Windows 7 computer CD drive not recognized and external drive showing up as CD in Device Manager
I have a customer that is having a problem with her DVD drive in her Dell Studio desktop. The drivers won't install because it can't find the drive. I also tried hooking up an external USB DVD drive and it won't recognize that. I checked in Device Manager and the internal DVD drive shows an error. I uninstall it and it can never re-install correctly. I also noticed that the external USB hard drive is showing up under "DVD/CD-ROM drives" in Device Manager.
strivoli
Have you already checked BIOS version (latest?) and lower level DRVs version (Chipset?).
What error do you get in the device manager?
Is the Windows 7 installation fully up to date and patched?
I suggest reinstalling the motherboard drivers. If the drive is not visible in the BIOS, you have a hardware problem and need to replace the drive or the motherboard. Test the drive in another pc.
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First thing to check is if the internal drive is present in the BIOS - access BIOS during startup by pressing F2. Not likely that the issue is here though because of this "external USB hard drive is showing up under "DVD/CD-ROM drives". Download most recent drivers from Dell here.
ASKER
I checked the BIOS version and it is the latest. Also, I just tried another external USB DVD drive and it can't install the drivers. I plug this drive in other Win7 computers and it recognizes it right away and Win7 installs the drivers automatically. I have also tried a couple other internal DVD drives and can't install. So I don't think it is the internal drive that is bad, it is a problem recognizing DVD drives. I can plug in a USB flash drive and it works fine.
I will try the Microsoft Mr. Fixit link. If I put the service tag in at the Dell website, it only shows a few available drivers and they are for audio, video, and nothing for the chipset. If I can find the Chipset drivers I will try to re-install them. I have the original Dell driver disk but of course the computer can't read any CD/DVD's. I might see if I can copy the drivers from the CD to a flash drive.
I will try the Microsoft Mr. Fixit link. If I put the service tag in at the Dell website, it only shows a few available drivers and they are for audio, video, and nothing for the chipset. If I can find the Chipset drivers I will try to re-install them. I have the original Dell driver disk but of course the computer can't read any CD/DVD's. I might see if I can copy the drivers from the CD to a flash drive.
ASKER
Oh wow. This worked great. It installed a "filter driver"? that was missing.
ASKER
So it was this link from MS that fixed it. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cd_dvd_drive_problems .
tx for feedaback