Recommended Posts

Morning,

I work at a Highschool, and some of the little children have stolen one of our DVD Drives from the computer. I am curious as to if their is a log or something on the computer that will list the date and time that the computer no longer had a DVD Rom working.

It is XP Pro. If I can determine the day I can determine who was in the room at that time.

Thanks for your help.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/831192-stolen-dvd-drive/
Share on other sites

look in event viewer to see if there was any errors recorded.

in case you don't know how to get to event viewer. Go to Start -> Run then type in eventvwr and click ok.

Check the application and system logs for any obvious errors regarding the dvd drive.

Well open up the case and dust for fingerprints -- there can't be too many people that has touched the inside (lots that touched the outside though. Plus if it is a school it should be on camera.

wtf kinda schools did you go to that have everything on camera? I've never once seen CCTV in any of my schools, all the way up through college.

lol, at my old highschool, students would remove the optical drive to get to the modules of 256mb RAM. It's always surprising what kids will do when they're bored...

lol the famous 90's era computers that had half inch of clearance between ram and optics drive.. i remember working on those and i could service the ram with the optical drive still in there

edit: HOLY S*** 256MB of ram is a helluva lot.. omg kids are so leet with 256 ram llol /sarcasam

wtf kinda schools did you go to that have everything on camera? I've never once seen CCTV in any of my schools, all the way up through college.

You obviously don't watch much news. Perhaps this is an inner-city school.

Most schools I have done work in have CCTV outside the building, in the cafeterias and usually pointing at the doors accessing the computer labs. I haven't seen one inside the classroom though.

There's going to be no record of when or who removed the drive. The best thing you could do is set an example. Remove all the drives and explain to each class as to why the privilege was removed. Perhaps an witness to the theft will come forward.

wtf kinda schools did you go to that have everything on camera? I've never once seen CCTV in any of my schools, all the way up through college.

Colleges aside. All schools in my area have CCTV. meh :/ I blame Gary.

yea...the event viewer is your best bet. If they shut the computer down to take it out you will see that in the log...and when the computer booted up. Also mentioned above...you may see some error messages if they left the computer on while snatching the drive. I'm not going to test that on my system to see if errors pop into the error log though. :)

Yea...it is only a $15 dollar drive...but if the OP can find out who did it...then it can be a great lesson to the individual(s) about stealing.

wtf kinda schools did you go to that have everything on camera? I've never once seen CCTV in any of my schools, all the way up through college.

Really? Both my high school, and both universities I have gone to had cameras outdoors, and the unis had some in certain areas. But as for in classrooms, that I've never come across, so it wouldn't really be much use.

That's kinda creepy....I'm glad they didn't do that when I was in high school....

Well, when you have reports about gangs in elementary schools, and 9 year olds bringing guns to school, Its good that we have them around here.

All of the gangs are moving over to the Porter County because they don't like what they did to Gary. Schools are getting really bad in my area.

yea...the event viewer is your best bet. If they shut the computer down to take it out you will see that in the log...and when the computer booted up. Also mentioned above...you may see some error messages if they left the computer on while snatching the drive. I'm not going to test that on my system to see if errors pop into the error log though. :)

Yea...it is only a $15 dollar drive...but if the OP can find out who did it...then it can be a great lesson to the individual(s) about stealing.

+1 Exactly

For $15 it is not worth it.

Say you find out who it was, what can you do to them ?

You cannot expel them.

And these days you are not allowed to beat them.

And even worse they can beat you, and the worst that will happen to them is they may be spoken to harshly.

And if they don't beat you, it will be parts of your car getting damaged.

perhaps some cameras around sensitive areas like pc's should be put in, kids who do that have no life and don't deserve to use a pc except staying in there room and pouting, when i went to school this never happend as far as i knew but when i first used a pc or was it a mac i don't recall exactly i had to learn about the trash can and i was like huh what do i do with it and how do i use it.

When you purchase new computers, you should buy some of the ones which are now designed for schools.

In my last year of school we moved to a new build site, and the computers......you could punch the screen if you got ****ed off :laugh: , also they had no pannels/opticals drives(by choice), locked onto desks etc.

In the older school, most of the optical drives were broken anyway.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • They thought value of their goods would forever only drop like it used to and didn't account for sudden increase in price because of all the Ai hype. Tough luck Samsung, don't try to weasel this one out. Also American customer protection laws are a**. In Europe, you need to be compensated for a functioning product of same or better characteristics (not same price point as when it was originally bought!) if it can't be repaired and when you receive a replacement product your warranty starts from scratch because you received a different item than you previously had and old warranty thus cannot apply to it anymore. If your actual item was successfully repaired, warranty gets extended for the period the item was in service. If item is repaired to a significant extent, warranty also starts over from scratch because major part of it was replaced. Americans need to fight to get this kind of consumer protections because they are constantly getting screwed over.
    • Microsoft releases new Windows 11 Media Creation Tool with the latest updates by Taras Buria Patch Tuesday updates arrive every month, bringing users new features and security updates. To make sure customers have access to the most recent images, Microsoft also releases updates to the Media Creation Tool app, its official utility for Windows 11 installation. Today, the company pushed new ISOs to Media Creation Tool, allowing you to create images with the June 2026 Patch Tuesday updates. With the latest update, the Media Creation Tool now downloads KB5094126. It is Windows 11 version 25H2, build 26200.8655, which is also available via Windows Update. Note that the app itself remains on the previous version, which you can check in Properties > Details. The only change is that it now downloads a more recent Windows 11 build, so the only way to check is to download an ISO. The June 2026 Patch Tuesday update is a special release for Windows 11, as it brings a new performance profile to make the operating system more responsive and snappier when rendering various user interface surfaces, including the Start menu, quick settings, and more. It does so by spiking processor speeds for a brief moment, resulting in higher loads for a second or two. The so-called “Low latency profile” is rolling out gradually, but you can force-enable it with the ViVeTool app. Other changes include webcam improvements, Task Manager updates, shared audio support, and more. You can download the Media Creation Tool app from the official Microsoft website using this link. Besides MCT, Microsoft lets you download Windows 11 ISO as a file directly from the official Windows 11 website. However, you will need a third-party app to write it to your USB drive. Check out this guide if you want to know how to do that.
    • Louis Rossmann suing Samsung over "990 Pro SSD warranty scam" by Sayan Sen Back in 2023, if you recall, Neowin reviewer Robbie Khan had a dispute with Samsung over his 990 Pro SSD, which was rapidly losing its health. After significant back and forth, the tech giant had finally released firmware to "stop" the issue. Interestingly, its previous flagship at the time, the 980 Pro was also facing problems leading to two consecutive sets of firmware fixes. Three years later, it looks like a similar conflict has now broken out between tech repair entrepreneur YouTuber Louis Rossmann and Samsung, as it has escalated into a threatened lawsuit after the company allegedly refused to appropriately replace a failing 990 Pro SSD that remained under warranty. According to Rossmann, a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD purchased for approximately $330 less than two years ago, began experiencing major hiccups and issues, even though he claims it had been operated under ideal cooling conditions. It was installed in a RAID 1 array and cooled by a heatsink and dual high-speed fans. However the drive reportedly started dropping out of the array, exhibiting controller-level failures that eventually became not useable in any meaningful way. Rossmann said Samsung’s support process was marked by delays and confusion from the very start. After initially contacting the wrong regional support channel, he was redirected to Samsung’s memory support division where he submitted detailed diagnostics, logs, and proof of purchase. Rossmann runs a repair company and owns an ACE Lab PC-3000 machine, which is a professional-grade data recovery equipment. As such, he had been confident in his diagnostics. Samsung even seemingly acknowledged that later. Regardless, Rossmann claims that his initial support ticket was automatically closed before a full 24-hour response window had elapsed, forcing him to reopen the case and resubmit documentation. The controversy however intensified further from here after Samsung accepted the drive for warranty evaluation but later returned it with a repair report stating that the drive had passed its testing and that the SSD had been verified as functional. Rossmann strongly disputed those claims citing that his own independent testing on PC-3000 showed write speeds reducing to as low as 40–60 MB/s before the drive failed entirely. Samsung subsequently informed him that the SSD had been reset and reflashed, passing internal stress tests. However, the company also stated that replacement units were unavailable due to an industry-wide memory shortage and suggested that a refund process could be initiated if further testing confirmed the fault. Thus, to settle, the company offered a refund of $330, the amount that was initially paid by him to make the purchase. Here, Rossmann pointed out the seeming hypocrisy of the tech giant as in how no Samsung drive was apparently allocated for warranty replacements, but they were abundantly available for retail sales especially when using business accounts. As you can see, Rossmann is indeed right, there are Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSDs on Amazon currently for $950 (shipped and sold by first-party Amazon US itself), and they are also available on Samsung's own store too, albeit for an even higher price of $1100. Thus Rossmann argues that Samsung’s inability or unwillingness to provide a replacement while the same model remains available for purchase at significantly higher market prices reflects a failure to honor its warranty obligations. He has issued a formal 60-day notice and says he intends to file suit in Texas small claims court, asserting that companies should face greater costs for denying legitimate warranty claims than for fulfilling them. You can check out the full video titled "Samsung's 990 Pro SSD warranty policy is a scam; I'm taking them to court," at the link below. Source and image: Louis Rossmann (YouTube) As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases
    • Was it too much to ask to show the icon in this article?
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      davidbazooked earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Jamswaz earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Jamswaz earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      Marzoid went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Community Regular
      coch went up a rank
      Community Regular
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      509
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      184
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      158
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      83
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      75
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!