DVD Drive making laptop boot slower

[vangamut]

Greetings,

I have an old Acer Aspire 4310 that I started using again recently. I remember it booted quicker than any computer I ever worked with. The initial boot takes about twenty seconds so I decided to press the ESC key in order to find out whether it was the RAM memory or the HDD that was taking all that time to boot. I noticed it was the DVD-ROM drive (Sony NEC Optiarc AD 7560a, whose firmware I updated meanwhile to no avail) that was taking a long time to recognize. I removed the drive and the computer booted again just like ever before.

My BIOS only allows me to change the order of the boot. I've pushed the DVD down to the bottom of the list but the problem remains. Also, the problem existed before I updated the drive's firmware.

The DVD drive works fine on Windows, if a bit slower than when it was brand new. Is there anything I can do to solve this without purchasing a new drive? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[alyoshka]

Roll back to the earlier firmware if you have it saved on disc.
Or change the boot order in the BIOS boot sequence and disable boot from CD/DVD ROM.

 

[vangamut]

Roll back to the earlier firmware if you have it saved on disc.
Or change the boot order in the BIOS boot sequence and disable boot from CD/DVD ROM.

Thank you for your help. My BIOS only allows me to change the order of the boot. I've pushed the DVD down to the bottom of the list but the problem remains. Also, the problem existed before I updated the drive's firmware.

 

[alyoshka]

Then unfortunately, you have no other option , since the BIOS queries every bit of tech on the board and connected to it.... before it goes into the Booting sequence.
Thus , that wait is bound to continue.

PS: Do you have a disc inside the drive all the time? If so, remove it and boot. That should solve the time issue, if, you have a disc in the drive.

 

[vangamut]

Then unfortunately, you have no other option , since the BIOS queries every bit of tech on the board and connected to it.... before it goes into the Booting sequence.
Thus , that wait is bound to continue.

PS: Do you have a disc inside the drive all the time? If so, remove it and boot. That should solve the time issue, if, you have a disc in the drive.

No disc there, alas. I wonder what is making the drive taking such a long time to respond since it isn't reading from any disk. I may have to replace it, thanks again for your suggestions.