windows xp cannot detect my optical drive(DVDRW DRIVE)

im a novice when it comes to computers so please bear with me.
i have an hp pavillion dv5220 lap top and i have a dvdrw dvdrom w/ lightscribe that's internal. it was working great before then after a whole day of burning songs and movies on my dvdrs and usinng the lightscribe capabilities for like 4 times, windows suddenly stopped detecting my dvd drive. i restarted my computer and tried to look for updates for the drive but to no avail. i checked the device manager to see if it's there, but it's not. whenever i tried to look it up at "my computer ", it's not listed there. the only drive that's listed there are the drive c: (local disk) and the drive d: (hp recovery drive). i tried to run the system recovery for over 5 times but the problem is still there.i opened up my lap top and i removed the dvd drive and put it back again but it still not being detected. i scanned my computer for viruses, but it still not working. my computer is up to date with the latest virus definitions and windows updates and i don't know what to do anymore. pls. help me. i would really appreciate any suggestions. thanks.

 

First of all go into the bios and see if the drive is detected there.
You may want to turn off the computer , unplug it and ensure that all the cables and power supply ( plug) to the drive are in tight.
If not turn off the computer ,pull out the ac plug to the wall and then take off the cables to the hard drives and cd drives.
Start the computer. Shut it down. Pull out the plug. Put the cables back on and let the computer find everything.
If the bios does see the drive but windows does not your problems are isolated to windows.
You will want to uninstall the driver for the dvd drive ( my computer, right click> properties > hardware > device manager> right click and uninstall the driver for the dvd drive.
You will be warned.......
Remove the driver.
Reboot .
The dvd drivers should reinstall .
These are the first steps.

 

thanks for the quick response.
i tried the first step (unplugging the cables) and there's still a problem.
i cannot find the dvd drive in the device manager. can you tell me if there's another name for the dvd drive? is it under the disk drives coz i only have one listed under there and it doesn't seem to be the dvd drive in question.

 

Device Manager > "DVD/CD Rom Drives "
Uninstall and reboot.
It could be the cable itself or not properly seated on the motherboard.
The basic rule is to be thorough even if everything looks ok.
Press all the cables in gently.
Do not flex your motherboard by pressing down too hard.
If that still does not work you might try swapping the cables between the other cd rom and the dvd.
You might have to change the jumper setting.
On the left hand side of the back of the cd or dvd ( to the left of the cable with the longest plug in ( mid) you will see a set of 3 or 4 rows of pins ( upper and lower)
You should see CSM ( cable select , slave , master).
You will see a small plastic cap or whatever joining vertically an upper and its lower set of pins.
This plastic piece is called a "jumper" although people will tell you to change the jumper setting they will seldom explain what the "jumper " is.
Master , slave , cable select.
If you swap the drive cable you will have to change the jumper setting to match what the other one was ( remember that to change it back).
If the drive is set to CS ( cable select ) the computer bios itself will detect and setup the drive, Newer computers do this.
Older one has to set to either master or slave.
It is all trial and error in a lot of cases even though the computer would apparently or should apparently be set in a cetain way . Go figure.
Anyways change the jumper setting ( or don't change if they are set to cable select) and swap the cable .
Remember when working on the computer it never hurts to pull out the power cord plug.
You may have to take out the dvd and cd drives to inspect the jumper settings and change it.
You will soon be ready for your lucrative career in computer hardware diagnosis and repair.
At the worst you will save yourself some driving time and some money and impress your friends with your apparent skills.

 

Were you able to see the drive in the BIOS? If it's not recognized there, then it won't get recognized in Windows no matter what you do.

 

no, it 's not in the BIOS.

 

If the BIOS doesn't recognize it then Windows won't recognize it. So, it's either the connections, the BIOS, or the drive itself.

Of those 3 possibilities, it's most likely that the drive itself has gone south on you. You've checked the connection - so we presume that it's OK. As long as it's the drive that came with the system, it's not likely to be the BIOS.

Do you have access to another drive to test it with? If not, maybe a local computer shop can check it out for you for a minimal charge.

Or, you could take it back to the place you bought it from (or even ship it to HP0 for repair. This is probably the best option if it's still under warranty) HP seems to charge $200 for a replacement.

 

i can't find it in the device manager. there's no dvd/cd rom drives. and i tried opening up the back of my lap top, and i can't find the cables. maybe you're pertaining to desktop pcs that's why i can't find the cables. i dunno. i am really lost here .but im really grateful for the help. i dunno what to do next. it seems that it's not being detected at all even though i can open the dvd rom drive and there's a power.

 

Not all BIOSes list the optical drives, they only get listed after POST in the "Configuration" screen (if you can see past any splash screens it appears as DOS style screen with information enclosed in "boxes ").

Anyway, a test would be to boot to a Boot CD. That will tell you if it detected by the BIOS, although I would be concerned that all the burning you were doing may have "cooked" it. You may need to set the boot sequence in the BIOS to CD before HDD.

If you can boot to a Boot CD, look at the optical drive troubleshooting in the MS knowledgebase. Do a search for "CD drive not detected" and one I would look at is uninstalling the upper and lower filters.

MS KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

Uninstall filters:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320553/en-us

Matt

 

hey guys... im really grateful for all your help annd the time that youu spent to help. i did remove the upper and lower filters but my computer still cnt detect the dvd drive. so i called up the customer support for hp coz i just bought this laptop a few months back. they made me do all the things that you guys made me do but they can't resolve it so they said that they're just gonna send me a new dvd drive and exchange the broken one. they even made me do a pc recovery so ii lost all the programs and files that i have. good thing i have a removable drive that have all my important files. so anyway, im really grateful for all the help. thanks you guys!