Hi,

My Sons Dell Dimension 2350 has developed odd behaviour. Running XP Home Edition SP2 with autoupdate on.

If I boot it up, XP no longer sees the combo CD-RW/DVD drive (D


If I go into Control Panel and Add New hardware the drive is almost immediately found

However at the next reboot it's lost again.

I have tried :

1) Restore CD/DVD in Explorer
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs...cd_dvd_fix.vbs

No change

2)http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;320553

(basically regedit upperlimit and lowerlimit for CD/DVD and/or uninstall driver)

no change

3) No errors in the event logs beyond the CD burning service starting & stopping (presumably because it cannot find the drive either)


What is odd is that simply running the add new hardware wizard, then cancelling at the first screen appears to cause the drive to magically appear. It's like the wizard tickles something .

For the time being I have a shortcut to the wizard on my sons desktop called "Find the CD drive" but I'd prefer to get a fix that is permanent.

See if this troubleshooter helps:

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...401E0A55172FF4

Sometimes Dell Support will not retain direct links so if the above does not go to:

CD/DVD Drive Not Working (Read/ Write Problems, No Power, or Optical Drive Not Detected) [ Dell™ Desktops, Portables, and Dell Precision™ Workstations ]

Try this path:

http://support.dell.com/

Troubleshooting and FAQs

[search]: detect cd drive

CD/DVD Drive Not Working (Read/ Write Problems, No Power, or Optical Drive Not Detected) [ Dell™ Desktops, Portables, and Dell Precision™ Workstations ]

Originally Posted by jephree

See if this troubleshooter helps:

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...401E0A55172FF4

Sometimes Dell Support will not retain direct links so if the above does not go to:

CD/DVD Drive Not Working (Read/ Write Problems, No Power, or Optical Drive Not Detected) [ Dell™ Desktops, Portables, and Dell Precision™ Workstations ]

Try this path:

http://support.dell.com/

Troubleshooting and FAQs

[search]: detect cd drive

CD/DVD Drive Not Working (Read/ Write Problems, No Power, or Optical Drive Not Detected) [ Dell™ Desktops, Portables, and Dell Precision™ Workstations ]

Many thanks,

I'll follwo that route. It looks pretty comprehensive. I did a trial run through using the results I had found thus far and it seemed to culminate in reinstalling XP ?

I changed the PSU a while ago as I suspected the old one was not delivering enough current (mad, random errors , Bsod, nothing in event logs) and things have got much better (and quicker !? or so it seems). I wonder if the CD problem is hardware related ? I have cleaned the lens with one of those dishwasher disks.

Anyway thanks for the rapid reply - I'll let you know what happens

Another option is to go to the Device Manager start Run... devmgmt.msc and expand (+) the DVD/CD-ROM drive line right clicking on the drive in question and choose Uninstall then reboot.

is that the same as uninstalling the device through Control Panel -> System ->Hardware -> Device manager ? If so I did that and rebooted. If found the device fine, but on a second reboot it lost it again

Yes that is the same.


Is the drive detected in the BIOS at every POST?

Does the LED on the drive face always blink on a startup?


Also just a long shot but try the Save Settings edit on line 54 (right column) here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm