Sometimes only detecting .........?

Question

The CD Drive in my laptop is detected only sometimes, what is the problem in the laptop(DELL)?

Answer 1

Intermittent problems are hard to track down. Have you tried just removing it and putting it back in. It might be that things just are not making contact.

Is it still under warrant. I would get Dell to fix it if it is. It will probably be fun getting past phone support.

The big problem with the "sometimes" problem is that you never know rather it is really fixed. I can think of several things that could cause it:
1) not seated properly- easy fix-pull it out and put back in really tight. I have had to clean the contacts before.
2) bad drive - replace the drive- again easy but the part is $70-150 so you want to be sure that it is really bad.
3) bad socket that it plugs into - this really isn't that likely, but it is on the motherboard and not really replaceable for a reasonable price.
4) some weird software problem- I don't know how to quickly tell you to see this one. But it would have an error either in the properties or the device manager when it was not showing up.

So what happens is you get on the phone with Dell, and try one thing. It looks like it works until an hour after you hang up. And so on.

Answer 2

1st make sure it is pushed in securely. maybe take it out and put it back in.
2nd try this
right click my computer-manage-device manager-on the right side of the window you will see a tree with all the compnents of your pc-look for cd/dvd drives-double click that-now yours should show up underneath that-right click yours-uninstall-at the top of the chain you will see your computer name-right click that-scan for hardware changes-the computer will find and reinstall the drive
3rd go to dells website and download the latest driver for your cd rom and install it.
good luck

Answer 3

Diagnosing a fault like this is a process of elimination, START WITH THE IDE cable