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Windows stopped recognizing my DVD-ROM drive


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Here's the story:

I have a an HP Pavilion 9690C with two disk drives: A DVD-ROM drive of unknown manufacturer and an HP CD-Writer Plus MultiRead drive. The CD-Writer wasn't working and was in the upper disk drive slot, so I decided to take it out and move the DVD-ROM drive into the upper slot. Now, the DVD-ROM drive isn't recognized by Windows XP (SP3). I have tried moving the drive back into the other slot, switching cables, etc., but Windows still won't recognize the drive. Is there a way I can fix this without reformatting, buying a new disk drive, etc.?

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Yes - all that means is that you have a Western Digital 120GB hard drive.

You need to look under "DVD/CD-Rom Drives"

- which should be showing after "Display Adapters" and before "Floppy Disk Controllers"

............... if Windows detects any optical drives

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OK. Please check the My Computer screen and confirm that your DVD/CD unit is not shown there.

Assuming it isn't, next thing is to try to force Windows to detect the missing hardware. To do this open Control Panel > Printers & Other Hardware (or Add Hardware if in Classic View). Click the Add Hardware button & this displays the Add Hardware Wizard. Click Next and the wizard will produce a list of all the hardware it recognises as being installed on your machine.

If your device is listed select and follow the instructions about enabling it & installing the driver.

If it's not listed select the Add New Device item, click Next and follow the instructions to detect it & install the driver, etc.

By the way, BoodRedTears66, have you tried putting a playable CD or DVD in the drive to see what happens? If not do that & let us know what happens.

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  • 2 months later...

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