Problem after re-formating hard drive

Could you see it in the BIOS?  Did you remove the hard-drive or simply reformat it?  If you removed it, perhaps the CD Drive got unplugged.

In order:  check bios to see if the drive is "there"

Possibly boot using a boot disk like Ubuntu Live CD and see if it shows up in the Ubuntu OS.

If not in Bios, check and make sure your cables (power and data) are secure at the motherboard and the drive.

If you have performed a system restore or installed Windows yourself after the format, go ahead and try running the CDGONE patch located at http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/8-cdgone/

We see this alot ... and the CDGONE patch works

If I understand this correctly.  You had an OS on a HD that could see the CD. You reformatted the HD and installed a fresh copy of the OS and cannot see the CD.  If I read that correctly, would you not have used the CD to install the OS?

If you opened the case, I agree with the expert above, a power plug or data cable to the CD may be unplugged.

If you had an HD that could see the CD, then added another HD to reformat as a slave.  That could be explained by maybe relocating your CD to another channel or conflict if either HD and or CD are physically jumpered to same master or slave.

All indicators that your issue is a physical connection not that of the OS.  Weather it be hardware conflict, disconnected hardware, or BIOS setting changed or needs changing to accommodate additional hardware (if that were the case).

Thanks for all the great responses. I don't recall using the cd-dvd drive. I re-formatted using recovery files on a HD partition. I never opened the case. I know the drive is getting power because the owner has tried popping in various kinds of disc media. I haven't actually been back to his house to look at this cd-dvd drive issue. It may actually be visible in explorer and he's just not seeing it for some reason . . . in which case the only issue may be that the autoplay function is set to "take no action" and that's why he's getting no respons when putting a disc in. I don't think he knows how to navigate to the drive itself and launch something. Anyway . . . I'm going to connect with him remotely today . . . and then go to his house and take a look, if necessary.

The one question no one addressed is: Should the drive be visible in Device Manager even though it's not visible in Windows Explorer?

If the drive is visible in the BIOS, then yes, it should be visible in the Device Manager even though it may not be listed in Windows Explorer.

If the drive is viewable in device manager (and it has a drive letter assigned to it), you will see it in windows explorer.  

A couple of things to check:

1). Try booting using a bootable CD in the customers computer (ubuntu live works, or anything else).

2). Using Computer Management app in Administrative Tools, click into Disk Management and verify the CD drive has a drive letter.

3). Make sure that the drive letter the CD drive has is not also assigned to a network share (I doubt this is the case ... but I have seen it with USB flash drives).

My opinion - the customer has a bad CD drive.  It needs to be physically replaced.

Acutally applied this MS Fixit . . . which I'm surprised no one suggested. It worked like a charm. While I appreciate the input, I do not feel anyone provided the exact solution. Will try to close out question.

"which I'm surprised no one suggested."

Well I am not surprised. You did not give adequate feedback from the suggestions that would indicate that the Fixit would have any chance of fixing the problem. We are not mind readers.

no