MISSING DRIVES

Does the cdrom show up in My Computer?
If not One of these may help:

1. Uninstall the drive through Device Manager.
Restart computer. The drive will be automatically reinstalled.
or...
2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
Restart computer.
or...
3. Download, and run Restore Missing CD Drive patch
Double click on cdgone.zip to unzip it.
Right click on cdgone.reg, click Merge.
Accept registry merge.
Restart computer.
or...
4. Go to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.

Thank's to Broni for the instructions

Thanks, my drives don't show anywhere, so I tried steps 1,2 and 3 but nothing worked. Device Manager doesn't list the drive, Microsoft support diagnosed that the drives were missing but couldn't fix the problem, they sent me to a website where they asked for $50 to solve the issue, step 3 didn't work. I'm looking at your fourth recommendation but not sure which of the items I'm supposed to uninstall, the names are different from what you called them...

Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have:
-Intel® 82801 GB Serial ATA Storage Controllers -27C0
-Intel® 82801 GB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers -27DF
-Primary IDE Channel

Which of these should I uninstall?

Thanks so much for your help!

Your initial post is what concerns me because neither drive is being seen at times during the first boot. This would indicate a bad ribbon or possibly a bad controller on the motherboard.
I take it there is no warranty on the system at this time?
How old is the system?
Device Manager usually tells if drivers are working but not worth a lot for the device itself unless it is faulty.
When was the last time you checked the inside of the system and cleaned it out and made sure all the connections had not come loose?

No warranty, about 6 years old. I don't think I could ever attempt to disassemble a computer, clean it and put it back together, the furthest I've gone in repair is putting my son's cap gun together after he dropped it and a part came loose. Is it time to bring it into a shop for repair?

no disassembling required. Just take the side panel off and you have access to the inside.
Look at this tutorial as it is the best I have seen for building your own PC. It will give you the general ideal of what you would be looking at inside the system. It was created by one of our own Tech Staff and I can say even though I have been building systems for 10 years plus now this was a very thorough tutorial for anyone.
It is located HERE
What I want to make sure of is that the system is cleaned out to prevent a overheating issue. Heat can cause several different issues of which killing a system is the worst.

Edited by rshaffer61, 25 January 2010 - 01:26 PM.