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My DVD drive has dissappeared

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J

John Horne

PCHF Member
Apr 1, 2017
35
5
69
#1
Hi, I was having a problem with my DVD drive (no sound), I tried all the usual stuff but no luck. There was no sign of the drive in "this PC" but it said "working properly" in device manager. I found a tutorial that looked to be what I needed but it went wrong !

following the tutorial ...control panel..... device manager.... then uninstalled dvd drive..... action tab...... scan for hardware changes..... but the entry for the dvd drive is now missing (it was supposed to re-appear) ! I rebooted but still nothing. So now I have no entry in "this PC" or in device manager for my dvd drive.

Any ideas ?
 
#3
Is this a desktop or mobile?

With the system off remove and then reinsert the drive turn on see if the system recognizes the drive.

Now I have had some that I have had to boot while the drive was not installed to get the system so recognize the drive.

After you followed the tutorial did you try a reboot?

What operating system and version are you using?
 
#4
Hi and thank you, Im on a desktop running windows 8.1, when I followed the tutorial I uninstalled the dvd drive, then "scan for hardware changes", the drive was supposed re-appear but it didnt, I then rebooted but it was still missing from device manager and missing from "this PC". I did a system restore and got it back in device manager but its still not showing in "this PC". I can hear it running when I try to play a CD but there's no sound.
 
#5
How far back (old was) the restore date?

Press the Windows Key and X
From the short cut menu select Disk Management
Is the DVD listed there?

With the system powered off
How comfortable are you with opening up the system and doing simple changes? If you do.
Try plugging the DVD data cable into a different port.
 
#7
Not a problem.

Once you turn back on the system see if the drive is showing in
Disk Management
Device Manager (is there a red X next to it)
This Computer

Let us know how things go. If it does show then see if it is working properly.
 
#9
Yes, I have "show all files" selected, all it shows is Windows C, Recovery Image D, and disconnected network drive A (which is part of my anti ransomware tool). Going to try a different data cable port this morning.
 
#10
Thanks for all the help guys but I still cant get it working, I'm running out of time as I have audio documents on CD that I need details from. I ordered an external USB drive so hopefully I can get it done this week. Thanks again.
 
#11
Try the SFC /scannow command first from an elevated command prompt.

If that doesn't work, go into regedit, go to this key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and see if there are entries for UpperLimits and LowerLimits. If there is delete them and reboot the PC.

the external USB CD unit may just be the easiest solution because my next advice would be a repair reload of Windows.
 
#12
Couple of questions if I may;

How old is the DVD drive.

Is the device listed in the BIOS **

Will the drive when it is detected read data on any disks (Windows DVD or driver disk etc).

** Below is my canned explanation for HDDs being detected in the BIOS, replace brands of HDD with brands of optical drives such as Fujitsu, LG or Sony etc;

Can I ask how the HDD is identified in the BIOS, a Seagate HDD for example will be listed something like ST1000DM004 and a Western Digital along the lines of WD10JPLX other brands will have similar identification codes, only when such an ID code is present is a HDD actually detected and an entry simply listed as SATA HDD means that the BIOS will and has looked for a HDD in that particular boot sequence but no HDD was detected.
 
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