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D:\ and E:\ drive gone


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#1
dwet

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hi,
i'm at home from college for a couple of weeks and i'm trying to fix my parents computer. the d:\ and e:\ drives were accidentally deleted a few months ago when windows xp was installed and i can't figure out how to get them back. when i put cds into those drives, nothing happens...it's like they've been turned off (so i can't put in the original windows xp cd and reinstall windows). they don't show up when i open "my computer" either. i searched microsoft.com and found some information about editing the registry, but i'm a little bit nervous to do that because i'm not an advanced computer user. i also downloaded and unzipped "cdgone", but i'm not sure if that's what i should use because i'm not exactly sure what the problem is. if any of you could help it would be greatly appreciated.


- dustin
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#2
Spike

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Hi dustin, welcome to Geeks To Go Forums, I am sure we can assist you with your problem and get it soughted out.

Ok, so both drives arnt working. If you know how to locate the IDE cables, make sure that it is in correctly and not loose. Make sure they connected right to the Cd-Drives and motherboard. Check that out and let me know if that works.

Goodluck :tazz:
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#3
dwet

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thanks for your help. i had to run an image search to find out what those cables looked like and they appear to be attached just fine. if it's any help at all, this is a gateway computer that is about 6 years old. it holds 9.5 gb of memory with about 7 of those gb currently being used.
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#4
Spike

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Wow, thats really old :tazz:

I take it the Cd-Rom is 6 years old too. For intrests sake what cd-rom is it??? (Model, eg. AOpen 56x)
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#5
dwet

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i'm not sure what model it is. do i need to take the shell off again to find that out?
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#6
Spike

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Sorry for the late reply. No you dont have to take the shell off, you should see something on the face plate of the CD-Rom.
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#7
dwet

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sorry, all it says is that it's a pentium lll and i can't find the original booklet that came with it. on the back of the computer it says it was made in november of 98, so it's actually a little over 7 years old.
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#8
macten

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You might want to look in Device Manager and let us know if you see if the drives show up there. Are there any yellow exclamation marks or (i think its a red circle with a line through it)?

start>settings>control panel>system>hardware>device manager

Edited by macten, 27 December 2005 - 09:04 PM.

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#9
dwet

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thanks for your help. there isn't anything with a line or an exclamation point. the only drives that show up are the hard drive (ibm-dpta-371...) and the floppy drive. a few months ago windows 98 was installed and then windows xp installed and then microsoft office 2003 was installed (all on the same day). at some point during those installations the d:\ and e:\ drives disappeared.
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#10
macten

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I'd look in the BIOS and see if the drives show up there. Here's a link to getting into the bios:

http://www.cyberwalk...enter-BIOS.html

If they show up in the bios, I'd try that cdgone patch. More often than not, optical drives this old are shot though.
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#11
dwet

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the cd-rom does show up in the bios. how risky is running cdgone to change the registry?
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#12
macten

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I've never used cdgone. Even if it screwed up the registry, it's pretty easy to format and re-install everything. Keep in mind, cd-rom drives are cheap. I usually just swap out a cd-rom drive. It only takes a few minutes. If cdgone doesn't work there is a routine where you can edit the registry. I think I've got it bookmarked if you need it.

Does the drive open and close? If it's receiving power it should. You can always check the voltage at the molex connector. (power connector). The ribbon cable has a red stripe on one side. That stripe should be towards the power connector.
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#13
dwet

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thanks. i'll try that cdgone and see if it works. both drives do open and close when i push the buttons, they just don't recognize any cds or show up anywhere in the computer (except in the bios where it makes a reference to the cd-rom drive)
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#14
hoogie2004

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I have the same problem on my laptop. The dvd-burner disappeared from windows, the bios can see it though. I believe it disappeared after my office 2003 installation. i found a solution to this problem, just deinstall office 2003 from your system, and then search for changed hardware in your windows device manager. Your drive should be back

Edited by hoogie2004, 04 January 2006 - 05:39 AM.

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