[Amigatu]

Hello, a newbie here. I notcied that my CDRW and DVD drives are gone. I have a Dimension 8400 XP Home. I called Dell and ran thru trouble shoot with them. I checked device manager, drives are not there. I checked Bios, drives not there, I checked computer management, drives not there. These drives are completely gone from my computer. I opened the tower and unplugged the cable to drives, plugged them back in, no drives. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do? I can;t even use Dell Resource disk with no CDRW drives. I am completely lost. Thanks for any help you can give.

[Advertisements]

Download and run CD Gone

http://www.geekstogo...a...ails&f_id=8

[Retired Tech]

Download and run CD Gone

http://www.geekstogo...a...ails&f_id=8

[Amigatu]

Hi Keith, that link will not download for me. After I agree, nothing happens. Thank you for your help.

[Retired Tech]

Can you get it here

http://www7.spread-i...86675023ba57dd0

[Amigatu]

Thanks Keith that link worked but still no drives. This is driving me crazy.

[Retired Tech]

When you start the PC, do any lights flash on the drives

Have you installed / uninstalled anything recently

Have you deleted anything found by a registry cleaner or anti virus / spyware scan

An outside chance is this

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[Amigatu]

Hi Keith, The green lights come on when computer starts up. I am going to try this safe mode now and yes i foolishly tried a registry cleaner. I restored every thing but it is still not working.

[Retired Tech]

Did you try the XP CD to see if it does anything

Can you start the PC and keep tapping the delete key until you get BIOS set up, look for BIOS defaults, load those, press F10 to save, type Y to confirm, press enter to restart

If you right click the taskbar, click task manager, click file, new task, type sfc /scannow then click OK, does it ask for the XP CD

[Amigatu]

I tried the XP CD and nothing comes up. I tried the safe mode command prompt but I can't log on because my mosue will not work for some strange reason when I do this. I tried the task bar, run sfc/scannow and it gives me a error, asking if I typed it in correctly.

[Retired Tech]

You need to type sfc space /scannow to give sfc /scannow

[Amigatu]

ok sorry about that. I did it and it asked for Winodws XP Service Pack 2. I put it in and it stated that it is either wrong disk or my CD rom is not working properly.

[Retired Tech]

Can you check for firmware updates for the drives, check you get the correct ones, download and save to a folder, click to install them

[Amigatu]

ok but how do check for firmware updates? I am sorry but don't know much about this other than trial and error. Do you think if I brought my computer to a computer repair shop they can get them back? I have warranty thu Dell but they are sending me new cables for the drives and I don't think that is the problem.

[Retired Tech]

Fit the cables then speak with Dell to ask about returning it for repair under warranty

If you use anyone else it will probably void the Dell warranty

Do you know the make and models of the drives

[Amigatu]

I am trying to find the original configs, here is one W7065 ASSEMBLY, DVD+/-RW, 16X, HALF HEIGHT, PHILIPS, CHASSIS 2001 I know the other one was a samsung