Where did my DVD Drive go?

[Richard King]

Yesterday I was working with a friend on a small music project. I had hauled my computer over to the house that I am trying to sell and we did our work there. We got the song that he wrote into the computer and when it came time to mix it to CD my DVD/CD recorder in the computer was nowhere to be found. Well, it existed physically, sitting in its normal slot, but the computer couldn't find it. A click on "My Computer" revealed all the hard drives, but no CD/DVD drive. Belarc Advisor also shows no DVD/CD drive. The tray still opens as normal. The light still goes on, but no one is home. Obvously the power is hooked up properly, and it APPEARS that the control ribbon cable is good. Has anyone had a drive like this die on them in the past? Hopefully it's the drive and not the mother board. I ended up hauling the computer back home and dumping the song over my network to my laptop and burning the cd in the laptop, rather inconvenient.

[dennisj00]

If it's a desktop, check the connector seating both on the drive and the motherboard. Only the power connector is needed for the front button eject.

It's always possible the drive's electronics died.

[Marlin Guy]

Also check to see if it's turned on and being picked up by the BIOS.
If not, pull it and test it in another system. Probably toast.

[Richard King]

I pulled the "broken" drive and replaced it with a drive that I pulled from an old computer with the same results. Power functions, but the computer doesn't see it. I'm glad I didn't run off to BB to buy a new drive. Time to check the IDE cable I guess. I wouldn't know how to check the BIOS if my life depended on it. I know just enough about these things to be dangerous, but not much more. :( At this point I'm figureing it has to be the cable or the motherboard connector.

[Herdfan]

I wouldn't know how to check the BIOS if my life depended on it.

When you boot the computer, there should be a quick message on the screen such as "Press F2 For Setup". It can be F2, DEL or something else.

Press it and you will be taken to the BIOS setup screen. It is an old DOS style interface and the drives should be listed.

ESC usually gets you out.

[The Merg]

I pulled the "broken" drive and replaced it with a drive that I pulled from an old computer with the same results. Power functions, but the computer doesn't see it. I'm glad I didn't run off to BB to buy a new drive. Time to check the IDE cable I guess. I wouldn't know how to check the BIOS if my life depended on it. I know just enough about these things to be dangerous, but not much more. :( At this point I'm figureing it has to be the cable or the motherboard connector.

When you first turn on the computer, there is usually a screen that tells you to press a key for setup. Generally, it is something like DEL, F1, F2, F10, or F12. When the BIOS setup then loads after hitting that key, one of the menu options is usually to display what drives you have installed. See if the DVD drive is listed as one of the drives.

When checking the cable, you can try to move the DVD drive from one cable to another. If you have two IDE cables installed, you can try connecting the DVD drive to the other cable to test it out.

- Merg

[Richard King]

This is being sent from my laptop as I dig around in my sick computer.

I've put the original drive back in its place. As for drives in this thing, I have 2 SATA drives (one came with the computer, one that I added), 2 IDE drives configured in a Raid array (connected to their own card in an expansion slot), and the one IDE DVD burner (the one in question). There appears to be an empty IDE header on the MB that sits at one end of the occupied (by the DVD burner) header. This empty one is labeled "FDD" on the MB. I can't see what the label is on the occupied header. Would I be able to swap the DVD burner to the header labeled FDD if I find that the problem is with the connections?

Also, in digging around I noticed that my USB wires are connected to the USB 1 header. Is there some reason that I can't hook that to the USB 2 header that is right next to the USB 1 header and get better performance? Will some devices not operate if hooked to a USB2 connection?

[bidger]

There appears to be an empty IDE header on the MB that sits at one end of the occupied (by the DVD burner) header. This empty one is labeled "FDD" on the MB. I can't see what the label is on the occupied header. Would I be able to swap the DVD burner to the header labeled FDD if I find that the problem is with the connections?

FDD= Floppy Disc Drive, I believe.

If it's XP or Vista, you could try a System Restore to a point where the drive was recognized. Or do a Google search along the lines of "DVD drive not recognized" on the laptop and step through their recommendations.

[The Merg]

This is being sent from my laptop as I dig around in my sick computer.

I've put the original drive back in its place. As for drives in this thing, I have 2 SATA drives (one came with the computer, one that I added), 2 IDE drives configured in a Raid array (connected to their own card in an expansion slot), and the one IDE DVD burner (the one in question). There appears to be an empty IDE header on the MB that sits at one end of the occupied (by the DVD burner) header. This empty one is labeled "FDD" on the MB. I can't see what the label is on the occupied header. Would I be able to swap the DVD burner to the header labeled FDD if I find that the problem is with the connections?

Also, in digging around I noticed that my USB wires are connected to the USB 1 header. Is there some reason that I can't hook that to the USB 2 header that is right next to the USB 1 header and get better performance? Will some devices not operate if hooked to a USB2 connection?

FDD= Floppy Disc Drive, I believe.

If it's XP or Vista, you could try a System Restore to a point where the drive was recognized. Or do a Google search along the lines of "DVD drive not recognized" on the laptop and step through their recommendations.

As stated, FDD is the header for hooking up a floppy disc drive. As for the USB headers, there is no performance difference between the two. Generally, one would be used to handle the USB ports on the rear of the computer and the other would be connected to USB ports on the front of the computer. You could also use the open USB header it to install USB ports that connect straight the USB header and are not on a card.

One thing to try is to disconnect your IDE drives from the RAID card and connect the DVD drive. See if your DVD drive is recognized by the computer then. You could also just use the IDE cable from the expansion card and use it to replace the DVD's IDE cable to verify if the cable is the issue.

- Merg

[Richard King]

I figured it stood for "Fixed Disc Drive" or some such thing.

Anyway, I'm living proof that you don't have to have any idea of what you are doing to fix things. The DVD drive has magically reappeared and seems to be working fine (well at least on playback). I suspect that in my screwing around inside I bumped something back into place that had been bumped out of place previously. Thanks for all the suggestions.

;)