Cdrom problem - ! in device manager

[mandpaul]

Hello,
My computer is running windows xp. The computer is 4-5 years old. The problem is this: I have both a cd-rom and DVD in the computer. The DVD has never been used, to my knowledge. When I boot up the computer, everything goes fine, until I look for my D and E drive in My Computer. They are not there! When I go to device manager, there is a yellow ! next to both of the drives. I thought that maybe the drives were worn out (or at least, the CD was). So, I have replaced both of the drives - the CD with a CD-RW, and the DVD with a combo drive DVDRW-CDRW. The DVD is the master, and the CD is the slave. I booted up, and still no drives recognized. I am thinking that I should check each drive individually. So, is it ok to just have the DVDRW hooked up, and see if it recognizes that? And, if I do that and it doesn't, is that the problem?
Thank you for all of the help! Maggie

 

[fastco]

Go into the bios and make sure the computer recognizes them there first. Try changing the jumpers on both to Cable Select. Are they both on the same IDE cable? If so change the cable if none of the above works. Finally if changing the cable and nothing else works it IS possible that the onboard IDE controller is bad. Also try hooking up one of the drives as a slave (or cable select) attached to the same cable as the hard drive.

 

[mandpaul]

I checked in the bios, and both drives are recognized. Also, in device manager, it says that the drivers were installed, but was unable to find the hardware device for the driver. It said this for both of the drives. The drives are both on the same cable, a secondary. I also went into device manager and chose the ide controller (first one), and uninstalled, then rebooted. I still got the same thing on the drives. When I reboot, lights come on on both drives. And, I get message that new hardware has been found. Another thing I find that is different then what I thought is usual - the boot sequence is 3 1/2 drive, then hard, then the master drive(in my case, DVD).
Should I still change the jumpers to Cable Select? Also, does it make a difference the order that the drives are plugged into cable and power supply on the same cable?
Thank you for all of your help! Maggie

 

[fastco]

Try changing the jumpers to cable select, then put the DVD drive on the end of the ide cable and the slave in the middle then go back into the bios and let it find the drives automatically. It doesn't matter which power connector you use.
The IDE controller could be bad.

 

[mandpaul]

Hi,
I put both of the drives on Cable Select. The DVD was already on the end of the ide cable, and the slave in the middle, so I didn't change that. The bios found the drives just fine. But, in device manager still can't find the hardware device that goes with the driver. Could the ide cable be bad? I don't see how the audio cable or the power cables could be bad since the lights do come on when booting. Any ideas? Is the computer unfixable?
By the way, the computer did have to be wiped cleaned and xp reinstalled back in Feb because of virus. But, the cd was working fine after that,because played audio cd's on it.
Thank you, Maggie

 

[fastco]

Yes the IDE cable could be bad. If you have another one swap them.

 

[mandpaul]

I don't have another IDE cable. So, you think that could be the problem? Do you think that the drives also needed replacing, or should I put the old drives back in? This is so baffling to me. I have never had to replace an IDE cable before to fix this type of problem. It has always been bad drives.
Thank you for all that you are doing to help me! Maggie

 

[mandpaul]

Just found an old IDE cable for a broken computer. The hard drive was fried in a power surge during a thunder storm. Anyway, can I use that to test the cable? Thank you, Maggie

 

[mandpaul]

Hi,
I was looking under google, and found a similar problem posted at algesa.com. The advice there was to change the registry. Have you heard of doing this? The problem posted was for a cd. Would this also work for the DVD? Thankyou!

 

[fastco]

Hi, Change the registry how? I don't see how that would work but I don't know everything, that's for sure! Glad you found a cable. Have you tried connecting the DVD drive as the slave on IDE 0 with the hard drive, just to see if it (the DVD drive) is bad?

 

[mandpaul]

I just put in the other cable. I still get the same error message:
Windows successfully loaded the device for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device (Code 41).
It is ok to put the dvd as the slave to the hard drive? What do I do with the 3 1/2 "? Just not connect it this time, and also disconnect the cd from the secondary?
Maggie

 

[mandpaul]

Another thing that may help. I found this page online. What do you think?
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/35761/
Also,looked at more programs installed on computer. FileCD, PowerDVD,and CD-maker 2000 are on computer. Didn't think they would matter, so never mentioned them.
Maggie

 

[onelove14424]

hello all im new to the site. I am trying to find a driver for an ltr-40125s I know in most cases you dont need a driver but it wont read cds