I had drive D and E and now they are missing. I am suspicious that they were removed: can they just disappear?

Question

My D and E drive that are my CD player and my CD writer are mysteriously gone from my computer! I have my supsicion that someone who does not care for me may have taken them off. Is it possible for that they just removed themselves when my computer says that htye were either moverd or removed. I am not able to laod anything that is associated with a CD like my new scanner! Can any one give me suggestions of what I need to do? Do I need to get another D and E drive and the hardware that goes with it or do you think I can get the problem repaired. I am not a computer expert, but conventioanal wisdom tells me that I will need to get the soft wear and reload the program! Once I am in my new surroundings, I plan to purchase a new system, but I need suggestions fo rnow. Thanks, Arene

Answer 1

Well if the hardware is not missing that you just need to install it and you have to get the CD that came with it . They dont just dissapear they were removed

Answer 2

There is probably some problem with the drivers (software to hardware link adaptation) i doubt both of the cables are loose, but that could be the case, the power cable could still be in and so the eject would still work but CD's wouldn't be read or writen to and from the computer. If you think that someone tampered with the cables just take off your case or side panel and check that there is no dangly cables and that there is 2 cables going into each CD drive, and maybe a small single wire lead for sound..but thats not important. If something is wrong with your drivers then the hardware should still be found by your computer but wouldn't display in My Computer, Click Start > Run.. type control and press enter. Then go to performance and amintenance..if it's there..if not skip that part, then open system, click hardware, then device manager, check if there is anything with a little yellow symbol next to it, if you think it is your CD-rom devices then you have driver problems, you should just be able to right click it and press update driver and then do the recommended search, it should find the drivers in your system files. Try it.. if not, sorry.

Answer 3

Yes, they can, but there is always a reason. I seriously doubt anyone did this intentionally. I take it the hardware, the physical drives, are in the case, and are simply inoperative. I had a similar problem recently. I have 4 drives, 2 hard disks and 2 CD's. I had to use a Y splitter on the CD's because I did not have enough power connections to go round. Over time, I lost my CD's. It tuned out to be the Y splitter in the power had corroded enough over time to cause the drives to not have power, so one time on startup, they were not found. Unplugging and replugging the power connector solved the problem. I suggest you check all of the connections to the drives, with the power off of course. Unplug the connectors and plug them in again. And while you have the top off, unplug and replug every connection you can and put your thumb on every IC which is in a socket and push down on it. Pull and replace any boards in sockets. There is a thing which happens called "chip creep" which is when IC chips in soclets eventually creep out of the sockets. This happens when the computer is turned on and off. The heatiing and cooling cycles cause the chips to creep up and eventually, one or more pins will no longer be connected and it will stop working. So, this may be what has happened to you. Anyone handy with a screwdriver to open the case can do this.

Answer 4

If they were removed, Windows would find them again at the next start up. Even without software windows would find them. It sounds like the control cable was removed (or came disconnected) or the power disconnted from those drives, cuz then there is nothing for windows to find. It may be a motherboard issue as well. My bet (and first action) would be that the IDE controller cable came disconnted. So look there first. If that is on good (and power). The best way to tell is when the system is booting up does it show the drives in the bootup series? You can go into the BIOS as well but everything would have to be working right.

Answer 5

Unplug the computer, remove the cover, ground yourself. Check all connections to the drives, make sure the IDE ribbon wire is plugged in to both optical drives, and the power plugs are installed properly. Unplug all the plugs to the drives and check the jumpers. Make sure they are set to a "Master, Slave" configuration and not to "cable select" then reconnect ALL the wires. Reassemble, and power up. Make sure that the drivers reload for the optical drives. You'll know this by the balloon,"found new hardware".

Answer 6

Let me guess. You are running Microsoft.

It is so common an occassion to lose the drivers, that I consider it a normal consequence of trying to run such a hodge-podge of a system!

The same problems plague the 1200 to 1500 clients my shop services each year. The smart folks, like Microsoft Corporation, runs Linux on their 45,000 microsoft.com, hotmail.com, MSN.com, and Redmond Campus lab, switches, firewalls, routers.

Microsoft have abandoned any hope of their own systems being immune to the "114,000 Microsoft Virus Definitions", and they will sell it to you, but, they use the good, FREE, stuff, which IS immune!

My preference for all friends, neighbors, family, schools, charities, corporations, is http://pclinuxos.com