Windows Doesn't Recognize Optical Drives

[Sparky]

Not exactly sure what happened, but the CD & DVD drives in my sister’s computer don't show up in 'My Computer' in Windows XP Home w/SP2. Went to device manager and both devices show the yellow bang icon. Tried to uninstall and reinstall both, Windows finds them as new hardware but gives the error message saying it had a problem and they may not work properly blah blah blah.........Tried to update driver, no luck. Went in to bios and both are recognized as IDE Master & Slave.

Mobo: Intel 850EMV2, P4 3.06ghz, 1GB PC1066 Rambus.

Any ideas?

[Major_A]

Search google for a tool called "reset dma" and run it. If you are still having problems getting them recognized try a different IDE cable. It's always a good idea to check for spyware and viruses when weird stuff starts happening.

[liqnit]

If you are not sure is hardware or OS problem
Download a Live Linux distro and check if both work there you only have OS problem.
You can choose from the list - http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

[Sparky]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.. Major_A, I'll try to walk my sister through this one over the phone later today if she's around. She lives in another city so I can't just run over and work on her PC easily.
I'm not sure what caused the problem, both drives were available and working yesterday morning, but in the evening they vanished. I know we uninstalled Real Player and Quick Time player (both scams in my opinion) and both drives were still there. Tried to uninstall both drives, reboot and let 'found new hardware' take over, but once again, no drives under 'my computer'.

[Sparky]

I've tried resetting DMA, uninstalling & rebooting with no luck. DMA is correct on both IDE channels: primary (single hard drive) and secondary: (CD & DVD drives). Can't imagine it's the jumpers (primary & secondary) being wrong since it appears in BIOS and device manager correctly (except for yellow 'bang' symbols). Also uninstalled Intel Application Accelerator in order to access advanced settings via device manager and still no luck.

Anybody else have any ideas before I try to reinstall Windows?

[Major_A]

You never said if you tried a new IDE cable. DMA will only change the speed of the drive not how it is recognized (Master/Slave). Sometimes a program will mess with the settings. Some game protection changed my burner to PIO mode and it wouldn't stay DMA. I ran the tool and it cured my problem.

Also try swapping the IDE cable from IDE1 to IDE2 on the motherboard. I've had IDE channels go out before.

[Sparky]

Thanks, Major_A, I'm going to uninstall both drives and remove the IDE cable all together next time I see my sister (her PC) and try a new cable. Would 'Device Manager' still see them if the IDE cable was bad? How about BIOS? Both are visible this way but not in 'My Computer'
Only reason I hadn't tried replacing IDE cable was I didn’t have a spare with me at the time. PC was running fine Sunday, added DVD drive, verified it worked by watching part of a movie, restarted PC later in evening and both drives are not in 'my computer' anymore. I've never had this happened before so I'm kind of stumped myself.

[Major_A]

I changed out an old IDE cable with a brand new one before and had the same problem you are having. It turned out the "new" IDE cable was bad. Hopefully that's all your problem is, reinstalling Windows is a PITA espcially when you don't have to.

[Sparky]

I couldn't agree more. Especially when it's not even my PC! I may just try to do a repair install first. Oh well, no good deed goes unpunished.

[Sparky]

Well, I have no idea what happened but I wound up doing a clean install. Before the new installation I plugged in a spare HD to transfer docs and settings and it showed up in BIOS but not under 'my computer' so something must have been really jacked up. Had to transfer all the files on to my network and then back over after the install.

Oh well, runs much better now with a clean install.

Thanks again to all who posted suggestions.