Greetings all,

Running XP Pro. Went into My Computer and saw that both my CD and DVD drives were Missing in Action. This happened once before, and Restore brought them back. This time, I didn't have enough disk space to run Restore, and my restore points were wiped out.

I'm planning a clean XP re-install, but can't do it without accessing my CD/DVD drives. This has to be software-related, since the "restore" brought them back last time.

suggesions would be most welcome!
Thanks
Newz

Hello, and Welcome to techhelpforum.

"I'm planning a clean XP re-install, but can't do it without accessing my CD/DVD drives. This has to be software-related, since the "restore" brought them back last time."

(from jephree; http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread.php?t=49025 ) (D-A-L is our "sister" site)

If you feel comfortable editing the registry, here are some steps:

Click the Start button, click Run. In the Open box, type regedit and then click OK.
Click the plus sign (+) next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Click the plus sign (+) next to SYSTEM.
Click the plus sign (+) next to CurrentControlSet.
Click the plus sign (+) next to Control.
Click the plus sign (+) next to Class.
Click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

Once here click File in the upper left corner and choose: Export (this key)
Export to your Documents as a backup. If needed you can go back to this file and Import it back.

Then:

On the right hand side of the window, click UpperFilters.
Click Edit on the menu bar.
Click Delete, and then click OK.
On the right-hand side of the window, click LowerFilters.
Click Edit on the menu bar.
Click Delete, and then click OK.
Click File, and then click Exit. Restart the computer normally

However, if you're planning to do a clean install, just make sure your optical drive (CDROM/DVD) is the first boot device enabled in your bios.

Just a thought and I would appreciate opinions. I am running a Dell inspiron 1501 with Vista Home Prem. and got Roxio 9 and had the same issue. I am wondering if its a bug in roxio or just one of those things that happen. Do you have a burning program like roxio newzman?

Hi Dan,
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to solve the issue. Still no sign of my D: or E: drives in my computer, or hardware checks, etc...
I know the drives are powered, because they light up, and open/close. But even the bios doesn't seem to know they are there, since when I tell the boot sequence to look there at start-up, it doesn't find them and goes to C: to load XP. In this state, I can't even start a re-install of XP.

Stevie...I don't use Roxio. I use NTI's CD/DVD burning software.

What "genius" at Microsoft programed things so that when there's not enough drive space to do a system restore, all previous system restore points are wiped out! Sheesh!

anyway, any other suggestions would sure be appreciated. Should I try physically detaching the drives, then boot and hope I can re-install them as if they are new? I think the only driver software I have might be on CD, so I could be up the proverbial creek.

Thanks guys!
Leon (Newzman)

Dose the drive appear in the device manager? If so check to make sure the drivers are the most uptodate. Sometimes Windows can't/won't update drivers, so check the manufactures website.

Hi Steve,

I wish! :-)
No... the drives don't appear in device manager. I'll keep experimenting.
Thanks for your help!
Leon/Newzman

If they're powered and they open/close, but they are not showing up in the boot process or bios, power down and redo all your optical drive cable connections. Ensure Pin1 on the drive(s) is connected to Pin1 on the motherboard. (Red or blue stripe along the edge of a flat data cable is Pin1.)

Ensure the secondary controller is enabled in the bios.

Try changing the optical drives data cable with the hard disk cable if possible. You may have a bad cable, or the drives are incorrectly jumpered. If you're using CS (Cable Select) jumper positions, you must have an 80 conductor/40 pin cable. If yours is 40conductor/40Pin, use Master and Slave jumper positions. Also ensure they're not both set to Master or both set to Slave (on the same Channel/buss/cable).

If none of the above works, it's possible the drives may be dead.

Thanks Dan,

I'll definitely give the cables a shot.

This happened a month or so ago, and I was able to do a system restore to fix it, so I have a feeling it's a software problem. I'm thinking there's some malware involved. Maybe my BIOS got screwed up somehow.

Leon/Newzman