Disappearing DVD Drive...

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-10-05 02:08pm

Hey all. For a month or so now, I've had a strange problem. I have both a DVD-ROM and a CD-R drive on my computer. For the first few months, everything worked perfectly, then all of a sudden my computer stopped even recognizing that the DVD drive was there. It isn't on My Computer, it isn't even up on the little start-up menu you see when you first boot up the computer.

Now, here's the weird part. Occasionally, it recognizes the DVD drive is there, and it even works, but then a minute after I start using it it disappears and I can't even open it with the little button on the drive. Anyone else have this problem?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-10-05 04:49pm

Do you boot the computer with a home made DVD in it?

Some DVD players are strange in that way. I had the same problem when I booted with a DVD-R in it.

When I removed the disk and rebooted it worked fine again...

A FW update took care of the problem but it was annoying to say the least!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-10-05 04:51pm

You may also want to see if the cabling is loose.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-10-05 04:57pm

phongn wrote:You may also want to see if the cabling is loose.

And that too, actually because of the problem with button on the drive phongn's sulotion should fix it.

Otherwise you might want to buy a new DVD drive that one might be going bad.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-10-05 05:27pm

Alright, thank you very much, I'm guessing it is probably the cabling, so I'm gonna replace that as soon as I can get the wires. Have a great day, all!

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-10-05 10:06pm

Actually, it sounds to me that you have a loose power connection. Unplug and plug it back in (make sure its firmly seated into the drive).

Sokartawi · Post by **Sokartawi** » 2004-10-08 07:24pm

Had something along the lines with my old bugged motherboard which had problems with the secondary IDE, flashed the bios and it worked perfectly.

It's most likely something else in your case, but I thought I'd just mention it anyway.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-10-09 02:58am

Now, here's the weird part. Occasionally, it recognizes the DVD drive is there, and it even works, but then a minute after I start using it it disappears and I can't even open it with the little button on the drive. Anyone else have this problem?

(emphasis mine)

Again, I'm still betting on a bad/loose power connection.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-09 06:22am

Vertigo1 wrote:
Now, here's the weird part. Occasionally, it recognizes the DVD drive is there, and it even works, but then a minute after I start using it it disappears and I can't even open it with the little button on the drive. Anyone else have this problem?
(emphasis mine)

Again, I'm still betting on a bad/loose power connection.

Don't most computers now fail to turn on if a DVD or CD drive is not connected...? I know mine did earlier when I swapped out the drive...

Sokartawi · Post by **Sokartawi** » 2004-10-09 09:44am

Vertigo1 wrote:
Now, here's the weird part. Occasionally, it recognizes the DVD drive is there, and it even works, but then a minute after I start using it it disappears and I can't even open it with the little button on the drive. Anyone else have this problem?
(emphasis mine)

Again, I'm still betting on a bad/loose power connection.

I've had a used brandless DVD-ROM drive which I couldn't open either except by using the eject option in explorer.

namdoolb · Post by **namdoolb** » 2004-10-09 11:11am

Sokartawi wrote: I've had a used brandless DVD-ROM drive which I couldn't open either except by using the eject option in explorer.

That's really wierd.

The eject button on the front of the drive should always work, even if the ribbon cable isn't connected, as long as you've got power the eject button on the drive itself should function.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-10-10 02:25am

Dalton wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:Again, I'm still betting on a bad/loose power connection.
Don't most computers now fail to turn on if a DVD or CD drive is not connected...? I know mine did earlier when I swapped out the drive...

It'll still turn on and load like normal.

Sokartawi wrote:I've had a used brandless DVD-ROM drive which I couldn't open either except by using the eject option in explorer.

Then yours was obviously broken from the beginning. It still wouldn't cause the drive to disappear from explorer. This is obviously a power failure issue since the drive would still eject if it were a ribbon cable issue.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-10 05:19am

Vertigo1 wrote:
Dalton wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:Again, I'm still betting on a bad/loose power connection.
Don't most computers now fail to turn on if a DVD or CD drive is not connected...? I know mine did earlier when I swapped out the drive...
It'll still turn on and load like normal.

Not mine

Might be a motherboard thing.