x)

These are burnt media. They were recognizable with the same rom in another system as well as a laptop. But not in the rom in the older unit.

The rom was recognized by the unit so I am assuming the connection was correct. Media is good.

I tried what n99nyrwg suggested and when I reboot, the rom was recognized, but still same prob. Tried jumper in all three positions and same prob in all three positions.

I recall there were 3 connections in some of my older systems. When you look on the back of the rom, from the right, there are the metal connection thing. Then there is the wide cable connection. And in some, there is the thinner cable. I don't have this in my newer system, but if I recall correctly, it was in my older units. Would I need this since the unit the rom is going to is old?

The metal connection thing should be the 4 pin power connector.
The wide cable connection is the ribbon cable connector which connects the drive to the motherboard.
The thinner cable is an audio connector used to connect the drive to a sound card (most likely not needed).

When you go into the Device manager does an symbol appear next to the drive or does Windows report it as working properly?

Does the drive spinup when you put a cd in it? Could it be possible that the Power Supply that you have in that computer doesn't have enough power to power that extra dvd rom? It's a stretch, but it just crossed my mind.

A way to test it would be to turn off the computer and unplug other cd/dvd rom drives in it to see if the trouble-some one will now work. If you don't have another cd/dvd rom drive in there, then it becomes more difficult to test. You'd have to start unplugging other things, and that's not worth the trouble until we narrow it down more.

Also, if you put a bootable cd in the drive and restart the computer, can you boot from the cd? Or does the drive still not function?

you might also want to try sticking in a retail cd (something like a real movie dvd) and see if that works.

//krunk (^_^x)

Problem not solved with the specific rom. So, I installed a different one and it xp recognized it automatically and works great.