The drives for my CDRom and CD Burning are suddenly missing when I click on 'My Computer'. I am not sure when they went missing. I did a Belarc system check and they are not shown. My OS is WinXP Pro SP2.

Can I do something in system restore. Can I keep resetting system restore and go back day by day until they re-appear?

Joe

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Do you use a Desktop PC or Notebook?

Did you happen to use any virtual drive software? If so what was it?

The drives for my CDRom and CD Burning are suddenly missing

Yup- they do that sometimes... :mrgreen:

* Download the attached xp_cd_dvd_fix.zip file.

* Right-click on the file and choose the "Extract all..." option; follow the Wizard's prompts to extract the enclosed xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs file.

* Double-click on xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs to run it. If you receive a confirmation or warning message asking if you really want to run the script, choose YES. When the script finishes running, you will get a message saying that it has done so, and that you should reboot.

* Reboot the computer, and then check Device Manager; your drives should be present again.

I use a Desktop

Joe

The type of computer doesn't actually make a difference when it comes to this particular problem.
Please run the "fix" script I provided in my last post; it repairs the Registry corruption which usually causes the "disappearing" CD/DVD drive syndrome.

Ran the script but the drives have not reappeared.

Joe

DMR you are a star! Tried shutting down and rebooting a second time and lo and behold, my drives were back, That's probably why the call thempersonal computers. Thanks a million and thankyou to everyone for their help

Joe

Very cool; glad that worked! :)
I've had a couple of instances where a second reboot was needed as well; I'm not sure why it doesn't always take the first time.

By the way- here's a link to Microsoft's description of the whole issue if you're interested:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q270008/

Yup- they do that sometimes... :mrgreen:

* Download the attached xp_cd_dvd_fix.zip file.

* Right-click on the file and choose the "Extract all..." option; follow the Wizard's prompts to extract the enclosed xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs file.

* Double-click on xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs to run it. If you receive a confirmation or warning message asking if you really want to run the script, choose YES. When the script finishes running, you will get a message saying that it has done so, and that you should reboot.

* Reboot the computer, and then check Device Manager; your drives should be present again.

Thank you DMR it worked for me. Ive been tearing my hair out ALL day trying to fix it. :cheesy:

Aonther satisfied customer; now that's what we like to see.
Glad we could help you get it fixed before you had to go out and buy a toupee, ciderman22! :mrgreen:

Aonther satisfied customer; now that's what we like to see.
Glad we could help you get it fixed before you had to go out and buy a toupee, ciderman22! :mrgreen:

My only problem now is that both cd roms dont recognise blank cd's or dvd's so I cannot copy to them.

Off to start another thread :eek:

Off to start another thread :eek:

Thanks- that would be the thing to do.

The gremlins have struck again. My CD Rom drive has disappeared once more although my drive for burning CD's is still there. Device Manager shows only my CD burning drive. There are no remarks, alerts or anything marked in the device manager.

Any ideas please.

Joe2

No CD-ROM drive at all in Device Manager, eh? That's not a Good Thing...

* Is there any indication of the CD-ROM drive's existence in the BIOS' setup pages?

* When you insert a CD into the drive, can you hear any indication that the drive is at least trying to spin up and read the disk?

Checked my BIOPS settins which said Secondary IDE Slave (my CDRom drives) not installed.

I shut down my computer and removed the ribbon cable and replugged and I did the same with the power cable. Revbooted and the drives are OK. I can only assume that a connection had somehow come loose.

Please accept my apologies for wasting your valuable time although you have increased my knowledge considerable on this question.

I searched Google to find out how to access my BIOS and on my computer it is tapping the delete key whilst booting up which alerted me to a possible physical connection problem inside the computer.

I thank you most sincerely for all your undoubted expertise and help.

Joe2

Checked my BIOPS settins which said Secondary IDE Slave (my CDRom drives) not installed.

I shut down my computer and removed the ribbon cable and replugged and I did the same with the power cable. Revbooted and the drives are OK. I can only assume that a connection had somehow come loose.

It's a pretty rare coincidence to have a software problem with the drives followed directly by a hardware problem, but I'm glad you were able to find/fix it so quickly.

I searched Google to find out how to access my BIOS and on my computer it is tapping the delete key whilst booting up which alerted me to a possible physical connection problem inside the computer.

Good initiative, and good work on your part! :)

Please accept my apologies for wasting your valuable time...

Absolutely no apologies needed here; we volunteer our time because we want to help people get their problems fixed.

Check your ide cable..Plug it back

Check your ide cable..Plug it back

:o Um... he did; that was the fix:

I shut down my computer and removed the ribbon cable and replugged and I did the same with the power cable. Revbooted and the drives are OK. I can only assume that a connection had somehow come loose.

Hi CyrosImmortal,

First of all- welcome to DaniWeb :)

We ask that members not tag their questions on to a thread previously started by another member (regardless of how similar your problem might seem). Not only does it divert the focus of the thread away from the original poster's problem, but it also makes it less likely that you yourself will get the individual attention that you need.

Given that, I've split your question into its own separate thread, which can be found here:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread47206.html

For a full description of our posting guidelines and general rules of conduct, please see this page:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/faq.php?faq=daniweb_policies

Thanks for understanding.

I have the same problem of missing CD-ROM drive, but my computer has Windows 2000. Can xp_cd_dvd_fix.zip fix the problem on Windows 2000?

I have the same problem of missing CD-ROM drive, but my computer has Windows 2000. Can xp_cd_dvd_fix.zip fix the problem on Windows 2000?

Yes- the "disappearing" CD/DVD issue also occurs with Windows 2000, and the xp_cd_dvd_fix script will fix it.

My problem was fixed by the script. Thanks a lot.

You're welcome- glad we could help. :)

newbie here, i also have the same problem, my combo cd rom drive doesnt register in my computer, i have tried the solution you have provided on hte previous thread but it didnt worked.... is there any other solutioni can try.. tnx..:)

newbie here, i also have the same problem, my combo cd rom drive doesnt register in my computer, i have tried the solution you have provided on hte previous thread but it didnt worked....

The xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs file is only designed to fix one particular problem (a Registry conflict), whose main symptom is the "disappearing drive" phenomenon. While you might be experiencing the same symptom, the underlying cause of your problem might be different, meaning that the file I supplied won't work for you.

We'll need more information in order to help you find the exact source of the problem:

A) Has the drive ever worked properly?

B) If the drive has worked before, can you think of anything that changed in the system (hardware changes, program installations/upgrades/removals, a serious crash, an error message window appearing, etc.) around the time you first noticed the problem?

C) Right-click on your My Computer icon and choose "Manage" from the resulting menu.
* In the Computer Management windows, click on Storage->Disk Management.
* Look in the right-hand pane of the Disk Management window.
Is any identifying info about your CD/DVD drive listed there?

D)
Right click on your My Computer icon.
* Choose "Properties" from the resulting drop-down menu.
* Click on the "Hardware" tab.
* Click on the "Device Manager" button.

In the list of your installed hardware, are there any devices which have a yellow exclamation point or a red "X" next to their name/icon? If so, double-clicking on the problematic device will open a status window which will give you more details concerning the error. Post those details (fully and completely), as well as the exact name of the device in question.

E)
Does the computer's BIOS recognize that the drive is physically installed? The BIOS' setup utility is accessed by pressing a certain key when the system first boots (before Windows starts); the most common access keys are F1, F2, Del, and Esc. Look in the BIOS setup pages for a listing of your installed drives and see if any information which identifies the combo drive is present there.

1. has the driver ever worked properly?-yes
2. i reformatted my drive c, when i installed win xp sp2 w/c is also
the the same installer i used before, after that my drive e (combo
drive) will not register in my computer, and i am no longer able to
install any other applications.
3.on the disc management, i only see drive c: and d:
4. the ones with yellow exclamation points are
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel
Secondary Ultra ATA/ATAPI Channel
the ones with yellow question mark are
-other devices
Multimedia Audio Controller
PCI Simple Communications Controller
Video Controler (VGA Compatible)

additional info
-there are two Primary IDE Channel and secondary channels(there
are ones with yellow exclamation point and the other doesnt have)
-When i double click on Primary IDE channel i got
code 12 error, This device cannot find enough free resources
that it can use.
If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of
the other devices on this system.
-same when i double click Secondary IDE Channel
5. when i checked in BIOS, Secondary IDE MAster is CD/DVD COMBO
thank you for your help, i have we will be able to resolve this
concern...

2. i reformatted my drive c, when i installed win xp sp2...

4. the ones with yellow exclamation points are...

5. when i checked in BIOS, Secondary IDE MAster is CD/DVD COMBO

Ahh- the plot thins... ;)

The info you posted is pretty much the classic list of symptoms that occur when you've reinstalled Windows from scratch but haven't then reinstalled the motherboard chipset's driver package, and perhaps other drivers as well. (Windows doesn't have built-in drivers for some motherboards and/or their on-board components).

If you have the original driver CD that came with the computer, you can reinstall the motherboard driver software from there. If you don't have the CD, you should be able to get the right driver package from your computer manufacturer's website.

If you need help obtaining or installing the driver software, give us the exact make & model of your computer and we can probably point you in the right direction.

Hi my hard disk drive D: appears in "DEVICE MANAGER" but does not appear in "MY COMPUTER" How do i get it to appear in "MY COMPUTER"?

PS i am using windows xp home edition just in case it is of any help

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