PC hardware: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help!
- 1/30/09 3:45 PM
DVD & CD Drives not recognized
by PapaBear1006 - 1/16/09 10:54 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First off, a little more information would be helpful, but barring that, I will make a few well educated guesses. First, I will assume that you are reasonably familiar with preccautions and procedures when opening your case. Second, I am assuming that the drives power up when the computer is turned on (If not, verify the voltage to the power connectors. Check your power supply as well. If they are good, reseat the cables and verify that the drives power up). Third, I am assuming that the drives that are not recognized are on the same channel. If that is true, re-seat the data cables on the motherboard and both drives. The next step I woud take would be to just replace the data cable. Then swap the drives in question w/ a known good functioning pc or even temporarily putting one of them as a slave drive to your harddrive to verify that the drives didn't go belly-up (while odds of both going at the same time are slim, anything is possible).
My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives.
by chauffeur2 - 1/16/09 10:59 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Gary,
These solutions have always worked for me:...
Method One: Remove the registry entry
Warning: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
Note: If you had installed multiple CD-writing software products on your computer, you need to uninstall the software products before you remove the registry keys.
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
4. On the File menu, click Export.
5. In the File name box, type savedkey, and then click Save.
6. Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type UpperFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
Note If this data type is missing, go to Method 2.
7. Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type LowerFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
8. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.
Method 2: Replace the existing driver
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. If Control Panel is in Category view, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
If Control Panel is in Classic view, double-click System.
3. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.
4. Click the drive with the question mark next to it.
5. On the Action menu, click Uninstall. When you are prompted to confirm the removal, click OK.
6. Repeat steps 4 through 5 for any other drives with question marks.
7. On the Action Menu, click Scan for hardware changes.
Close all windows and reboot the computer.
Hope these help.
Kind Regards,
DaveT (chauffeur2)
iTunes
by dribster - 1/16/09 11:04 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As others have already mentioned, I too had the same problem after uninstalling iTunes. Once reinstalled everything worked as before. (Sony VAIO VGN-SZ440)
Microsoft has a quick fix.....
by grooveybeanz - 1/16/09 11:09 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a IN MB , p 4 & I am running windows xp pro and had the same problem. Before randomly my drives would go missing , and then...they were gone for over a month. After searching all over the net in forums and what not... I finally found a link directing me to Microsofts support page. What it stated is that it's a registry issue and it gave the instructions to manually make the revisions...However, it also had a quick fix download that automatically fixed the errors for me 
I have not had the problem of missing drives since !!! Go To Microsoft.com to the support center and search for the issue.. it is apparently a known issue
two drives going south at the same time ...
by Gerdd - 1/16/09 11:11 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
... is highly unlikely, unless you live in a high lightning strike area like I do. (Johannesburg, South Africa - we used to joke that we must buy modems in sixpacks, because they were "consumables", sort of.)
So, we need to look at commonality. And the one thing I can think of is that the two drives might well be on the same IDE cable. It is somewhat hard to imagine if your computer is - unlike mine - usually just "sitting there", not being moved, all the covers properly in place. (Mine are constantly open, because I keep plugging things around all the time.) If you did that I would suggest that you might have failed to plug some cable back in properly after some action.
But even so, you may live in a high humidity area and the connections my have gone shaky or something.
In any event, if you feel comfortable opening your box and reseating all the cables, that's what I would suggest as a first step. If you don't, then you'll have to get someone to help you that does. If that means someone in a computer shop, so be it. But most of the people I know know someone - and often enough that person is me 
At that occasion it may also be useful to test with a replacement IDE cable, which the person I describe would have in her/his spare parts box, anyway. But they aren't a big investment, either, if you have to get one at the computer shop.
By the way, I assumed IDE here as opposed to SATA, because with SATA each device has its own cabling and two devices failing at the same time sounds terribly unlikely. But then, I suppose, if someone used a Y-shaped power adapter cable to feed the two drives from the same connector on the power supply, that could also be it.
As you see, I go for a hardware failure first, because in most cases that would be much more likely than a software issue. Or, at least, most software issues I can think of wold come as a result of something getting installed, and I would expect you to remember doing that. I am not terribly worried about this being a virus problem - although it isn't totally impossible, I suppose ...
But between possible driver conflicts and some exotic software there could be some possibilities. Your system restore should have covered that, though. In the olden days - before the hardware interfaces became relatively solid - we would also try removing devices from the device manager and let the system rediscover them at the next reboot.
Speaking of the device manager - did you check what it had to say about your devices? Did you attempt to restore the drivers? There are a few options there - but like with the hardware suggestions, I would feel more comfortable recommending actions there if I knew someone comfortable with these tools were around, because there invariably will be a fair amount of trial and error, which means that someone will have to look at the feedback from your system and decide if you are moving forward or backward. In any event, the first thing I would be looking for is some recognition by the software that it can see the devices. Some BIOS versions will list the detected devices during boot up - or in BIOS setup mode.
If you see messages during boot up that find your hard drive(s) but not your optical drives, that would point at hardware trouble - especially if you remember having seen such messages before. Most BIOS setup routines I have seen also have a disk discovery screen, which can tell you whether the drives are visible to the system or not.
I suppose we now have come full circle and would need some feedback before we know in which direction to proceed.
My PC won't recognize my DVD- CD drive
by wjarvey - 1/16/09 11:35 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
To fix this issue: Back up your registry if you can. Then follow these instruction line by line......
Press the windows key + R on the keyboard
A run command window will appear
type regedit and click on OK
Registry edit starts
In registry ediy, expand my computer, then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
expand SYSTEM, then expand CurrentControlset
expand Control, then Class
Under Class, Click (4D36E965-E325-11Ce-8FC1-08002BE10318)
In the right pane (topic area) click UpperFilters.
On the edit menu, click delete
When you receive the following message, click YES to confirm the deletion of the upperfilters registry entry: ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE THIS VALUE?
The upperfilters registry entry is removed from the
Subkey.
Please do noy exit Registry edit. You must have this program for the next step.
Now in Registry editor, expand my computer,then expand HKEY_LOCL_MACHINE
Expand SYSTEM, then expand CurrentControlSet
expand control, then expand Class
Under Class, click (4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318)
In the right (topic area) click LowerFilters
On the exit menu, Click Delete.
When you receive the following message, click YES to confirm the deletion of the Lowerfilters registry entry: Are you sure you want to delete this valur? The Lowerfilters registry entry is removed from the subkey.
You May Close the Registry Editor window Now.
Press the windows + R on the keyboard. Type: devmgmt.msc in the space and click on OK
A device Manager window will appear on the screenNow click on the + sign next to CD|DVD drives
Please right click on the devices listed there and select un-install.Please DO NOT restart the computer if promted to.
Now, click on the Action tab on the Device Manager window and click on "Scan for hardware changes"
This will re-install the drives and they should show up on My Computer Window
Please check the drive to see if they are working properly.
I Hope this helps and good luck.
DVD and CD drives no longer recognized
by Tiensmey - 1/16/09 11:38 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This problem occured when my step-son installed a DVD cloning program.
It appears to be a software problem.
He is currently fixing it, and I will post his solution to the problem within a day or so.
Hope it helps !
Try this
by PremT - 1/16/09 11:44 PM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You haven't said what you did, if anything, just prior to the drives going south, which is really important when you ask someone to troubleshoot. Did you install a new program, or remove an old one? Remove old hardware or install new hardware? Anyhow, try this:
Back up your Windows registry by downloading and running this file: http://www.winxptutor.com/ntbackup.msi
Then create a restore point for WinXP from the Accessories > System Tools > System Restore menu.
Download CDgone from here: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?act=dscriptdl&CODE=dodownload&f_id=8c1fefb2535aec1b67b97dc7776083230
Extract all the files, open the folder for the extracted files, then double click on the cdgone.reg file, *not* on the editreg.reg file. Re-boot when done, and you should have your drives back.
I think, it's hardware problem...
by LordAntony - 1/17/09 12:13 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1. Have you see your DVD-ROM in BIOS? I you do - try to start your computer from any bootable DVD. If you succeed - you have software problem, reinstall your OS.
2. Try other DVD-ROM, instead of Sony. May be it's broken... If new DVD-ROM don't recognising DVDs too - conect it to other slot in your motherboard with a diffirent cabel and power connector.
Recognizing cd and dvd drives
by slamerr - 1/17/09 12:25 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Chances are you have a loose IDE cable. Shut down the computer, remove the side and check the ide cable where it connects to the motherboard. If both drives aren't being recognized this is probably where the problem is. Try reseating the connector back into the motherboard. If you're not sure which cable it is it's a flat (probably grey) cable about 4 inches wide that runs from your cd and dvd drives. Your hard drive will be connected with an identical cable so make sure you choose the correct one.
Drives not recognized
by cdpohl - 1/17/09 12:33 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Clearing the upper and lower registry filters may help.
Proceed as follows:
1. Click Start and enter 'regedit' into the Start Search field.
2. The registry editor opens
3. Select computer in the main window
4. Click File, Export, type a name to backup the registry. Press Save.
5. Click the + sign next to the following items in the list:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- SYSTEM
- CurrentControlSet
- Control
- Class
6. Select 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318
Make sure you have selected this exact key name.
7. Select the LowerFilters value and press the Delete key. Confirm by clicking Yes.
8. If an UpperFilters value is also listed, select UppersFilters in the right window and press the Delete key
Confirm by clicking Yes
9. Delete all other UpperFilter and LowerFilter values within the
4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 key if they exist.
10. Close the registry editor and restart the computer.
disk drives not working
by aertaylor - 1/17/09 12:41 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had the same problem some time ago. helpline said 'uninstall drivers (via Control Panel, System, Device Manager), then do a restart. It worked.
Drives stopped working
by davepatkelly - 1/17/09 12:50 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a similar problem with my USB hub,after 2 years of being ok sometimes Windows found it sometimes it didn't.
It showed up in the System folder as "Unknown device" and the reason was always "could not find a driver".
I appear to have cured it by running CHKDSK and so far it has been ok
Re your question - can't see CD DVD drives
by peterpedro - 1/17/09 12:52 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had the same problem on XP SP2. A search on google "can't find CD" gives some good links. The driver has a problem with entries in the registry. You should stick with advice from good sites. Microsoft has a page on the issue. You will see advice for editing the registry, upper filters etc and yes this is hard if not used to the application. So as a double check I actually installed a registry software to check my registry. I am not linked to any software firm. This found a fault and it did correct it and my DVD is now working. I did however need to buy the software, the free version did not fix it. So I took the plunge and bought it. Now it works I have had to stop it running as it will contravene my anti-virus software. That is what I did. By the way, I see the posts re VISTA. A friend has just got a new pc and runs VISTA. Now his PC cursor is erratic. He has changed the mouse, mouse mat, external keyboard, still it moves on its own accord. Um. This could be harder!
DVD And CD drives no longer regognised
by tarpy - 1/17/09 1:15 AM In reply to: My PC stopped recognizing both my DVD and CD drives, help! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi I have just encounted the same problem and i am running Vista home premium. i get the error code 39 i looked on google and it tells me to delete some items in the registry i am not confident enough to start playing with the registry, I cannot roll back the drivers as i do not have that option. Any ideas. Regards, Tarpy
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