So the disc reader on my PC hasn’t worked since my brother got me a new PC. I didn’t really care about it since I never used it. But now I want to use it, but my brother is no longer with us, so I am not able to ask him for help. To my surprise, I managed to understand why it wasn’t working when I opened up the computer. It wasn’t plugged in!
I still have my old PC, so I went and took a look at how that disc reader was connected, and I took the cable (SATA, I believe it’s called?) to try and do the same on my new PC. I thought I had figured it out, but when I start the PC, it’s like the disc reader doesn’t exist. It won’t open to let me put a disc in, and I can’t find any info on the PC about it being plugged in at all.
Now I am so bad with these things. It’s literally the first time I even opened up a computer. So please be nice, lol! Why is it not working? Have I plugged it in wrong, or is there another step I need to take?
Here are some pictures of how I’ve plugged it in. Idk if that’s helpful at all.
It looks like you only have one cable plugged into the back of the disc reader, correct? And the other end of that cable plugs into the motherboard? What you have plugged in there is the data connection.
If that’s the case, you’re halfway there! You still need power to the disc reader. There should be a plug available coming from the PC’s power supply that will plug into the other port on the back of the disc reader, right next to where you have the SATA cable plugged in. The power supply will be a metal box with a harness of cables going to different things on the motherboard, other drives, the case, etc.
Yes, that black one with the 5 black wires would be what you’re looking for. Power supplies have a limited number of these types of connections, depending on the model. If all are in use, you can buy a SATA power splitter to create another connection for the disc reader.