Lost My CD Drive

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 20 Nov 2006 2:37 pm

Out of nowhere, my DVD/CD drive (D) isn't recognizing when there's a CD in it---when I try to make it play it tells me to insert CD even when there's one in it. Device Manager tells me that "This device is working properly". I would uninstall it but then I'm afraid that it will tell me to insert the CD into the drive to reinstall it and then I'll have to shout at the computer that the drive doesn't work, you idiot.
This a WinXP Dell system.
Any advice?

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 20 Nov 2006 3:51 pm

Jon;
Open up the side of the case and check the signal cable connections, and the power cable where it plugs into the CD unit.

If the connections are solid it may be a bad laser. Chuck it and buy a new CD recorder/player. You can get CD/DVD recorder combos for $50 or $60.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
<small>Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage. Get Firefox Here.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices. Learn about using a Limited User account to protect your PC. Read my FAQs.</small>

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 20 Nov 2006 4:13 pm

You can uninstall it in the Windows Device manager then restart Windows and it will be detected and reinstalled (refreshed). There are no drivers for CD/DVD drives except the default built in Windows drivers.

There can be an upper/lower filter issue but in many cases the uninstall seems to fix a multitude of problems.

Here is the link to The Predator's site, the resident CD/DVD guru on the Dell User's forum. There may be something in there that will help you too. http://www.the-predator.com/

In most cases it is not a defective drive.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 20 Nov 2006 4:58 pm

Well, I uninstalled it and rebooted. The boot went fine but nothing happened re: the D drive. In device manager it is disabled and when I go through the enable routine it tell me that Windows was not able to enable it. So I'll take that to mean that the device has failed. Agreed?

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 20 Nov 2006 7:13 pm

Yup. I just had a 1 year old Samsung 52X CD-RW go completely dead.
Not unheard of in these parts.......

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 21 Nov 2006 2:42 am

There are two things to try before giving up on the drive. One is the upper/lower filters and the other is the Dell "NVRAM" clearing procedure. They are both outlined in the link I gave you to The Predator's site.

The NVRAM clears the BIOS and if the BIOS is not detecting the drive(s) correctly then Windows will not either.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 21 Nov 2006 4:13 am

One other thing to try. Reseat the IDE ribbon I/O cable on both ends - at the CD drive and at the motherboard.

Power off the PC, open the case, unplug the ribbion I/O cable and then reinsert the cable making sure it's inserted correctly and fully.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 21 Nov 2006 2:01 pm

Thanks for the tips. I'll get on this over the holiday and see what's what.