cdrom not detected


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Old 03-13-09, 08:01 PM
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cdrom not detected

On my Vista laptop all of a sudden when I put a cd or dvd in the cdrom drive it won't play, as the drive apparently is not being detected. It had been working fine all the time up until now. The disc spins in there, you can hear it whirring around, and when you eject it you can see that it was spinning around and that the drive was functioning okay, but the drive was just not being read by the computer. When you open Windows Explorer in My Computer, the drive (which is drive E) does not show either. When you go to Device Manager there is no entry shown for cdrom drive either. Odd thing is, though, is that a few times after rebooting the pc, then trying again, the drive was detected (showed up in device manager and all) and all worked fine again. But then usually now when the pc is booted up, again the drive is not detected. What might be going on here?
 

Last edited by sgull; 03-13-09 at 09:28 PM.
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Old 03-14-09, 05:29 AM
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my first guess is that the connection cables are loose. The ones inside your tower.

If not, there is a probably a problem with the driver. If you know the make and model you can look it up from the manufacturer and try a newer one, or you can simply add/remove the hardware and reinstall it with a generic driver.

Did you recently uninstall some software for burning dvd's or anything like that?
 
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Old 03-14-09, 08:24 AM
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Originally Posted by TheCaptain
my first guess is that the connection cables are loose. The ones inside your tower. If not, there is a probably a problem with the driver. If you know the make and model you can look it up from the manufacturer and try a newer one, or you can simply add/remove the hardware and reinstall it with a generic driver. Did you recently uninstall some software for burning dvd's or anything like that?
As I mentioned, the pc is a laptop, not a tower. So I suppose if the problem is a loose connection it would be between the drive and the motherboard in the laptop. I've never took the drive out before, (apparently it isn't difficult) and I've never tried opening up the laptop to look around in there either. I'm not sure how likely it might be that there's a loose connection I'd be able to detect anyway if I did try to open things up and take a look. In response to your question, no I did not recently uninstall software for burning dvd's or anything like that. I may try doing what you suggest in regard to the driver, even though it's a fairly new laptop and I think I already have some kind of automatic function that periodically updates device drivers if necessary. thanks
 
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Old 03-14-09, 09:58 AM
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I would try "Add new hardware". When there ask Windows to search for already installed new hardware to see if it finds the cd drive. There is a possibility your Registry is corrupt but try the add new hardware process first.
 
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Old 03-14-09, 11:22 PM
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Originally Posted by badeyeben
I would try "Add new hardware". When there ask Windows to search for already installed new hardware to see if it finds the cd drive. There is a possibility your Registry is corrupt but try the add new hardware process first.
Okay I tried the add new hardware process, but the DVD drive wasn't included there in the list. Can I try to take the DVD drive out, boot up the pc, shut it down, then put the DVD drive back in, and see if then Windows would find the new hardware?
 
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Old 03-15-09, 10:30 AM
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You siad the DVD/CD Drive wasn't listed in device manager???? Hmmmm....

Girlfriend had same thing....drive wasnt shown in "My Computer", but was there with an exclamation point by the icon in Device manager......drove me NUTZ trying to figure it out until I followed the directions in this link:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39) Barugon’s Cave (^_^)

Followed ALL steps IN ORDER in this forum post and all was well after that. You didnt mention an error message or anything, but the info in this post fixed us up, so thought I'd offer it up.

Good luck.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 10:54 AM
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squll....thats what I'd prob try...remove it...restart...check device manager...then reinstall. As stated, it could just be a bad connection, which removing and reinstalling may fix.

You may want to completely uninstall the driver (not just disable or update) and then let if go search for a new one upon re-install. If your driver is bad but has the latest version..an update wouldn't catch that, I don't think.

Don't think you mentioned the age of this? Drives can fail..but normally takes quite a few years. They're pretty tough.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 12:57 PM
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Originally Posted by LitUp
You siad the DVD/CD Drive wasn't listed in device manager?
Yeah, with my issue the DVD/CD drive isn't even listed in the device manager. And no error message. Thanks, though, for the link and offer of help in that capacity.

I'm strongly suspecting a corrupted registry at this point.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Gunguy45
squll....thats what I'd prob try...remove it...restart...check device manager...then reinstall. As stated, it could just be a bad connection, which removing and reinstalling may fix. You may want to completely uninstall the driver (not just disable or update) and then let if go search for a new one upon re-install. If your driver is bad but has the latest version..an update wouldn't catch that, I don't think. Don't think you mentioned the age of this?
The age of the drive is only a year or so. It had been, however, making a rather loud groaning or buzzing type noise when spinning up to speed and even while up to speed sometimes when a disc was inserted, and I know that's not something that should be normal. Seemed like it was rather sporadic, though, and didn't happen all the time. Anyway, your suggestion that I remove the drive and then reinstall-- I assume you mean physically remove and then reinstall?
 
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Old 03-15-09, 05:08 PM
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sometimes you can remove a couple of screws to remove it. You can then slide it back in firm and put the screws back in. If this is a year old check to make sure it would not void your warranty.

However, before you do that.... is there a light on in the drive? Does it light up at all if you put a disc in it?

go to control panel/administrative tools/drive management. Look at the list on the bottom and see if you see the CDRom drive listed.


Another question I have is, do you have any networked or mapped drives?
 
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Old 03-15-09, 05:28 PM
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The buzzing or groaning you started hearing was the indexer trying to home. Mine started doing this and got errors about not being able to reach a point. Later it would cause computer to lock up. If you use one a lot lubrication can wear out and the guide for head mechanism is nothing but plastic. Is there any warranty? A year old and unless you did not get extended warranty, simply get another and replace it. That is my experience with a Desktop. Now I have a laptop just have to see how it does. My daughter has a Gateway and uses the Burner a lot. May soon get a chance to experience replacing one in a laptop.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 05:38 PM
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I meant physically remove the drive...and manually remove the driver.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by TheCaptain
sometimes you can remove a couple of screws to remove it. You can then slide it back in firm and put the screws back in. If this is a year old check to make sure it would not void your warranty. However, before you do that.... is there a light on in the drive? Does it light up at all if you put a disc in it? go to control panel/administrative tools/drive management. Look at the list on the bottom and see if you see the CDRom drive listed. Another question I have is, do you have any networked or mapped drives?
It looks as if I could remove a couple of screws and remove it. It's past the year warranty, so no issue there. There's a green indicator light on the outside of the drive that lights when I put a disc in it. The CDRom is listed at the bottom at drive management in administrative tools. No networked or mapped drives.
 
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Old 03-15-09, 07:00 PM
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Originally Posted by ronnybuck
The buzzing or groaning you started hearing was the indexer trying to home. Mine started doing this and got errors about not being able to reach a point. Later it would cause computer to lock up. If you use one a lot lubrication can wear out and the guide for head mechanism is nothing but plastic. Is there any warranty? A year old and unless you did not get extended warranty, simply get another and replace it. That is my experience with a Desktop. Now I have a laptop just have to see how it does. My daughter has a Gateway and uses the Burner a lot. May soon get a chance to experience replacing one in a laptop.
So far I've never got any errors during or after the indexer was trying to home, and the computer has not locked up. I haven't necessarily used the drive an excessive amount, used it to watch DVDs or play music CDs occasionally but not all the time or anything. Used the burner now and then but not very much. No extended warranty. You say all I need to do is replace the drive and the issue should be resolved? Is that noise I heard as the indexer tries to home an indication the drive is on the way out? The drive still spins the discs but that's about all I get out of it, other than the buzzing and groaning noise.
 
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Old 03-16-09, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Gunguy45
I meant physically remove the drive...and manually remove the driver.
Okay I physically removed the drive, then put it back in.
The next time I booted up the pc, the drive was recognized, shown in Device Manager as well as My Computer. In addition, the drive doesn't seem to be making that noise anymore, maybe because when I put the drive back in I made sure the screws were tightened down better, they didn't seem to be all that tight at first. So maybe just a loose connection between the drive and the motherboard was the problem all along, I hope. Didn't seem to be necessary to manually remove the driver or do anything to it. Discs are working in the drive now, content of which is recognized by the pc, as well as the drive itself. So if it continues to work, and especially without the vibration groaning buzzing noise, I'll continue to be happy.
Weird, how would the drive had worked itself loose anyway? Never took it out before or anything...

Thanks.
 
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Old 03-16-09, 02:25 PM
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I ask myself how parts work loose and make noises all the time...of course I'm talking about my own body...lol

Can't tell you how many times I took a piece of gear apart, couldn't find anything wrong, put it back together (with no parts left over...hooray!), and it worked just fine.

Don't question the wisdom of the electronics gods...you can anger them...
 
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Old 03-16-09, 03:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Gunguy45
I ask myself how parts work loose and make noises all the time...of course I'm talking about my own body...lol Can't tell you how many times I took a piece of gear apart, couldn't find anything wrong, put it back together (with no parts left over...hooray!), and it worked just fine. Don't question the wisdom of the electronics gods...you can anger them...
lol Like I said, if it continues to work, and especially without that noise, I'll continue to be happy, (and will never ever again question the wisdom of the electronic gods).
 
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Old 03-17-09, 05:41 AM
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think about how many times you move a laptop around. setting it down, moving your own body while its on your lap or a table. they just get bumped a lot. Ill bet if you think back to all the times you moved into a new apartment or house, one piece of electronics worked at one house and the next time you plug it in it died.

Glad its working now.
 
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Old 03-17-09, 08:48 AM
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Originally Posted by TheCaptain
think about how many times you move a laptop around. setting it down, moving your own body while its on your lap or a table. they just get bumped a lot.
Ever seen or heard of those laptops by Panasonic called the ToughBox or something like that? Those are cool I think. They're supposed to be able to withstand rough handling. I want one of those...
 
 

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