Optical drive not detected, tried all solutions

[dvddriver]

My IDE DVD writer stopped appearing in Windows 7, although it is detected in BIOS. It worked fine until this problem started. It does not appear in device manager or explorer. The drawer opens and closes and the LED goes on, but it won't read or write disks.

I have swapped the optical drive for a known working drive, and still no optical drive was detected by Windows. The swapped out unit works fine on another computer.

I have installed a new IDE cable, but that didn't solve the problem. The cable is seated fully, no pins are bent, and the plug is properly oriented in the socket. The drive is at the end of the IDE cable and set to "master." There are no other IDE drives on this computer.

I looked in regedit to delete the upper and lower limits, but there were no such commands.

I have removed and reseated the RAM.

Both SATA drives I have installed work fine and there are no other issues with this computer.

I would try to repair Windows, but I can't because the optical drive won't read my Windows install CD.

What next?

 

[mailpup]

I looked in regedit to delete the upper and lower limits, but there were no such commands.

Highlight the entries and hit the delete key.

 

[LookinAround]

Can you boot a CD/DVD? (i.e. does it fail reading disks only under Windows)

 

[dvddriver]

Can you boot a CD/DVD? (i.e. does it fail reading disks only under Windows)

I can boot from my Windows install CD. Once booted and in Windows, the optical drive isn't detected in either device manager or Windows Explorer.

 

[dvddriver]

Highlight the entries and hit the delete key.

There are no entries called "highlimit" or "lowlimit" to highlight and delete

 

[dvddriver]

I've also tried the Microsoft website for a fix. None of their suggestions works.

 

[LookinAround]

It's very strange if you say the CD drive is detected in BIOS but it is not detected in Device Manager??? (you do mean Device Manager, right?)

You might try booting from a Knoppix CD. If the drive works under Knoppix, its a Windows problem. You may need to reinstall. If the drive doesn't work under Knoppix either, i would guess it'll be hardware issue. See step 2 in [post=766270]How to recover your folders/files when Windows won’t boot[/post]

 

[LookinAround]

/* post removed by author */
I just double checked.

My original post was incorrect. Internal CD/DVD drives connect through IDE. Thus they don't get listed in the System Devices section of a dxdiag report

 

[Tedster]

the only thing you said you haven't done is replace the cable.

 

[dvddriver]

the only thing you said you haven't done is replace the cable.

Yes, I did swap the cable for a known good one.

 

[dvddriver]

You might try booting from a Knoppix CD. If the drive works under Knoppix, its a Windows problem. You may need to reinstall. If the drive doesn't work under Knoppix either, i would guess it'll be hardware issue.

I've ordered a Knoppix disk. I tend to think it's a Windows problem, as the drive boots from the Windows install disk just fine.

 

[dvddriver]

UPDATE: As a work-around, I've installed an IDE to SATA adapter. This has completely restored access to, and function of my DVD writer.

I think the throughput may be slower this way, so I would still like to get the IDE connection working again. Now that I have a working DVD drive, I can try a Windows repair.