I have a Dell Optiplex GX280 SD. When I first purchased the PC it came with a CD-ROM drive and Windows XP Professional pre-installed. A few months after purchasing the computer I decided to upgrade my CD-ROM to a DVD-RW/CD-RW. I purchased a brand new DVD-RW/CD-RW drive and replaced my CD-ROM with it. Everything worked well, I was able to play CD's, burn movies, etc. A month later I decided to upgrade my Windows XP with Windows Vista Home Premium. I purchased the DVD and installed it with no problems. My DVD-RW drive worked fine, even after installing Windows Vista.

Then, a week or two later I tried playing a CD; I opened my DVD-RW/CD-RW tray, placed the CD inside, then closed it. Usually when I place a CD into my DVD-RW/CD-RW drive and close it a window pops up asking me what I want to do, however, this time it didn't. I went to My Computer and noticed that there was no DVD drive icon under Devices and Removable Storage. I tried restarting my computer in hope that it would reappear but it didn't. I went to Microsoft's website to try and figure out what was the problem. One option was to go to Registry Editor/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Class/{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and delete both upper filter and lower filter; however, I was only able to delete upper filter because there was no lower filter. I restarted my computer but unfortunately it didn't work.

So, I restarted my computer and went to Setup then to Boot sequence and besides On Board or USB CD-ROM drive it says (not present), I'm assuming that means it's not recognizing my DVD-RW/CD-RW drive. I shutdown my computer, unplugged the power cable and disconnected the DVD drive, then I reconnected it and made sure everything was securely connected. After plugging the power cable back into the computer I turned on the computer but it still didn't recognize the DVD drive. Then I thought to myself "maybe the drive is dead" but that couldn't be right because once it's connected to the computer I'm able to open and close it. Then, I decided to uninstall the DVD drive and install my CD-ROM to see if it would recognize it but it didn't.

I can't think of any other reasons why it wouldn't recognize my DVD drive. What should I do? Any suggestions?

Hi lechevarria89,

Is the drive SATA or IDE? You've established that it is getting power to the driver, but not the information. And since it is not showing in BIOS, but was previously. We start looking at the physical information connector. SATA cables quite often fail, plus make sure the cable isn't bent at a 90 degree angle, with SATA the rule of thumb is "Mess is good!"

Let me know the update

I don't know too much, but I do know that SATA stands for Serial ATA. I'm not sure about IDE though. Is that the one with two parrallel lines of small dots also known as PATA? If so, that's the one I have. Also, the cable seem to be fine.

Yes sorry IDE is PATA.

Hmm this has been my entertainment for the afternoon..
I'm just wondering about the jumper, I've had hard drives that didnt detect because the jumper was on 'Cable Select' and not 'Slave'

Could be a long shot, but what about checking what the jumper on the back is on. Sometimes its rather hard to see because they don't always label them!

Take the drive out, have a look at the back and you should see pins next to where you plug the PATA cable into. There should be a black (or other coloured) block covering a set of pins.
See if it has it labeled above or below. If not, then sometimes its a case of trial and error, shifting the jumper around.

Let me know how you get on.

Okay, I'll try that then. I'll post a reply with the results.

Thanks for helping!

Okay, well since I still have my CD-ROM installed to my computer I can check the back of my DVD-RW without having the shutdown my computer.

The pins beside the PATA slot have a gray block covering two middle pins and it's under Slave.

Try setting the jumper to Master and see if that solves the issue. Replace the CD-ROM with the DVD-RW while your trying this, to avoid complications

Okay, I'll lett you know if it worked.

Thanks again!

I set the jumper to Master then installed the DVD drive to my PC but it still doesn't show the DVD drive in My Computer. Any other suggestions? :/

And it's still not showing in BIOS?

If it's still not showing in the BIOS, then I'd consider checking whether you're still in the 1 year warranty bracket and swap it, sorry but at the moment I'm fresh out of ideas

Replace the PATA cable as a long shot, if you can. Good to replace everything associated with it just to cross the Ts and confirm its the drive itself.

Yeah, I no longer have a warranty.... but thanks anyway.

I had this same problem and read everything on the internet and couldn't figure it out. But i finally did. Go to control panel, then administrative tools. Then open disk management. Go to view, then top, then graphical view. At this point you should see the cd rom on the data screen. Right click on the cd rom and hit reassign new letter to drive. Do that and at that point you should see the cd/dvd drive in my computer under devices with removable storage. There is also an extensive help section under disk management.

Yeah, I tried that too. My drive doesn't show up there either. It's not showing up on BIOS so it should be a hardware problem, I'm thinking it's my IDE cable that's connecting the DVD drive to the motherboard. If not then I might get a PCI card port adapter with a PATA connector and connect my DVD drive directly to the PCI card port adapter.

but thanks anyway, shelly Iv!

I'll update once I get the cable.

Did you try looking at disk management with the graphical view because it's different than just opening disk management.

My drive doesn't show up in Bios either and I took the whole computer apart including all the cables before I fixed it the way I told you about.

No, when I first tried it I didn't put it on Graphical View.

I tried it again just now with it in Graphical View but it still doesn't show my DVD drive.

Okay, I recieved the IDE cable today. As soon as I received it I took it out of it's package and connected the black end to my DVD drive then the blue end to my motherboard. As soon as I turned on the PC I went to Setup then to Boot Sequence to check if BIOS was recognizing the DVD drive but it says the same thing as before: On Board or USB CD-ROM drive (not present).

So, I guess thats it... it must be the IDE connector then. I'm going to have to purchase a PCI card port adapter; but before I do that I have one question... the IDE cable I purchased is a flat cable; however, towards the blue end it's squeezed into a black oval-ish rubber-like tube. Am I supposed to take it off or leave it on? Is it affecting the cable's reception or anything?

Okay, well I recieved the PCI card port adapter today. I installed the card and connected the IDE cable into the IDE connector on the PCI card. Once I started the computer and Windows Vista loaded up, nothing happened; however, after restarting the computer once again Windows Vista automatically began to install it's driver. Now, my DVD-RW drive works!!....

However, I tried booting from the DVD-RW but am unable to. I checked BIOS and it says the same thing as before, "On Board or USB CD-ROM drive (not present)". Once again I'm confused. How am I able to use the DVD-RW when BIOS still doesn't recognize it?

I need help. I'm trying to upgrade my 40GB HDD with a blank 80GB HDD and I need to be able to boot from my DVD-RW so that I can install an OS into the blank HDD.

What should I do? Is it not booting the DVD-RW because the PCI card port adapter that I purchased is not bootable? Is there any PCI card port adapter that is bootable that works with Windows XP and Windows Vista as well? Please, anyone.. I need help!

Here's a link to the PCI card port adapter that I purchased: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=380113341299

Your BIOS may not allow booting from the PCI card PATA controller. If there is no option other than booting from USB or onboard, then the only other thing I can think of is using a USB enclosure for one of your optical drives. It seems that your BIOS does allow booting from a USB external optical drive. You can buy an 5.25" USB enclosure, install an optical drive and boot from that. I've actually installed Windows XP on my most recent PC build by using an external USB optical drive that I assembled myself.

As an alternative there you might be able to use an adapter to connect an optical device via USB without using a full blown external enclosure.

I agree with mailpup's advice/analysis. As per your questionNote you need to distinguish between:
>> The devices that are recognized by your BIOS vs.
>> Bootable devices recognized by your BIOS

You BIOS recognizes many, many different devices on your computer (including your DVD device since you're using it) BUT that doesn't mean your BIOS necessarily supports booting from it (as mailpup noted)