cd and dvd drive failure...

[shaolin]

hello i am new to this forum and i have a problem:

My cd drive and dvd drive do not apppear under my computer, and in device manager both drives have exclamation marks in yellow circles...

I installed a new cd drive to see if this fxed anything, it did not and nothing has changed..

I don't mind re-installing my computer back to factory settings but i cannot do this without using the windows cd.

Anyone know how to solve this problem or know how to reset my computer back to factory settings without the windows cd

any help would be appreciated

[DMR]

One common cause for that problem, and the fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q270008/

Although the article pertains to Win 2000, I've seen the problem occur with XP as well; the fix described for Win 2000 works for XP.

Please note that although the article only refers to the "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet registry subkey, I've had to apply the fix to the similar entries (if found) in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00x subkeys as well in order to make it work.

[shaolin]

One common cause for that problem, and the fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q270008/

Although the article pertains to Win 2000, I've seen the problem occur with XP as well; the fix described for Win 2000 works for XP.

Please note that although the article only refers to the "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet registry subkey, I've had to apply the fix to the similar entries (if found) in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00x subkeys as well in order to make it work.

No sorry didn;t work... looks like i will have to take it in or something

[DMR]

Anyone know how to solve this problem or know how to reset my computer back to factory settings without the windows cd

If your version of Windows gives you the option, you could try booting into the "Last known good configuration" or a previous Restore Point.

Hit the F8 key repeatedly as your system is booting up to get to the menu where you can choose one of those options.

If your BIOS isn't even correctly identifying the drives, make sure all of the cabling/connectors inside the computer are properly and firmly seated. you can also clear the BIOs/motherboard by unplugging the power cord and removing the CMOS battery from the system for about 30 minutes or more.

[shaolin]

If your version of Windows gives you the option, you could try booting into the "Last known good configuration" or a previous Restore Point.

Hit the F8 key repeatedly as your system is booting up to get to the menu where you can choose one of those options.

If your BIOS isn't even correctly identifying the drives, make sure all of the cabling/connectors inside the computer are properly and firmly seated. you can also clear the BIOs/motherboard by unplugging the power cord and removing the CMOS battery from the system for about 30 minutes or more.

If i do restore my system, and i have files i want to keep on my d drive (back up) will they be there after this ...

[DMR]

Rolling back to a previous configuration doesn't touch your data files at all; the restore only affects Windows system files. However, backing up your data before troubleshooting is always a good idea.

What you can lose when you roll back to a previous restore point are any updates/changes that you made (if you made any at all) to drivers and/or other system files in the time between the last good restore point and the present. Unless you did some major upgrading though, it's usually no big deal to do the updates again.