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CD Drives Not Showing

I have a PC running Windows XP SP2, all the upgrades, too. Lately, the two CD drives don't show up, neither in My Computer, nor in the Belarc Advisor. It seems to be a little random, since one of them (AOPEN 1648 [X16 DVD/CD Reader, not burner]) shows up in the BIOS, and in the first boot-screen. The other one doesn't show at all. A week ago, I opened up the case, and re-plugged them. It helped, and I was able to use them until yesterday. Today, however, they dissappeared again. I tried opening the case, and checked the Master-Slave connection (They're both on the same cable). The middle one was Slave, the outer one was Master. I tried setting both to Cable Select, but it didn't help.

Motherboard: P4M800Pro-8237
Both drives work (were tested on other systems), on the same cable.

Cheers,
Metar.

Soutie

I have experienced a problem like this before, It is either a problem with your cable or the IDE port on your motherboard. In my case I was lucky enough to get away with only needing to replace the IDE cable.

-Replace the IDE cabe and see if that makes a difference
-Try the drives in another machine (Same configuration) and see if they pick up.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Gary Case

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Gingiba

ASKER

I tried both solutions, and also tried setting using the other cable to create a Master and Master setup. The cable is alright (tested on another machine), but nothing showed. I tried garycase's solution, which made one of the two drives appear. I then tried swapping the cables, and it's still the same one showing up. I'll test the faulty drive tomorrow on another machine, and come back with an answer. garycase already has half the points for making one show up...

Gary Case

It sounds like the 2nd drive may be faulty ... although you said you tested both drives, so there may be some other issue here. Does the system see the other drive if it's the ONLY drive on the cable? (jumpered as Master)

Gingiba

ASKER

When booting up, that black screen (With the "Energy Star" symbol) shows only the one working - both when it was set as Master, and when it was a Slave. Only, when it was set as Slave, Windows XP didn't recognize the drive. The other one doesn't show up at all, anywhere (not even in the BIOS screen), which is weird since just yesterday I used it - and it is also the newer one.

AlexNek

could you try only one drive per time?

nobus

when you tested the drives on another system, were they BOTH connected? or did you test 1 by 1 ? that could explain it.

Gingiba

ASKER

I took both of them to another system, and connected them in all configurations possible. Turns out, the newer drive is malfunctioning. I tried the following:
Only Old: Works, both in BIOS and in Windows
Only new: Nothing.
Old and new, New as Master: Old recognized in BIOS, neither in Windows.
Old and New, Old as Master: Old recognized both in BIOS and in Windows, new one in none.
Old and new, on separate cables: Old one worked, new one prevented anything else attached to the same cable from working in Windows XP.
New one, with another drive as Master: Neither show up in WinXP, only the other one in the BIOS.

I think it's both a problem of a problematic drive (New one), and the Registry thing solved by garycase. I'll be back tomorrow with some more testing.

sunilswain

Hi,

Check whether you have configured MAster and Slave jumper settings properly!! I'd the same problem before. U need to assign one as MAster and other as slave!

Gingiba

ASKER

Both of them are jumpered as "Cable Select", which works with other drives on other systems...

Gary Case

You have clearly confirmed that you have a bad drive ... I'd just replace it (drives are very inexpensive these days).

sunilswain

Yup...looks like some malfunction....replace it soon...

Gingiba

ASKER

OK, I'll replace it tomorrow. Thanks for the help...

Gary Case

You're welcome.