Cd rom drive not showing in my computer

Wez

Basically, my friend bought a new pc and the dvd drive stopped working (the same reason they bought the new pc). It's all plugged in, but it's not showing anywhere on the pc (i.e. My computer > Manage) even though it's opening and the cd goes in, it still doesn't play/show in My computer.

Cheers for any help!

Wes

John R

is it recognised by the BIOS?

EL_Loco

the fact it opens means the power cable in connected.

what about the data cable? make sure there's a ribbon cable going from the back of the drive into the motherboard.
bit hazy on this these days but if it's on the same cable as your hard drive you may need to set it as "master" or "slave".

also check if the bios "sees" the drive. keep an eye on the boot up when you first turn on the computer, there should be a key to press to go into setup. have a look around and see if its listed with the harddrive.

Wez

I've got the data cable plugged in, and I don't think it's recognised in Bios.. Basically, it's plugged in, but it's not being recognised anywhere on the pc. Where should I try?

Cheers

Wes

John R

First is it alone on the data ribbon or is it sharing with another device (hdd or other cd-rom)? If it is sharing then one must be set as master and one as slave, this is done through the jumpers on the panel between the power and data cables on the respective drives.

If all of that is correct then go into the Bios and set the ide auto detection to on for all ide channels (or just the specific one if you can identify it) and see if it will then recognise the drive.

If the drive is not recognised in the bios then windows will not see it.

Wez

Okay, I checked all the connections inside, and they're all right.. I couldn't find anywhere in the Bios to do automatic detecions.. I'm so lost!

bounty

dancing in the disco bumper to bumper
wait a minute
wheres me jumper??

EL_Loco

check out the pic on this page and see where it has "jumper" marked.

http://www.dvworkshop.co.uk/Computer/Adding_Drives___Cards/Hard_Drive/hard_drive.html

as stated above, if HD and CD drive are on the same ribbon cable these jumper settings must be set properly. the jumper is a small connection that connects 2 pins at a time. depending on the pins connected the "mode" of the device should be in "master" or "slave mode".

check on the HD and CD drive there should be a diagram to show you what pins have to be connected with the jumper to set the mode.

here's a link to an example of jumper settings to change mode:
http://service.maxtor.com/rightnow/images/maxtor_quantum%20jumpers.htm

lastly, if you do start playing with the jumper settings and you can't boot up because it now can't find your HD it just means your jumper settings are wrong and the computer doesn't "see" your HD. just revert the pins settings in this case.

Blub2k4

Also make sure that whichever device is set to master is on the end of the datacable and not on the middle connector.
Slave should be on the middle.
Also, DVD drives like to be masters, make sure it is on master.

melekalikimaka

similar prob, but with hd, its all connected, was working yesterday, then foolishly started tinkering with bios to try detect 3 hd, now senond wont show, any suggestions, in the bios whats hdd-0 hdd-1 etc?

Ri_Nollaig

hdd-0 should be the first drive hdd-1 the 2nd and hdd-2 the 3rd ?

melekalikimaka

any ideas on whats causing it not to detect in windows?

melekalikimaka

correction. it shows on device manager, but not in my computer???

blorg

melekalikimaka wrote:

correction. it shows on device manager, but not in my computer???

If it shows in device manager (and without any warning mark there) it is probably all physically connected and working OK and just needs a drive letter. Go to My Computer > Manage > Disk Management, right click on the DVD drive there (presuming you see it) and 'change drive letter and paths' - if there is something there already, try 'remove' and then 'add' and set an unused drive letter far enough up beyond your current existing drives. Then check and see if it has appeared under that letter.

melekalikimaka

yeah i dunno what was wrong with it but its working now thankss