So first, like most people who post topics in the forum, i am a complete Newbie.

So here is my problem, i can't seem to access my dvd rw drive, the only optical drive i have. It is not where i expected to see it, with all of the HD partitions(in the device folder on the desktop.) Also when i insert a cd or a dvd, it does not autoplay. I don't know if there is a simple explaination or not. I've looked all over the net and in these forums, which are very vast, i havnt found anything that helps me. I think i might have found some solutions to similar problems, but they are not addressed to a newbie. Please could someone explain to me what i need to do to access my cd drive. I also don't really know what else you want to know from me so ill list some things.

Linux distribution: Mandriva 2006
Drive: NEC DVD+-RW
Computer: Dell Inspiron 6000d notebook
Things in my Device folder: "41g Media", 6.3G Media", "7.3G Media", "DellRestore", DellUtility", "Local Network", "Network Services", "Samba Shares"

oh yeah i actually did find one way to access it, it was through the music player "rythembox". But otherwise i have no idea how to find it. Also as to using the command prompt i have very limited knowlege, i did the VIMTUTOR, but that is all.

thanks

Well welcome to Linux Questions.
The file you will be spending the most time with is located at /etc/fstab. This file should have a listing for a /dev/cdrom or /dev/dvd if Mandriva has detected your player, although I am not familiar with Mandriva.You can see
$dmesg | less
for a more detailed listing of whats detected during boot.
All the distros I have used have not auto mounted my roms unless I configure it too, but they do have folders made where they will be mounted, you will see this in fstab also.The mount point is located right after the dev entry like so

/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom yours may look different.

The next thing will be the option of file sytem type

/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto

After that will be whether this is auto mounted at boot who can mount it and whether its read, writable and the boot checking options

/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,rw,user 0 0

Thats the short sknny on /etc/fstab
If you already have an entriy in fstab for your cdrom you should be able to
$mount /dev/cdrom
and be able to access its contents in the mount point.
Just change your entries to fit your player
example
/dev/hdc /mnt/dvdrw auto auto,rw,user 0 0.
Hope I helped a little bit.

So this is what it says in fstab:
/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0

i didnt totally understand everything you were telling me to do, maybe if you could dumb it down a little more.
And i tried the mount command "$mount /dev/cdrom" and i got this:
[root@localhost etc]# $mount /dev/cdrom
bash: /dev/cdrom: Permission denied

So ya if theres anything else that could be helpful just tell me how to get it and ill post it on here
Oh yeah, one other thing ive noticed, my computer really slows down when doing any 3d effects, screen savers or games. what can i do about that?


Thanks for sucha quick reply before.

when you do mount.....you can be normal user...that is why I show $< the dollar sign.you dont have to type it. Examining the line from your fstab

/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
^^
you would mount /dev/sr0 ^^
So type
mount /dev/sr0
Hope that helps.

[root@localhost /]# mount /dev/sr0
mount: /dev/sr0 already mounted or /mnt/cdrom busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/cd is already mounted on /mnt/cd

Did that ^^^
Um ya still can't see it the device folder. That bottom line there says "scsi" in it, im pretty sure my dvd rw is no scsi, i wonder if maybe it is some how recognizing my virtual image drive in windows? Though i dont see that virtual drive in the device folder either.

Check here
/mnt/cd
before trying next step.
If you went to above location and still do not see cds' contents.Make sure you have no windows open that are showing /mnt/cd and make sure you are not inside the directory within a terminal.
Then type
$umount /dev/sr0
and then type
$mount /dev/sr0
See if that helps.
Hope I helped some.

And don't let the listing as SCSI bother you. There actually is no such thing technically as an IDE cdrom from what I understand. CDRoms run under SCSI and are IDE emulated if I understood correctly.

alright thanks so i got it to mount, though it only stayed mounted for that session, everytime i rebooted i have to mount it again. how can i get it to stay mounted? Also how can i get it to show up in my devices folder?


Actually you know what, i went into root, and then clicked on "computer" on the desktop and cd rom was there, but in my user login it is empty in /mnt/cdrom/.

I suggest you re-read my first post to your problem as the solution was already given.
Hope that helps and good luck.