Why would my pc do this?

[Superman]

My pc has two DVD drives, and neither seem to be working. When I put a software disk into either one, they won't read it. If I try to install the program from "my computer," it acts as if no disk is loaded.

Any ideas on how to resolve this?

[SCRawl]

My pc has two DVD drives, and neither seem to be working. When I put a software disk into either one, they won't read it. If I try to install the program from "my computer," it acts as if no disk is loaded.

Any ideas on how to resolve this?

I find it easier to fix this sort of problem when I'm right there, but I can try. The first bullet in my gun would be to uninstall and reinstall the drives. Here's a question: when you're in Windows Explorer (or whatever, depending on your OS) do the drives show up? On boot-up, are the drives recognized? They clearly are getting power, since they'll open and close, but they might not be properly installed, or the interface cable might have slipped out.

Just a couple of things to ponder, assuming you haven't already given them a try.

[Starglider]

Are they parallel ATA or serial ATA? If they're not visible in the BIOS screen and they're on the same PATA channel, make sure one is set as the master and the other is set as the slave.

[Superman]

Are they parallel ATA or serial ATA? If they're not visible in the BIOS screen and they're on the same PATA channel, make sure one is set as the master and the other is set as the slave.

I think that's the problem. Do I need to pull these out and adjust the jumpers, or can I just do this in the BIOS?

[SCRawl]

Are they parallel ATA or serial ATA? If they're not visible in the BIOS screen and they're on the same PATA channel, make sure one is set as the master and the other is set as the slave.

I think that's the problem. Do I need to pull these out and adjust the jumpers, or can I just do this in the BIOS?

If this is the problem, you'll need to adjust the jumpers. The guide for doing so is probably on each drive; if it isn't, it will be in the manual(s).

[Superman]

Ah HA! The device manager reports the RAID host controller's drivers aren't installed. Oh yes!

Ok, I found the disk to install this, but I can't access it... If I download an emulation program, like Daemon tools, would that let me access the drive? I'm going to try.

Why would this driver suddenly fuck up?

[Beowulf]

Ah HA! The device manager reports the RAID host controller's drivers aren't installed. Oh yes!

Ok, I found the disk to install this, but I can't access it... If I download an emulation program, like Daemon tools, would that let me access the drive? I'm going to try.

Why would this driver suddenly fuck up?

More likely something you installed recently fucked it up. You'll need to grab the driver from online. Daemon Tools won't let you see the drive. It'll let you see a drive that doesn't actually exist just fine though.

[Superman]

Ok, I'm about ready to kick this pc into the wall.

Still can't get the drives to read disks. The computer detects them, they are getting power, but they can't read any disks. The jumpers don't seem to be the problem. Could it be something with the registry?

[RThurmont]

If you have a Windows installation CD or another bootable CD, you could try to boot from it (make sure you enable this in your BIOS)...if that works, the problem is operating system specific, if it doesn't work, you have bad DVD drives.

EDIT: Be careful not to unintentionally install an operating system if you try this diagnostic approach.