CD/DVD drive not recognized by Windows XP

[ms_kish]

I have a HP Pavilion Desktop a1210n and use Windows XP.

In the last two months I have been unable to get Windows to recognize my CD/DVD drive. Previously I could do a system restore and it would work for a day or 2 but now my system restores are coming back saying "incomplete". The drive for my CD/DVD is not listed in My Computer and it is not listed in the Device Manager but the drive is listed next to Second Channel Device 0 in BIOS. I hae tried deleting the upperfiltters and lowerfilters in the registry editor.

I called tech support and the only thing they can suggest is a Windows reinstall and I don't want to loose all of my files if there is some other solution. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[caperjack]

maybe the drive has stopped functioning ,they do give up the ghost and die you know .!! time for a new one maybe .

[dcc]

Have you tried uninstalling the drive, cycling the computer on and off, and reinstalling the drive? Are you using the driver from XP or did your drive come with a CD with its own drivers?

Do you have another computer that you could try the drive in?

If your computer is still under warranty see if they will replace it.

[mwiggs]

I have tried the CD DVD fix multiple times with no results, I have 2 drives, neither are working, in the Registry there is no upper or lower lifter entries at all.

[caperjack]

I have tried the CD DVD fix multiple times with no results, I have 2 drives, neither are working, in the Registry there is no upper or lower lifter entries at all.

hi, inside the tower are they both hooked to the same ribbon cable ,if so maybe the cable is bad ,or just need to be removed from the board and plugged back in

[djhouston]

yeah ive had this problem too... they might be right.. but where is there a store that sells them, in cas you have to replace them... but the drive might not be recognized, or maybe youve accidentally uninstalled it.

[caperjack]

yeah ive had this problem too... they might be right.. but where is there a store that sells them, in cas you have to replace them... but the drive might not be recognized, or maybe youve accidentally uninstalled it.

any computer store will/should sell you a ribbon cable !

[lildog59]

Have you tried uninstalling the drive, cycling the computer on and off, and reinstalling the drive? Are you using the driver from XP or did your drive come with a CD with its own drivers?

Do you have another computer that you could try the drive in?

If your computer is still under warranty see if they will replace it.

the problem has to do with updating your system. had to reformat twice,each time cd/dvd drives were recognized,then after a few updateds.they were not recognized. can't track down to see which one is doing it.

[Bob_180_Bob]

I called tech support and the only thing they can suggest is a Windows reinstall and I don't want to loose all of my files if there is some other solution. Can anyone help? Thanks

If you do a repair/install you will only lose any service pack and all hotfixes and up dates since your OS CD was made. If you intend to do a repair/ install, look at making a slipstreamed OS CD with SP3, hotfixes, your PC drivers, your product key +++. It makes life a lot easier and safer if you have these updates before you go online..

This is a good site to learn about a repair/install. http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html

[caperjack]

Dec 24th, 2006 date of original post ,i know you guys just leaving info in case someone comes along ,and thats good .

[Bob_180_Bob]

Silly me, I read the date/time of the last post and did not look at any other date. Oh well some one may read it one day and get some info from it.

[Fix CD]

OK, happened to me with my old XP system. Went to microsoft and their "fix it" option. It worked so was able to reload "Office 2003". Turned off the machine and it installed 23 updates. Turned in back on and the CD writer was not functioning again. Used the "fix it" option from Microsoft again for this problem but made the fixes but said it detected other problems. Could not get it resolved.

How do I check to see if I have SP3? Will this do the trick?

Thanks

[caperjack]

How do I check to see if I have SP3? Will this do the trick?

Thanks

right click on mycomputer go to options it will show either windows sp2 or sp3