Drives missing

W

willmy41

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I have only drives C and A showing up on 'my computer'. The drives E and D and F have disappeared. So when I insert, for instance, a CD into any of these drives nothing happens. Any ideas?
 
What sort of drives are E, D and F?

Were there any significant software or hardware changes to your PC between these working OK and the problem arising?

Try entering the BIOS setup program (usually using Esc, Del or F2) when first booting your PC (before it gets into booting Windows) and see if the devices are listed there.

Look in Device Manager (Start -> right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager) and see if the relevant devices appear.
 
Right Clubman - drive D is CD writer E is CD rewriter and F is an external DVD rewriter. I will try what you suggest.
 
Clubman did as you suggested. The three drives are shown in the device manager. Don't ask me how but I got an error 31 message saying each device is not working because another device is not working. Totally confused at this stage.
 
Error 31 suggests that the drivers are missing or not loaded for some reason. What happened (e.g. software/hardware changes) between them working OK and stopping? Have you tried a Windows Update or else going into Device Manager and individually attempting to load the drivers again?

Have you tried a Windows repair install or System Restore?
 
Try and reload the device drivers either by going in through Device Manager or else try deleting the devices and then rediscover any new hardware.
I saw something similar where someone got some chancer to fix their PC except he botched it and most of the devices (sound card, USB, network) were missing device drivers.
Also check under Computer Management/Disk Management if they are showing up.
Should not need to reinstall or even restore but if nothing else works, but alwys make sure back up personal data files off machine.
 
Thanks clubman and jmayo. Followed your advice a far as I could. In the end I had to call on a family friend who works at the game. It seems my Nero7 was the culprit. I bought the machine already loaded with windows 2000 and so don't have any manuals or discs. I think after Christmas I will see about installing windows xp, depending on price.
 
I doubt that a reinstall/upgrade is alsolutely necessary. However...

A Windows XP Home Edition upgrade from Windows 9x/Me is about €150. A Windows XP Professional upgrade from various versions of Windows is about €270. A Windows XP Home Edition new install (not an upgrade) is about €300. For XP Professional it's about €430. You may be able to get discounts or lower prices by shopping around but those are indicative prices. I suppose prices may come down when Vista is officially released. Or they may stop selling XP!
 
If you bought the machine with Windows 2000 you should probabl;y have gotten some CDs for reinstallation purposes.
Ohterwise you should have a partition on your hard disk that contains your installation files.

This practice is now the norm with Windows XP since it has better system restore features etc.
I don't remember not getting OS (operating system) CDs with 2000.

The idea, from microsoft, is that you do not get the installation disks to give to someone else.
The argument comes in that why should I have to buy new OS CD plus license if my hard disk blows and I do not have the reinstallation CDs created from the hidden partition.
Although in your case you want to upgrade to XP so need license and disks.

You should still be able to resurrect your optical drives.
Remove Nero.
Try and do hardware discovery or Add new hardware and see if it picks up the disks.
 
willmy41 said:
I have only drives C and A showing up on 'my computer'. The drives E and D and F have disappeared. So when I insert, for instance, a CD into any of these drives nothing happens. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, have you powered down your machine, removed the power cable, waited 30 seconds and started it up again?
 
Funny how life works out ... At work I was presented with laptop that had optical drives missing. HP very new, with Xp Pro installed. Could not find anything about drives in BIOS. Nothing under Device Manager or Disk Management. Would not reappear after doing Add Hardware. Found this article relating to problems with XP: [broken link removed] Deleted registry entry (ies), rebooted and did Add Hardware but found nothing. Removed drive, restarted, shutdown. Added drive, restarted and lo and behold it was back. Appears that XP Pro has a tendency to lose drives, never heard this happening with 2000. Did come across mention of Nero screwing up drives or if something adds a virtual drive, it can get confused with actual physical drive. Try removing drive and then add it back in again to see if it may come up.
 
Thanks everyone - got drives sorted. However I realised how vunerable I was and decided to buy new PC online from Dell. It has Windows XP and comes with free upgrade to Vista.
 
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