[taylor97]

I have a Dell Dimension 4300. The computer does not recognize the D drive lately, the D drive is a NEC NR-7800A. The computer will not play or burn a CD, nor will it recognize that a CD has been inserted. In addition, the computer will not perform applications involving CD Rom. Clicking on my computer does not indicate that a D drive is present, and right clicking on my computer > properties >hardware > device manager indicates "_NEC NR-7800A", when you open up the DVD/CD ROM drives, but it has a yellow exclamation point next to it. The error messages usually indicate something to the effect that there are problems accessing the network or no supported CD recorders available, and when I attempt to RUN D:/ I receive a message, "refers to a location that is unavailable. I have not installed any hardware or peripheral devices and I have not been experiencing any other problems with my computer. Does anyone have any idea how to solve this problem? Thanks in advance.

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your PC has "lost" your CD for some reason. first, try a reboot. if the drive is still not recognized, go to device manager, select that drive, and try to update the driver.
if you need a walk through on this, post back and I can give you the steps.

[audioboy]

your PC has "lost" your CD for some reason. first, try a reboot. if the drive is still not recognized, go to device manager, select that drive, and try to update the driver.
if you need a walk through on this, post back and I can give you the steps.

[taylor97]

Sorry to sound so uneducated, but how do i get to the device manager?

[audioboy]

no worries!
control panel, system, hardware tab, device manager.
double click the drive (you said is has the yellow asterisk by it). in the general tab, does it say if the device is working properly? probably not...
you could go through the troubleshoot options they have, if you want.
otherwise, go to the driver tab, and select update driver. allow it to access the net if it asks.
chances are, the driver got lost for whatever reason. hopefully this will fix it. if not, we can try the next step, which involves uninstalling the device (in software). that is under control panel, add/remove hardware. you would want to uninstall the device, then do a reboot, and see if windows finds any new hardware (the CD drive).
post back before you uninstall, lets see if the driver thing works.

worst case scenario, the CD drive has died. we can try these other steps first to see if that is the case. if you have another PC around, you could try hooking up that drive to the other PC, if you have the patience/knowledge of how to do that (or know someone who does).

[taylor97]

audioboy:

Okay, i followed all the steps you suggested. The hardware update did not appear successful, the message read "the wizard could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you currently have installed." When I clicked on the General tab, I did not see anything that would signal an error. Also, I did go through the troubleshoot tips and that, too, was unsuccessful. Please advise on next step, thanks again!
Oh, and I do not have another computer in the house to check the drive.

Edited by taylor97, 25 April 2005 - 09:39 PM.

[audioboy]

OK. first thing, has you or anyone else been inside the computer lately? just wondering if a cable got knocked loose. assuming not, then lets do the uninstall device trick. go back to device manager, and right click on the drive. select uninstall.
you will then want to reboot the machine, and this time the found new hardware wizard should launch. it may automatically recognize the hardware and install the drivers without you having to do anything. if not, you might have to step it through the wizard, allowing it to search the C drive, and access the net if it asks.

if that fails, we can try to manually add the device. let me know how it goes.

[taylor97]

Did the uninstall. Upon reboot, found new hardware did NOT launch. Started Add Hardware Wizard. status reads "windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged (code 19)."

Edited by taylor97, 25 April 2005 - 10:09 PM.

[audioboy]

hmmm, its not looking good for that drive. so you have no CD drive at all right now correct? is this a CD ROM or recordable? also, it wouldnt hurt to open the case, and make sure the cables for the drive are seated firmly. to do this, power down first. then, remove the power cord from the PC, open the case, and touch an empty metal part of the case BEFORE touching any hardware. check the power and IDE cable (the long gray cable, to make sure they are pressed in tightly to the drive.

to manually launch the harware wizard, go to control panel, add new hardware. if you have any CD's with drivers, etc that came with the PC, you will want them handy.
if no CD's, click you have already installed the hardware. it will search, and hopefully find the drive. if not, go to the bottom of the list, and select add a new device. you will then select from a list. you will have to find the manufacturer, and model number (if appropriate).

the only thing to do after that is contact dell support. I have been looking at their support site to make sure there arent any special tricks for their hardware, which there arent. they may ask you to go through the same steps I have, so be warned...hopefully it wont come to that!

[taylor97]

I will check the cable connections as you stated. When I ran the add hardware wizard, the original link came up with the exclamation point _NEC NR-7800A. when I clicked on installing that, that is when i received the message "wizard could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you currently have installed." So, it does not appear to have uninstalled the hardware. Although, it did prior to the reboot!

[audioboy]

laff, OK so it recognized the drive and installed it before you even noticed. so you should have your CD available under my computer. can you access the drive?

[taylor97]

I can get to the drive as I did prior to the uninstall. control panel>system>device manager>DVD/CD Rom drives, which, when double clicked displays the exclamation point _NEC NR-7900A

[taylor97]

Oh, and the CD/drive is NOT accessible under my computer. Only shows 3-1/2 floppy, local disk, control panel, shared documents, my documents.

[audioboy]

Taylor, its time for you to contact dell support. With luck, the drive will be under some kind of warranty. I'm sorry I couldnt help you fix this!

post back with what they tell you, I am very curious if theres a trick I missed, or even if it is just a bad drive.

good luck!

[taylor97]

I will, unfortunately, contact Dell support. Thank you very much for all your attempts, i really appreciate it. I will def. post when when I figure it out!

[onecrazy88fan]

Sorry to kick up an old thread as my first post, but this is so similar to my problem that I had to. I have a Dell Dimension 8100, and the CD-RW drive shows up as being "disabled" in Device Manager. I opened the "properties" menu for it and tried to "enable" it. No luck. The computer said that it was "unable to enable the hardware". I tried opening the box to make sure all the cables were seated, and they appear to be fine. I also tried the "install new hardware" wizard. It recognized the drive but gave me a "code 22" saying that the device was disabled. Any thoughts short of replacing the dang thing?

Edit: guess it would help to know the model... NEC NR-7900A

Edited by onecrazy88fan, 04 May 2005 - 08:49 PM.