Windows not showing CD drives

[Meundies]

Ive had a problem with my cd drives for a while now, but i never used them so didnt see the urgency in solving the issue. I just got a DVD burner for christmas, installed it and want to use it! I installed Easy CD Creator 4 back in july on my XP system and im assuming thats what caused my issues. I did the registry fixes as described in the microsoft website, that got rid of the error messages at start up, but i still cant use either of my CD drives. Any help would be appreciated!

[dcc]

Is your XP a update from a earlier version of windows? The Easy CD Creator 4 is know to create problems with updated versions of XP. Read this.

What exactly was the error message, and what registry fix did you apply?

If you are using a dialup connection I can appreciate that it took you a while to download that 4.87GB copy of easy CD, but you might want to unistall it to see if that is your problem, or at least one of them depending on what you deleted from the registry.

Did your DVD drive come with driver or are you depending on the XP drivers? Have you gone on line to see if there is an update for that DVD's drivers for XP?

When you installed the DVD did your computer recognize it as found new hardware?

[rrjljrw]

Many DVD roms come with the jumper set to master. If both drives are set to master, that would cause one of the drives to not be seen.

[Meundies]

My XP does not have SP2. I didnt download Easy CD creator i used the disc that came with my pc, but it used to have Windows 98. I already uninstalled the program, too. The fix i applied was the one where you go into the registry and delete the Upperfilter and lowerfilter keys, that only got rid of the error messages on start up.

Now i dont know if it matters but my HD is partitioned into 3 parts. So i had a total of 5 letter drives, my partitions were C, F, G, and the CD drives were D and E. Now in my computer there is no D and E, and in Hardware manager there is no CD/DVD drop down option. CDs spin when i put them in, windows just isnt recognizing.

After installing the DVD drive windows did not recognize it because it wasnt recognizing my other CD drives before. Im pretty sure this is a windows error and not a hardware problem...i think.

[rrjljrw]

Just curious, are the drives seen in bios? The three partitions shouldn't be a problem. Did you assign them the drive letters, or did Windows. If it did this by itself, it's seeing the cd's as drives but can't identify them.
I would check the jumpers, those are the easiest place to start and a common oversite. If they are plugged into the same ribbon cable, they should both be set to cable select. If they still aren't being recognized, set the first to master, the middle one to slave. If it's all physically setup properly, you might have to shut down, disconnect them, turn pc back on, shut down again and reconnect one drive to see if it's identified. Also, you might try plugging them in one at a time and turn pc on to test if there is possibly a bad drive. Windows can be weird at times, and I find that dinking with things will fix them quite often.

[caperjack]

an old win98 version of easy cd creator isn't going to burn dvd's anyways ,the dvd drive should have come with dvd burning software ,if not ,you got ripped off !!goto store and demand software !

[Davelray]

Here are some things to try.

First thing, shut down your pc, open it up and verify the Master/Slave/Cable Select jumper on both your cd drives. Make sure they are both set to Cable Select. Alternatively, you can jumper one as Master and one as Slave.

Second thing, check the IDE cable connecting your cd/dvd drives to the mainboard. Make sure it's firmly seated. Go ahead and remove and reseat the cable just in case. Also make sure your using the right ends of the cable. The connector at the longer end of the cable (as measured from the middle connect to either end) is the one to connect to the mainboard.

Third thing, and the one that can be the trickiest if you don't have much experience with it, is to go into BIOS and verify that the Secondary IDE controller is Enabled and that drive selections are both set to Auto, or on some BIOS, the CDROM setting.

Fourth thing, drop the old Easy CD software. Either get a new copy of Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator or Nero Burning ROM (both are usually around 50 to 100 dollars,) or use the software that came with your new DVD burner.

Hope this helps,

[Meundies]

I went into BiOS. CD drives are not there, i turned auto detect on, still nothing. I tried to do a system restore but i can only back to November...I've plugged and unplugged the cables multiple times. I cant install any new software or do a fresh install of windows as my CD drives dont work! Any other suggestions please?

[dcc]

an old win98 version of easy cd creator isn't going to burn dvd's anyways ,the dvd drive should have come with dvd burning software ,if not ,you got ripped off !!goto store and demand software !

Where have you been shopping?:eek: I have two NEC 3550As that I bought from Newegg and neither one of them came with bundled software.

[Meundies]

My PC is about 6 years old. When i first bought it the EASy CD Creator 4 software came with it. Ive upgraded over the years and went to XP, then tried to install the software...not a good idea. Thats how i got that. The DVD burner i bought from Best Buy came with Nero.

[rrjljrw]

Did you check the jumpers? If they are set incorrectly, this will keep the pc from seeing the drives anywhere on the system. If you look where the IDE and power cables are plugged in you will see a set of jumpers usually 4 sets of 2 and normally on the opposite side of the power cable. These need to be set properly, either Master/Slave or set both to cable select. Also, try testing the drives one at a time. In other words, unplug one drive, and leave the other plugged in, then start up and see if it's identified, then vice versa to test each drive.

[gerbil]

meundies, it'd be a help if you posted what your cabling setup/drive types really are...sata..ide...you do not say. I mean, i could say if ur drives are IDE, then don't put the burner on the same connector as your HD... but i'm wasting time doing that, cos it may not be the case. And i do not think it matters a hoot whether the master is inboard or at the end of the ide cable, just so long as it says it is master. Oh, and on an IDE cable pin1 is the red stripe side. has to be.
If the drives are not showing up in BIOS, then swap the power cable, get another IDE cable [evryone has six of them in a drawer..], and if still not showing in BIOS, ur mobo is toast.

[gerbil]

Test the mobo = toast bit by putting a second HD onto the secondary IDE adaptor [as a master, mind!]...[everyone has a spare HD too...]
ie.. a primary master hd - your current sys drive on one cable, and a secondary master HD on the other cable.