WTF! My computer no longer detects my CD drives! Please help ASAP

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - WTF! My computer no longer detects my CD drives! Please help ASAP

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:22:59 PM EDT

Guys,

I have a major problem here.

All of the sudden, my computer does not detect either my DVD drive (drive D) or my CD/R/RW drive (drive E). My E drive doesn't even open, but my D drive does.

The DVD drive (D) wouldn't play any music CDs when I tried a couple months ago, and it never did since. Both drives don't even show up in my control panel. I run constantly updated McAfee AV and it didn't detect any virus that may have fucked with my settings.

I have a Gateway PII runinng Windows 98. I haven't ever had a major problem in the nearly 6 years I've owned this thing.

Any and all information and help would be much appreciated!

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:31:18 PM EDT

[#1]

Who are you?? My computer no longer recognizes you. Man sounds like your day is getting worse!!!

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:31:43 PM EDT

[#2]

Hook up the ribbon cable to just your CD/R/RW drive and see if it works. Then do the same with the DVD drive. If neither works, you have a bad ribbon cable. My guess is one of the drives went bad, namely the DVD drive. The exact same thing happened to me recently. In my case the CD/R/RW drive went bad.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:31:54 PM EDT

[#3]

Did you try a restart?

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:37:28 PM EDT

[#4]

Yes, I rebooted the machine twice, to no avail. I also checked to make sure the ribbon and power cables were not loose and they are all OK.

Could a cable simply take a crap and stop working? That doesn't seem right.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:41:47 PM EDT

[#5]

did you check "device manager" yet?

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:43:52 PM EDT

[#6]

Sometimes the contacts get corroded so I'd shutdown power and remove and reinstall the ribbons a few times to clean them. Then reboot. Maybe this will fix it. As noted above, one of your drives may be bad. Just hook up one at a time and restart. Good luck.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:46:53 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Sometimes the contacts get corroded so I'd shutdown power and remove and reinstall the ribbons a few times to clean them. Then reboot. Maybe this will fix it. As noted above, one of your drives may be bad. Just hook up one at a time and restart. Good luck.

+1

Yeah, cables can just go bad too.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:47:45 PM EDT

[#8]

Before you do anything else right click my computer , click on device manager tab, see if CD ROM is in there click on the plus [+] delete both your rives by right clicking and choosing delete then reboot.Your computer will find the drives if nothing else is wrong and reload the drivers.You may need your 98 disk depending on how it was installed.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:49:34 PM EDT

[#9]

Yes, I have checked my device manager and the drives do not show up on the list.

This is absolutely crazy, my drives were working just fine yesterday but today they suddenly do not exist!

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:50:10 PM EDT

[#10]

Maybe they were pre-ban

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:52:24 PM EDT

[#11]

Cable more than likley.However 6 years on a 98 install? Might be time for a format.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:55:52 PM EDT

[#12]

I will check the cables in a few moments once I finish up some work.

I will be buying a new computer by years end, and I actually had a thread going about laptop recommendations posted today.

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:57:29 PM EDT

[#13]

You DO know you can buy a brand new DVD drive from WWW.NEWEGG.COM for $27 bucks right?

Posted: 9/12/2004 10:58:00 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Cable more than likley.However 6 years on a 98 install? Might be time for a format.

Holy snickies! thats old! Maybe you could make some cash and sell it to an antique dealer!

YES FORMAT- install, W2k or XpPro

Posted: 9/12/2004 11:02:14 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Cable more than likley.However 6 years on a 98 install? Might be time for a format.

Holy snickies! thats old! Maybe you could make some cash and sell it to an antique dealer!

YES FORMAT- install, W2k or XpPro

Yeah, I know it's old as hell but I rarely use this beast for anything but internet and word processing, and some light photo editing. Kind of hard to justify the purchase of a new machine which in my case will be a laptop and probably nearly 2K. However, I do look forward to a buying a new machine.

Posted: 9/12/2004 11:07:10 PM EDT

[#16]

Definitely WinXP Pro. Win2K was nice, but I didn't like it as much. It's pretty much the same OS (NT), WinXP can still look classic, but seems to work a little smoother, IMO.

If you haven't had a laptop before, make sure you really want it. I was excited when I got mine, but now I hate the damn thing. Something about a desktop/tower is just more comfortable.

Posted: 9/12/2004 11:19:00 PM EDT

[#17]

Here is a weekend special with your name on it

www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-115-134&depa=0

Posted: 9/12/2004 11:33:49 PM EDT

[#18]

6 years on a single install of Win98?

OHH THE HUMANITY!

Posted: 9/12/2004 11:49:31 PM EDT

[#19]

First: HAVE YOUR WIN98 CD HANDY! You may also need the CD or disc that came with your motherboard.

Then, go into Device Manager and delete the IDE controller devices. You'll be asked to reboot, and then they will be detected and the drivers reloaded. You'll reboot again. After the second reboot, all should be well. If not, you likely have some kind of hardware problem.

One thing that commonly happens that gives lots of strange symptoms is the power supply dying. Most PC power supplies are cheap crap, and will wear out, with the voltage and current dropping slowly over time until it can no longer put out enough juice to run everything. When that happens, whatever components are the most sensitive to voltage variations will start acting up first. Anyway, it's something to consider.

-Troy

Posted: 9/13/2004 1:01:03 AM EDT

[#20]

Alright, I opened the case again and fiddled with the cables to the drives. I pulled them out and put them back then turned the thing on and they still didn't work. I tried this again and really shook the cables as I pulled them out and pushed them back in. I turned it on again and the damn things finally got detected.

I guess it was the cables after all, but it shows how much I know huh?

Thanks for the info on power supplies Troy, I suspect I will have that problem with this machine in a couple years (I plan to keep this around but my new computer will be my primary machine).

Thanks to all of you for the advice and help, I had no doubt I'd get an answer and get it quick!

Posted: 9/13/2004 1:48:11 AM EDT

[#21]

Check your system memory before popping for a Windows upgrade. They may need more memory than you have. You don't want to start pouring money into it at this point if you don't have too. I just went through this when the power supply died on my wifes computer I replaced the PS, and the floppy it took with it, added memory and another hard drive but that cost close to $200IIRC. Much more than that and I could have got a decent replacement box.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - WTF! My computer no longer detects my CD drives! Please help ASAP

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