Can't find CD-ROM D: drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rich Pasco
  • Start date Start date
R

Rich Pasco

On a Windows 2000 system I mention, the CD-ROM D: drive has
disappeared from My Computer. There is no D: drive any more.
We didn't change anything... here yesterday, gone today.

This happened several months ago and I was able to fix it as
follows:
1) I opened "My Computer" and noticed that the drive was missing
2) I opened Start/Settings/Control Panel
3) There, I opened "Add/Remove Hardware"
4) There, I invoked "Add/Troubleshoot" a device
5) After the search completed, I chose
"HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE 84878"
6) The system reported that the drive was working properly.
7) I re-opened My Computer and noticed that the
"Compact Disc (D:)" was listed, so I declined to run the
Troubleshooter as offered.

Today I tried the same procedure but in step (5) the drive was not
there to be selected.

What else should I try before I buy a new CD-ROM drive?

- Rich
 
In
Rich Pasco said:
On a Windows 2000 system I mention, the CD-ROM D: drive has
disappeared from My Computer. There is no D: drive any more.
We didn't change anything... here yesterday, gone today.

This happened several months ago and I was able to fix it as
follows:
1) I opened "My Computer" and noticed that the drive was missing
2) I opened Start/Settings/Control Panel
3) There, I opened "Add/Remove Hardware"
4) There, I invoked "Add/Troubleshoot" a device
5) After the search completed, I chose
"HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE 84878"
6) The system reported that the drive was working properly.
7) I re-opened My Computer and noticed that the
"Compact Disc (D:)" was listed, so I declined to run the
Troubleshooter as offered.

Today I tried the same procedure but in step (5) the drive was not
there to be selected.

What else should I try before I buy a new CD-ROM drive?

- Rich
Click to expand...


it could be that the device has failed and the previous error was a
precursor to its failure?
 
Check Event Viewer for errors. Check Device Manager for error codes and or
non-starting devices.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Rich said:
On a Windows 2000 system I mention, the CD-ROM D: drive has
disappeared from My Computer. There is no D: drive any more.
We didn't change anything... here yesterday, gone today.

This happened several months ago and I was able to fix it as
follows:
1) I opened "My Computer" and noticed that the drive was missing
2) I opened Start/Settings/Control Panel
3) There, I opened "Add/Remove Hardware"
4) There, I invoked "Add/Troubleshoot" a device
5) After the search completed, I chose
"HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE 84878"
6) The system reported that the drive was working properly.
7) I re-opened My Computer and noticed that the
"Compact Disc (D:)" was listed, so I declined to run the
Troubleshooter as offered.

Today I tried the same procedure but in step (5) the drive was not
there to be selected.

What else should I try before I buy a new CD-ROM drive?
Click to expand...

You should first try looking in your BIOS to make sure the CD drive is
showing there before worrying about its presence in Win2k. If it is
shown absent or unrecognised, check that the cable to the cable is
properly connected to the drive pins, and that the other end is firmly
connected to the IDE controller on the motherboard (shutdown the PC
first) or . If that still makes no difference try another cable or swap
over the cables from your HDD with that of the CD drive to make sure it
isn't the cable that is causing the problem.
 
Hi Rich - Try this:

See here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];270008 It
may not sound like it applies but take the steps outlined there to delete
the Upper and Lower Filters.

You can also use this reg file to handle these deletes (it takes care of
deleting some other things which can cause problems as well):
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip This is
pretty much the "standard" fix for this type of 'disappearing CD' issue.
Backup first or take an RP so that
you can recover if there are problems (there aren't usually, BTW).

It's recommended by Compaq/HP that you run FilterFixer also when this occurs
to recreate the correct entries, here:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp27501-28000/sp27949.exe Instructions
here: ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp27501-28000/sp27949.txt


--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MVP, DTS, ASVOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/



In Rich Pasco <[email protected]> typed:
|| On a Windows 2000 system I mention, the CD-ROM D: drive has
|| disappeared from My Computer. There is no D: drive any more.
|| We didn't change anything... here yesterday, gone today.
||
|| This happened several months ago and I was able to fix it as
|| follows:
|| 1) I opened "My Computer" and noticed that the drive was missing
|| 2) I opened Start/Settings/Control Panel
|| 3) There, I opened "Add/Remove Hardware"
|| 4) There, I invoked "Add/Troubleshoot" a device
|| 5) After the search completed, I chose
|| "HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE 84878"
|| 6) The system reported that the drive was working properly.
|| 7) I re-opened My Computer and noticed that the
|| "Compact Disc (D:)" was listed, so I declined to run the
|| Troubleshooter as offered.
||
|| Today I tried the same procedure but in step (5) the drive was not
|| there to be selected.
||
|| What else should I try before I buy a new CD-ROM drive?
||
|| - Rich
 
Dave said:
Check Event Viewer for errors. Check Device Manager for error codes and or
non-starting devices.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Dave. I had checked Device Manager and the CD-ROM drive wasn't
there at all. Per your suggestion I looked at Event Viewer and couldn't
see anything recent about the CD-ROM drive...

We disconnected the ribbon cable from the CD-ROM drive to the
motherboard and re-seated both ends, then the drive seems to work.

- Rich
 
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