i can't see my dvd writer

hello friends,

i have got both xp and server 2003 installed on my laptop on different drives. while xp detects my dvd writer, server 2003 doesn't. i don't think i need to install any specific drivers for a dvd writer. isn't it? would there be any obvious reasons for this? also i have got a maxtor external hard disk of 160GB. XP autodetects it where as 2003 doesn't at all. any suggestions please.

thank you in anticipation

 

what is displayed on your device manager in win2k3?

 

Are u using any branded laptops.. like HP or Dell or Sony?

Generally, what happens is that these companies manufacture laptops with some particular specifications.
I think when you have purchased the laptop you only Xp as the operating system.
What happens is that the branded laptops come with some built in operating system. They configure the laptops in such a way that the operating system becomes compatible with all the drivers in the laptop. That's why if you have installed server 2003 in a laptop which had Xp on it, the system would obviously not work properly.
And finally I'll like to ask whether have you installed the driver software after installing the operating system? If not then Install the driver software disk, and then see what happens..
Best of Luck..
Byee..

 

I got almost similar situation with you, even worst. It shown only my virtual cd-rom driver. It was happen after I upgraded from win2000 to win2003. After investigation, I disable all old drivers from Adaptec (which came from easy scsi 5.0a), then everything works again. May be you should check if there is any old hard-disk/cd-rom driver, and try to disable it.