Member Avatar for xain_vincent

as most of you know, i have a new computer...i managed to fix most of the older problems...but now i am in quite a predicament...i have a Cd ROM drive...but the computer doesn't know that...as a matter of fact...it's as if it never existed...my computer doesn't have any CD ROM drive on file under my computer...or anywhere for that matter...any ideas???

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Crade12312

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A practical troubleshooting checklist for — and a step‑by‑step for who asked how to do the checks.

First, a quick triage: note whether the drive shows any LED, whether the tray opens, and whether the motor spins when the PC powers on. No LED/no spin usually means a power/cable issue; spin with no detection usually means BIOS/ID or OS/device-driver problems.

Physical checks (safe, sequential):

  • Power off and unplug the PC. Touch the case metal to discharge static before touching components.
  • Open the case and confirm the drive has a power connector attached (4‑pin Molex on older drives; 15‑pin SATA power on newer). Confirm the data cable is firmly seated. For ribbon (IDE) cables, ensure the red stripe aligns with pin 1 on both drive and motherboard.
  • For IDE drives, check the small jumper block and the legend on the drive: set to "master" if it is the only drive on that cable, or match master/slave settings with the other device. SATA drives do not use jumpers.
  • Reassemble and power up to see if the drive shows LED/spins.

If the drive still does not appear:

  • Enter BIOS/Setup at boot (Del/F2/F10 depending on board) and look for the optical drive under IDE/SATA devices. If BIOS does not see it, the problem is at the hardware/cable/power level.
  • If BIOS sees it but the OS does not, open Device Manager (Computer > Manage > Device Manager), check "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and "Unknown devices," uninstall any ghost or unknown entries, then "Scan for hardware changes." As a last resort (with registry backup), remove UpperFilters/LowerFilters under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} — this fixes some Windows driver conflicts.

Final steps: try the drive on another PC or try a known‑good drive on the same cable/port (as recommended). If the drive never powers or spins on any machine, replacement is likely. If it works elsewhere, replace the data/power cable or use a different motherboard connector; update BIOS only if advised by the motherboard maker.

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Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Did you check the connections? Power, data. Is the jumper set properly? Is the IDE/SATA port enabled in the BIOS? Did you try a different IDE cable? If youve tried all these suggestions, then try the drive on anpther computer. If it doesnt work there either, you have a bad drive.

Member Avatar for Crade12312

i have same problem has him but i dont know how to do any of the things u said lol cud u tell me how

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