CD Player from a Dead Computer

 This instructable will guide you through turning a working cd-drive and a working power supply from an old or dead computer into a stand alone cd player. This has been done before, but I thought it fit in well with the ongoing Dead Computer Contest,

ps. if you like this instructable please take a moment to vote for it in the Dead Computer Contest.  Voting is March 8-13.

Step 1 Materials

 Materials needed for this project are:
1. A working Power Supply
2. A working CD Drive(preferably with a audio jack on the front)
3. Some sort of Toggle(On-Off) Switch.
4. Headphones or Computer Speakers
5. An Audio CD to play

Tools needed for this project are:
1. Wire cutter/stripper
2. Soldering Iron

Comments

[umakant1993]

hey i need all of u..... HELP.....
m having samsung dvd rom (old pc ) without audio jack....
and i want to make it as cd player ...
please any1 help me out for this.....
i m having power supply....
HELP guys.....

[guruji1]

Where are the output speakers?

[zamg0d1]

Well... I have a switch in my power supply so can I skip this step? :D

[james10]

 You still need to connect the green wire to a ground(black) wire. This tricks the power supply into thinking it is connected to a motherboard thus letting you run a CD Drive by itself.

[TheRealDutchOwner]

Or, if it has a button, get a paperclip and bend it so 1 end goes into the plug of the green one, and the other end into the black one. It works, and if you keep it like that, it makes a no-solder project. And, you don't have to mess with cables.

[osh114]

I dont have a green wire. my power supply is from an old '96 Dell and i dont know which ones they are. Please reply as quickly as possible.

[osh114]

i figured it out
i have to put the grey one with the black next to it an the fan blows.
now to finish the experiment!

[Raymond Ellis]

Some old power supplys have a switch and have no need to connect any wires.

[nodoubtman]

that doesnt work with mine! :(

[mlocke]

I've tried this and it works OK, but the sound is not very good. There is lots of interference from the CD - you can hear the drive starting up and whirring through the speakers. Does anyone know how to stop this noise ?

[Sharky44401]

ive made a similliar one and figured the only way to stop that sound is to try another cd drive. mine had a creaking sound so i swopped it for one we got in the garage (we have alot of cd drives)

[The nerdling]

I HAVE BEEN WONDERING HOW TO DO THIS FOR SO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THANKS

[morphic cu ion]

I don't have any green but I have a blue one in my supply

[account3r2]

a power supply as in like, maybe... a 9v battery with 2 AAs on top if it is a 12v cd drive?

[account3r2]

or maybe i could find one like that on ebay or craigslist or goodwill?

[zamg0d1]

But I have one problem.... I don't have a play button or something on my Disc reader.... :O

[jj.inc]

 My drive will not play is there a way to make it

[james10]

 There are some reasons why your drive would not play.
1) Your drive is not longer working. (if you are able to you could test the drive in a working computer)
2) Your CD is not an valid audio CD. The drive will not be able to play music in mp3 or other formats. I would recommend testing the drive with a music CD you have purchased  from a store. If you do not have any make sure you are burning your CD in the proper format.
3) Your drive is not meant to play CDs. You could have a DVD or other drive with an audio jack on the front that can not play CDs

[yo man]

cool man

[TyMan210]

 I have 8 or 9 of these.

[threepwood]

Hi! Great instructable :)
Yesterday I followed this instructable to make mi new CD player and now i can listen mi CDs for the first time since a couple of years (My old CD player is broken, and what only works is the radio).
Congratulations, and sorry for my english xD

;)

[james10]

 Thanks. Glad I could Help. Since it worked for you it would be awesome if you could vote for it in the Dead Computer Contest. 

[mdog93]

erm i'm struggling here, does anybody know where i can get a brain?

[james10]

 They are not to tough to find. Just make sure you don't get yours from Abby. Abby Normal.

[mdog93]

will do lol

[Zucriy Amsuna]

You can also follow the Yellow Brick Road...

[radiorahim]

 If you don't want the mini jack cable sticking out in front of the drive or you want to bypass the small internal amplifier, there is a port in the back that should have 4 pins and say "RGGL" (right, ground, ground, left). Usually there should be a cable connecting two PCI cards (in a desktop) that will fit the port. Take the cable, splice it, connect to a mini jack and you should be good. There are also a few momentary switches you could use as a play button such as the power switch.

[james10]

 Yes. Plugging a cable into this the Analog Audio port would work. I was planning to include this method in the instructable but my computer did not have a cable that fit this port and I could not find one in any of my boxes of parts.

[jarren.horrocks]

This is a great article...but it could have been better written...check out other instructables about this exact topic:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-a-playskip-button-to-your-standalone-CD-ROM-D/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-CD-Player-or-Stand-Alone-CD-ROM-drive/

http://www.instructables.com/id/MAKE-a-CD-player/

check these out for a better instructable!

[james10]

 This is my first instructable. I hope I will get better at writing instructables as I write more of them. Any specific advice would be greatly appreciated.