DVD/CD totally missing

[ORZane]

Hi everyone, I'm ORZ and I'm new here.  Don't know exactly how I got here but I'm glad I'm here cause I have a prob and hope someone can help me.
I installed a new DVD burner, everything worked fine except i kept getting a message about drive 5  and to click to fix the problem.  Took me to a popup that listed all drives and for drive 5 the default was on and I turned it off.  Resumed working, no more warnings, everything worked fine till I turned off the computer and went to lunch.  Came back DVD/CD was no where to be found and neither was that popup.  Don't know what command to use to get back there and turn drive 5 back on.  I really appreciate any help anyone can give me.  Thank you ORZ

[KGIII]

Welcome to the forum. You probably found your way here through searching for missing cd/dvd drives perhaps?

Anyhow...

Have you tried everything here:
http://kgiii.info...D-DVD_drives.html

We'll start small and work our way deeper if need be.

[runswithscissors]

* runswithscissors thinks perhaps this needs to be moved?

[ORZane]

KGIII
Thanks for your help, yes I tried that and it didn't make any difference, the DVD burner is still missing.

[KGIII]

Alright - the next question is to see if it is available.

Is this Windows XP we are dealing with?

[ORZane]

Yes XP Pro, The thing is that I turned it off manually.  There isn't a glitch or prob with the OS.  I just need to get back into that DOS menu to turn it on again.

[ORZane]

I tried system restore, re install, the drivers are there but the drive is turned off as I said above.

[KGIII]

Alright. Well we have some more things that may need to be cleared up. For starters, there is no such critter as DOS in XP. I don't know where you were at but, well, it wasn't DOS. There's nothing we can't do with good communication though, okay?

Really... No worries, I have seen all sorts of interesting things but right now this one isn't striking any particular chord. We'll start with some of the basics.

Let us start with the next logical step?

Start
Run
Type "devmgmt.msc" (without the quotes)
Press Enter
Expand CD/DVD drives
Is the drive listed?
Is it listed with a red X on the icon?
If so right click on it and select "Enable."
If it is listed and it isn't covered with a red X on the icon - select Uninstall.

Reboot...

Does it pick it up and put it back?

Start
Run
Type "diskmgmt.msc" without the quotes
Press enter
Is the drive listed in there?
Does it have a drive letter?
If not right click on it, select change drive letters and paths, and assign it a letter.

Finally...

Still not listed?

Open up your case and check to make sure the power and ribbon cables are firmly seated still. Try alternative cables to see if that makes a difference.

[ORZane]

Well it looked like a DOS menu, it had a black background and i could only use the keyboard.  OK the drive isn't listed, only my USB removable drives and my firewire drive and a drive called ST380819AS and they all are working fine.  The power is getting to it and the ribbon cable is firm, swapped it out and still nothing. 

[KGIII]

Okay, so it is probably outside of the OS then.

Restart your computer and look at the screen as it is booting - you're going to enter the BIOS (really the CMOS but, I'll not be too anal about it today) which is probably referred to as "Setup" or the likes. When you boot you /should/ see some text that will say something like Press F2 to Enter Setup. It may say Delete, ESC, or any number of other things. (If you can't figure it out and share the model of your PC we might be able to search and find out what you need to press.)

In there you're going to check the various options. I suspect that you will find that the drive has been disabled at the BIOS level (though really you'll be working in the CMOS but, again, I won't be too anal) and that is why it is not showing to the OS at all. The method of getting it re-enabled will vary per BIOS vendor but it is usually listed under drives. You should see, of course, your hard drives and you will hopefully see something like an autodiscovery option which should allow you to select your drive. After you have done that - and only that - and saved your settings, exited, and allowed it to reboot into the operating system then it should, once again, appear in the OS.

Another question might be (though I don't see it impacting this at all) do you have more than one optical drive physically installed on your PC?

Methodology:

The above methods, to diagnose where the problem is, show that it isn't within the operating system itself. If it were then you would have at least seen an unenumerated drive or disabled drives. The only two logical places to search for problems for this are both at the hardware level. As the drive is still new it is best to check to ensure that it is even being picked up at the hardware level first and, if it isn't, then it may have just suffered a failure as hardware is sometimes wont to do. If that is the case then returning it is your only option.

[ORZane]

I think you are right, I did try to enter "setup" but it flashes so fast I can't read it.  I tried the Esc key, the space bar, and Delete but I havent tried F2, will try that now.  I have a Dell XPS400.  I have a USB SanDisk 6 way reader and a FireWire second HD. 

[ORZane]

no go, I'm getting depressed, hahahaha.

[ORZane]

Yahooooo, its back.  As soon as I saw that blue Dell screen I hit F2 and kept trying it till I finally got the right timing to get into set up and then it was easy from there but the warning message is back , I can live with that.  Thank you so much for being so patient and helpful.  When you suggested F2 something told me that was it.  Your positive attitude and determination to help me encouraged me to keep trying.  Thank you again.

[KGIII]

Not a problem and more than happy to help. There are only a certain number of things that can be wrong and so when you don't know the answer it is generally just a matter of clear communication to go through the steps until you find out what the problem is.

Anyhow, enjoy the forum for what it is worth if you would like. Make yourself to home. It is, they say, mine but I disagree. While I do have some regulations in place it is more a matter of me being grateful that people allow me to provision this for them. My duties aren't that of ruler but that of janitor so to speak.

Chances are good you will have ISSUES again someday and there will be other people with issues as well and you can help them if you would like. There are some people who are into the off-topic sections pretty heavily too. (And there are free blogs in the making too.)

Anyhow, you aren't a SPAMer so I am going to bump your post count up a bit so that you can actually access the entire forum and all the features. (Just in case you'd like to stay.)

[KGIII]

Oh - what does this warning say? (Specifically?)

*just looked at your profile and saw that you were from NC... Now I can imagine how you might have gotten here unless it was via search engine?*

[ORZane]

Well, thank you, I have been looking around a bit, will check out the off topic area. I live right outside of Asheville, I was searching for help, i clicked and found myself here at your great site.
The message I get isn't a warning, more a statement and only appears on start up.
Drive 5 not found: Parallel ATA, PATA-1 (PRI IDE Slave). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I had a CD burner and a DVD player on the same ribbon cable and now I have only the DVD/CD burner, do you think? It is connected as master to the secondary port, the directions were a bit confusing but that what i ended up doing.

[KGIII]

Is it plugged into the connection at the end of the cable? Additionally - is one of the other drives still listed in setup? And it isn't really my site, it belongs to those who make use of it.

[ORZane]

Yes it is plugged in to the end of the cable, these are the drives listed:
Diskette Drive- I don't have one, its off
0: SATA-0   on
1: SATA-1   on
2: SATA-2   on
3: SATA-3   on 
4: PATA-0 PRI ID Master   on
5:PATA-1  PRI ID Slave    on

[KGIII]

Turn #5 off in there.

[ORZane]

Oh no, thats what I did originally that started this whole problem, I'll live with it.

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