I need to restore my Dell...or better yet fix my problem.?

Question

OK. I have a year old Dell Dimension 8400. It works fine...except that it deleted my CD & DVD drive. When I pop in a DVD or CD nothing happens. And when I go to My Computer it only shows my Local Disk (C:)

I really miss playing my games and movies on this, and I was wondering if anyone can help me get my drives back? I've tried going to Divice Manager and uninstalling and trying to reinstall. But I get a code 32 when I try, and says divice is curropted or missing.

Anyways, if anyone can help me with this problem, would be great! Or if someone could tell me how to restore it factory new so I can have my drives back. Obviously I can't use the Restore CD's since CD's don't work in this thing.

Please help!

Answer 1

First, restart your computer and as soon as it begins to boot start tapping the F8 key. You should get a screen that asks you how you want to run windows. Choose "Safe Mode".
Once in there, check to see if safe mode detects your CD & DVD drive. Run through the whole uninstall/reinstall thing again while in there. If it still doesn't detect it, you likely need to take it to a pro as you may have a busted CD or DVD drive.

Answer 2

I'll assume you haven't moved with the cables inside the PC. But if u did, check the connections.

Have u tried using "Windows System Restore"?
Go to: Start>Acessories>System Tools>System Restore.
Once u got that running, go back to a date when the drives were working fine. And then restart your PC.

If that don't work . . .
Windows might not detect it; but does BIOS detect it?
Here's what u need to do:
Turn on you PC & wait 'til it loads to your Desktop.
Put the restore CD in the drive & restart the PC.

If the CD runs when the PC restarted, u can go ahead with the restore. If nothing happens, try the other drive & use the same steps.

U can check BIOS manually but if you don't know what BIOS is, don't do it.

I doubt u have a broken drive (especially 2 busted drives), most likely it's a Window's library problem.

It would be much easier to tell u over the phone what to do but I'm pretty sure 1 of the options I gave u will work.
If not, then u need to call Dell's Customer Service so they can help u live by phone.

Hope this helps u, good luck & rate me the best answer (If I solved your prob. of course!)

Answer 3

You could try the System Restore which takes you back to a time when your computer was working good. Go To:
start
programs
accessories
systems tools
system restore
This process is completely reversable. And does not remove your personal files. Just go back one checkpoint at a time until your puter is working good again.
You may need to reinstall any recent software programs, but it is a quick fix when you dont know what else to do.
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Answer 4

http://www.drivermuseum.com/files/drivers/cdrom_d.html