Lost CD Drives

hardboiledcat · 12th June 2003

I have suddenly and inexplicably lost both of my CD drives. They don't appear at all in Device Manager and the shortcut icons on my taskbar have question marks. I have tried System Restore to no avail. Can anyone help?

**Dennis L** · 12th June 2003

Hi hardboiledcat

Had the "identical" problem. While installing a new ram memory chip, accidently dislodge a wire connecting to mother board. Re-connected wire, both CD drives then displayed and became available. I'm sure there could be additional culprits, but this is one of them.
Powerdown, ground yourself out to discharge any static charges, disconnect power cord and check / reseat your connections.

hardboiledcat · 13th June 2003

Thanks for the reply, Dennis. Tried this, didn't work. Could it be a BIOS/IRQ issue? I haven't added any new hardware, and the most recent software I've installed was Systemworks. Can't understand what made them pack up and leave. This is driving me nuts!

**Dennis L** · 13th June 2003

Hi hardboiledcat

BIOS/IRQ issue's generally don't jump out of the woodwork. If NO hardware added / moved or drivers installed... would be a stretch. HD / something could have burped... but why no device manager conflicts. My problem was easy trouble shoot. Stood on my head getting at the ram block location / memory install. Immedialtly after, lost my view to the CD drives. Finding the right plug to put on the right pins on MB was a no go for me, local tech spotted it in a heartbeat.
If CD views were available at anytime after NSW install, you could try a re-install of drives and let windows redetect.

hardboiledcat · 13th June 2003

Re-install of physical drives or drivers? Remember, drives don't show up at all in Device Manager, so I can't simply uninstall them and reboot. I think I'll try unplugging/replugging them altogether this evening and possibly going to Add New Hardware and see if I can't make Windows find them again.
Thanks for all the help, Dennis. I'll keep you posted.

13th June 2003

hey i got the same problem once. And the following was what i did to my computer.

--> click on start and go to mycomputer
-->and right click on it and -->click on properties and -->in the properties click on hardware -->and then click on add hardware wizard -->and then and click next and wait for couple of minutes
-->and you'll see options saying Yes, i have already connected the hardware and No, i have not added the hardware yet. -->click on Yes -->and then click on next. -->you get options under installed hardware. -->scroll down and you can see the option like CD-ROM or something -->click on it and click next and rest u can understand.

hope this works!

hardboiledcat · 15th June 2003

It was the IDE cable leading to the motherboard. It had gone bad somehow. Replaced it. CD drives back in action! Thanks to everyone for your help and concern!

Cheers & Beers