Computer help... really odd problem...

[DavidNel]

Okay, something really strange happened to my computer...

I have two DVD/CD drives, but when I go to My Computer only one 3 1/2 floppy drive shows up! I don't even have a floppy drive. I'm not sure how this happened, but I really need to use the cd drive. I've tried restarting my computer and all the simple stuff.

Could someone with their almighty CPU wizdom please help?

-Thanks

[VioletSkye]

What does the CPU have to do with your optical drives???? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

If the DVD/CD drives open and close then we know the power cable is ok, if they don't open try using a spare power (molex) connecter.

First thing to do is to open your case and check the IDE cable going from the DVD/CD drives to the motherboard. If those seem to be in place, then you may need to swap out the IDE cable with another one to see if that works (You could also swap the IDE cable on the DVD/CD drives with the Harddrive cable (if the harddrive uses IDE and not SATA.) If the computer boots to your desktop using the IDE cable from your optical drives, then the cable is obviously good. If it doesn't then the cable is most likely bad.

If the cable is verified good, then the IDE port itself on your motherboard may be bad. If your harddrive connects via IDE, then slave one of the optical drives off the harddrive IDE cable. Make sure to set the jumpers correctly. If the hardrive is set to Master, make sure the optical drive is set to Slave. If the harddrive connects via SATA, then check to see if the motherboard has a spare IDE port that you can use. Either way, boot into Windows and see if the optical/s drive shows up.

I'm kinda in the middle of something so when I get more time I can give you more detailed steps if you need them, or maybe someone else can jump in and help as well http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

One more thing, boot into your BIOS and see if it lists opticals drives in the boot priority list. Also make sure that optical drives haven't somehow become disabled.

I forgot one more important step to try. Right click on MY COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES. Click the HARDWARE tab and select Device Manager. Click the + next to DVD/CD Drives and make sure that there isn't a red x on them. If there is it means they are disabled. Right click on each and select ENABLE.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-06-25 13:26 ]</font>

[DavidNel]

um... thanks. I'll work on it. It'll take me a while to figure out what you said, but I've got a friend that is really good with computers.

Thank you so much for the help, but please don't spend the time with detailed instructions. I don't want to waist too much of your time.

[VioletSkye]

Heh, sorry about that, it wasn't very user friendly info lol. BTW, do the drives open if you press the eject button on the drive itself? If they don't then they aren't get any power and you need to try plugging in a spare power cable (after openning up the pc tower.) If the drives do open, then see below.

Here is what I would try:

1. Right click on MY COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES. Click the HARDWARE tab and select DEVICE MANAGER. Click the + next to DVD/CD DRIVES and make sure that there isn't a red x on them. If there is it means they are disabled. Right click on each and select ENABLE. The drives should now show up and you are all set. If not:

2. Restart your computer and go into your system's BIOS. To do that, you will need to press a specific key on your keyboard at the beginning of your pc starting up. It will usually tell you what key to press to "ENTER SETUP" or something similar to that. Navigate the best you can in the BIOS and look for a place where devices can be ENABLED/DISABLED and also check the "BOOT PRIORITY" area to see if it lists DVD/CD drives. If your friend is somewhat familiar with computers, he can proabably help you with that.

3. If nothing is listed for DVD/CD drives at all in your BIOS, then your motherboard itself is not detecting them, which generally means 1 of 2 things. Either the IDE cable is bad (or has a loose connection on the DVD/CD drive and/or the IDE port) or the port the IDE cable connects to on the motherboard is bad. DVD/CD drives do go bad, but they still generally show up at least and having 2 disappear is just too coincedental.

4. What I had suggested was either testing or replacing the cable connecting your DVD/CD drives to your motherboard. If you don't have a spare IDE cable, then I wanted you to switch the cables connecting your DVD/CD drives with the cable connecting your harddrive/s (if they are the same type of cable, ie. IDE.) After switching the cables, turn your computer on, and if it boots to your Windows Desktop, then we know that the cable itself is ok and that the problem most likely resides with the motherboard. If the harddrive does not use an IDE cable and instead uses a much smaller, thinner SATA cable, then you won't be able to switch them. In that case, you can either purchase a new IDE cable or borrow one from someone else's computer for testing.

5. If you verify that the IDE cable is ok, then look to see if there is another open IDE port on the motherboard you can use (this will most likely only happen if the harddrive uses SATA.) If there is, connect the DVD/CD drive cable to the alternate IDE port and boot up Windows and see if it now lists the drives. If you verify that the cable is bad, then forget the part about slaving the DVD or CD drive to the harddrive as there is no point in pursuing that step..

6. If at this point, you have basically determined that the motherboard port is bad then there are diagnostic programs you can run to verify that but I'll wait to get into that until you try the other steps.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-06-25 14:57 ]</font>

[DavidNel]

OKay, there isn't a red X on the first tip you gave me, but there is a yellow "!".

Also, thank you so much for helping teh n00b. If you lived near me I'd pay you, lol.

[VioletSkye]

The exclamation point means there is either a hardware conflict somewhere (did you recently install any new hardware?) or it could also indicate corrupted or missing drivers.

First thing to try is a popular patch that can help fix this particular situation:
CDGone (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?act=dscript&CODE=showdetails&f_id=8)

Another possible solution for the hardware conflict is:
1. Click START, then RUN, type REGEDIT and click OK.
2. Locate and then remove the following registry values:
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCl ass{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}LowerFilters
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCl ass{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}UpperFilters
3. Close Registry Editor.
4. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

Note: Some programs are unable to detect the CD/DVD drive after these steps. To solve this, simply re-install the program in question. Also, in few instances the order in which the programs are (re-)installed can make a difference.

If that doesn't help then remove the newly installed device.

If that doesn't fix the issue then download the DVD/CD drivers for your motherbrand. Those should be available at the manufacturers website.

If none of that works let me know and we will try something else.

BTW, if you lived near me, you'd have to pay me (it's part of what I do for a living lol) http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-06-25 15:38 ]</font>

[DavidNel]

THANK YOU!!!!! Hope to see you in PSU (if you get it, and my CD thing starts working).

[DroolinBuddie]

omg i wish i knew all that computer stuff like u violetskye ;___;

im still learnin about computers ^___^""