DVD-RW Drive doesnt show up in my computer on startup

[billin30]

Sometimes when I start my computer, my DVD-ROM drive just doesnt show up in my computer. It is drive letter D, and its just not there. I usually have to crack open the case, fiddle with the sata cables, then reboot and it shows up on the next reboot. I want to take out the part where I have to open the case so that it just works. Any ideas on that?

Z

 

[ozfordfreak]

I know this is going to sound childish, but

Are you sure the SATA cable is connected properly? I had a hard-drive issue not long ago with one, the clips were broken and it was coming loose frequently.

Perhaps if you have a spare try using a different SATA cable. The one you have now could be faulty. If you have a SATA hard-drive with the same connections as this disk-drive, try swapping them and see if the both the HDD and disk-drive work.

Even when the PC does not detect the drive, does it still light-up when the computer is powered on? If not, you could try and use a different cable from the PSU and see if that works.

As a last resort, you could try and put the disc-drive in another/spare computer if you have one, just to see if that computer boots and detects the drive is there.

Hope this information helped.

 

[billin30]

Yep, done all that. I replaced the cable, the light always comes on and it is always functional, just sometimes does not get recognized.

I have encountered another problem that seems to be happening more frequently and makes me think the motherboard is the culprit. When I start up, I get my black screen showing all the stuff about my computer and then it scans through the sata drives and says detecting IDE drives. It always gets to my main HDD, then sometimes it stops after that, where the DVD Drive would be next and just holds there for a while. After a few mins, it stops looking or whatever, sees my storage drive and starts up without seeing the DVD Drive.

The last few times I have started it, it gets through everything quickly on that screen, detecting everything, but then it holds on that screen for several minutes.

I have P06 version of my bios and I am going to flash it with P08 tonight, which is the newest. Didnt have a CD-R last night. Wouldnt detect a bootable DVD-R.

Besides the possible new bios, anyone have any ideas what is causing this. See my config in the signature.

Thanks,

 

[ozfordfreak]

It does sound like a possible BIOS problem. But it could also be the disc drive itself. is it SATA or IDE?

If you have a spare disc drive laying about, trying replacing your current one with it and see if that fixes your problem. If you do this, let the computer load and restart it a few times, see if the problem is fixed or if its still occruing. If its still occuring, I would say your MOBO is trhe problem.

 

[billin30]

It is a SATA drive, not even a year old. I dont have another laying around, but I could just disconnect it and see if that solves the problem. I am going to do a bios flash tonight when I get home, so hopefully that helps things.

I have already defragged both my HDD and registry, eliminated all unnessecary startup items when windows starts and done everything I can think of.

 

[ozfordfreak]

In that case yes. Try disconnecting it and see if the computer boots properly. Restart it a few times still however, just make sure its not being friendly just that once.

If that doesn't work, I'm out of suggestions. But I'm fairly certain if it DOES work with the drive disconnected, you may be up for a new disk drive,and ot of the possible option (Disk Drive, MOBO), you'll want to hope its the disk drive.

 

[billin30]

Oh yeah disc drive way cheaper. I suppose I will find out tonight and I will let ya know if it works.

If anyone else has any ideas, I am open to anything.

Thanks

 

[ozfordfreak]

I'll do some research into similiar problems, and if I fnd anything useful I'll post it here. I'm trying to get 2 disc drives to function in my PC currently, they both get power but the PC only detects one of them.

Looking into your problem will distract me from getting frustrated wih my PC.

 

[billin30]

Yeah I was messing with mine all night last night and clearly I didnt get anywhere. Its that and the fact that once I get to my desktop, I have to sit and wait for things to start up before I can do anything. I have nothing starting up that doesnt need to, but I have no idea what makes it so damn slow. The taskbar is completly unresponsive until the icons in the right corner start showing up. I think it is either Riva Tuner or some Nvidia process, but I dont know for sure.

I am thinking about doing a system restore. What exactly will that undo/ restore?

 

[ozfordfreak]

Usually restore points are made when you install a particular program, but Windows does create them automatically every 2-3 days I believe. It will restore your PC back to how it was 3-4 days ago (if you restore to then). which means any programs you have installed between then and now will be erased and you'll need to install them again.

I personally recommend formatting your computer every 12 months. Windows instalations are slow and sluggish by then as it is, any longer and you'll have time to eat breakfast, read the paper & watch television before your PC is ready to use.