Topic: dvd drives not showing in device manager

[Lona]

This is quite a weird problem.

My dvd drives disappeared from device manager and when I go into the bios it's gone from there also.

Here's the weird bit. In device manager under disc drives it shows my external hd which is not longer connected to pc.

I went into the bios and removed it and PC wouldn't boot up so had to go back into bios and put it back in.

I can't access safe mode or do a system retore either.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Simon]

Does the drive which has 'disappeared' actually still work, Lona?  I was just wondering if a power lead or IDE connector may have come adrift.

[Lona]

They must be working, Simon as I can hear the disc trying to play.  I thought all I had to do was re-install the drivers but when I try that windows cannot find the drives. 

[Rik]

This any help?

"If DVD/CDs become ?lost?, code 39 error ?Windows cannot load the driver. The driver may be missing or corrupted (Code 39)?.

Go to Device Manager, uninstall CD & DVD drivers. Uninstall Primary and Secondary IDE channels under IDE/ATAPI Controllers - ignore requests to re-boot machine.

Go to Regedit, navigate to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Look for the key which refers to DVD/CD-ROM drives. Delete the subkey UpperFilters, also LowerFilters if it is present.

Re-boot the machine. All should now be well."

[Lona]

Dvd drives are not showing on disk drives in device manager only this damned external hard drive. If I uninstall it, it appears again on reboot.  I have two primary and one secondary ide channels showing in device manager.  Should I uninstall the lot?

[Rik]

It's worth a try, Lona.

[Lona]

Found the key ok, Rik.   No upper filters or lower filters.

[Rik]

Damn! That's solved issues for me in the past, hence I mad a note of the 'cure'.

Where in the BIOS did you remove the external drive?

[Lona]

when I go into the bios the external disc is listed as my hard drive.  When I disable it pc won't boot.  I have to enable it again then I can get in but still no dvd drives show in device manager

[Rik]

That sounds like you have a very confused BIOS. Has anything happened to the machine, eg power surge, any hardware failures?

[Lona]

not that I know of. Pc was working fine until I put in a cd and it wouldn't read it. That's when I went into device manager and saw my two disc drives were missing

[Rik]

See what Sandra says, but I'd be inclined to take a note of all the settings, then reset the BIOS to factory defaults and see if that cures it. It sounds to me like its table of devices has become corrupted. Have you checked for viruses and malware?

[Lona]

when I restore it to default setting, it's the external hard drive that's my main drive.

[Rik]

Something's not right, I'm just not sure what.

[Simon]

Just a stab in the dark, but this wouldn't be a corrupt MBR would it?