My PC CD-ROM Drive has suddenly dissapered from my computer and wont show up in My computer?!!?

Question

I want to install some software but my cd drive wont show up in the 'my computer' folder and i dont know what it is anyone got any ideas?

Answer 1

I'd delete it from device manger if it's listed, and power it down, and then back up and see if Window will re-detect it.

Also, stop in the BIOS setup when rebooting, find the drives or (IDE devices section) and see if the drive shows up there.

I've had several IDE ribbons cables - especially the 80-wire ones fail.
I've a collection, two that only the master connector work on and one that only the slave connector works on.
That doesn't count the one where the middle connector just popped off.


If you have separate ones for your optical and hard drives try swapping them and see if that changes anything. If it does you have a bad cable.
If it doesn't you can leave them that way or switch them back.

If you only have one cable with two drives on it, switch positions if you can. Usually there's not enough to swap w/o re-locating the drives also, but if it's a small enough computer case that they are close enough you might be able to do it.

Does the CD drive otherwise function? Does a light come on the the tray eject when you press the button.
If not, try a different power connector - a different 4-pin one. The one with for ping and red, black, yellow, and white wires. See a little more on power connectors below


I've been getting disappearing drives for a few months.
Since it was always a Maxtor 200GB (see note at bottom) I just cursed and kept recycling the power until it would finally work.


Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM 8MB cache PATA drive kits.
Bad year for drives - (I'm 3 for 3. Bought 3 in March and they've all developed defects and had to be returned)

I received my second recertified drive from Maxtor about week ago and it didn't power up one time either in same bay the old one was in.

So, this time I a little playing around and noticed that one molex connector wasn't fitting as tightly as the others into a Maxtor drive. I went to the next in the change and it hasn't repeated itself yet.

Note on Maxtor 200GB drives:
A friend and I bought 3 of these from Staples in March 2006. I'm not a big Maxtor fan, because everyone I've ever owned has failed and these only had a 1 yr. warranty - but they only cost $40 after a rebate.
Well, all three have failed and have been sent back and replaced with recertified drives. Got 4 months warranty left on these used ones now.
Bad batch? 2 came from China and one from Singapore.

Answer 2

Somehow you have lost the drover for your CD ROM. Just to make sure go to control panel and search add/remove programs for anything that says CD. You, probably, will not find any. You will need to re-install the drivers. It will have to come from your CD ROM installation CD. When you insert the CD it should boot the CD drive and install. If it doesn't then you've lost your CD. New CD ROM (but they're really cheap). The other choice is to go on line to the site for you CD ROM (will be in the paperwork. If you have no CD and no paperwork then you're gong to get to buy a new CD ROM.

Answer 3

Hi there

Check the connections for your CD drive inside your computer. to see if they are secure. This should solve your problem. If not, there may be a problem with the drive.

Before performing any maintenance inside your computer, ensure that your computer is shut down and that there is no power going to it. Also, discharge yourself of static before touching any computer hardware as this may damage your components. Discharge yourself by touching the outside of your computer case.

The problem could also be your motherboard. You could try connecting another drive to the same connection on your board and see if that solves the problem. The first thing to check should definitely be your connections though. You could also try new cables if you have any other cables you could use.

Hope this helps.

Scott

Answer 4

Your CD ROM Drive would suddenly dissapear if the cable connecting it to your PC was disconnected or not connected properly. Check your cable connections on the CD ROM Drive.

Answer 5

Hmm, goto control panel,click system and then open hardware and then open device manager. look for disk drives.
If your cd/dvd rom are not listed, bearing in mind that it has allways worked and you have changed nothing recently then check all the connections.
If your pc is of a sound state there is no reason for it not to work other than it has gone u/s.