windows problem

Hi, I have done something dumb on my pc and now it will not acknowledge either my cdrom or dvdrom. I have tried to go through the install new hardware option, but it will not find them. I was going through my video card disc as I was told that there was a decoder for my dvdrom there but after not finding one, I tried to close the disc. It then told me to reboot the pc and when I did, no cdroms. Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, if I formatted, would I be able to reinstall windows as it is on a cd and would the dos system then recognize the cd after I wiped out everything else, thanks

 

Before you wipe it. Go to your device manager, look for your cd/dvd. If they are there, is there an exclamation point? highlight them, remove. Reboot, and see if they get detected. Post back good or bad.

 

Problem solved. Found this at a windows help site. It told me to go to device manager, click on hard disc controllers and change the settings so that I enabled both IDE channels, did this, rebooted and there they were. They are both working just fine however thanks for your suggestion, Fred.