I'm having a problem with my laptop. My ex-boyfriend destroyed the hard drive, and I had to buy a new one. It never gave me any problems before, but now it doesn't seem to recognize that it has a CD rom drive. I'm pretty sure the drive is connected, since it makes a whirring noise when I put a CD in, but then when I go to My Computer to check the contents of said CD, there is no CD rom drive listed at all.
I really can't be without my laptop for any extended period of time (my desktop is in my room in New Orleans), so it would be pretty great if this were a problem I could fix by downloading something, or pressing the right combination of buttons, or, you know, building a large altar in the bathroom and sacrificing one of my roommates to the Compaq gods.
Any ideas?
-pH
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
What OS are you running?
Did the cd-rom ever work with the new hard drive?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Go after the roommate who looks meaner and tougher. It's the quiet ones you have to worry about.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Has it always worked and just recently stopped working?
Does a CD-ROM drive show up in your device manager? (Right click on "my computer", select the hardware tab, click "device manager", check to see if anything is listed under "DVD/CD-ROM drives")
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I'm running Windows XP. I have no idea if the drive worked after the new hard drive was installed...I didn't notice it until the other night, when I wanted to watch a movie. It was probably broken the whole time; I just got the computer back right before I started school.
-pH
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
"DVD/CD rom drives" isn't even an OPTION in my device manager. But floppy disk controllers is, despite the fact that this computer has never had a floppy disk drive.
-pH
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I checked the Microsoft knowledge base, and this is what they have to say. I had to do this when my CD-ROM went on vacation. I edited the registry and it came right back.
If this is beyond your computer skills, find a campus geek to help you.
Posted by Rico (Member # 7533) on :
Did you say you bought a new Hard Drive for your laptop and had it installed?
There's a little voice in my head telling me that whoever installed the drive might have messed something up in there.
Other things come to mind, perhaps the CD drive just died on you (it's happened to me before, it can still spin but the reader doesn't work) or perhaps you might have to reinstall windows because the CD drivers didn't install correctly (JT's link).
A question: Can you restart the computer and go into BIOS? (Press "delete" on your keyboard as soon as the computer boots up, you'll get to a blue creen) Browse through the menus and find the place where it lists your drives (hard drive, master/slave drives, cd drive etc)
Your CD rom drive should be listed there if it's plugged in right/working. If it's not there then it's more than likely a hardware fault/something not plugged in right.
Hopes that helps, keep us posted Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I also suspect that the people who installed the hard drive messed something up. If that's the case, I kind of want part of my money back. They certainly charged me enough to do it properly the first time.
I'm trying to convince one of my computer nerd friends to come over tonight, look at it, and try the registry thing and the BIOS thing.
-pH
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
BIOS configuration error sounds most likely to me. Has it been like that since the Hard Drive was replaced? If so, I imagine someone screwed around in the BIOS (Which, BTW, isn't necessary to install a hard drive these days. I would definately confront the people who did the installation about it if that turns out to be the situation).
If you were having hardware issues, the drive would normally show up in my computer, but wouldn't read disks. So to me it seems like it's fixable. Either the BIOS problem or the driver problem.
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
Also, are you sure that the data cables are plugged into the CD drives. It's possible that whoever installed the hard drive accidently knocked something loose. I've seen case layouts where it is extremely easy for this to happen, so it is at least worth checking.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by ricree101: Also, are you sure that the data cables are plugged into the CD drives. It's possible that whoever installed the hard drive accidently knocked something loose. I've seen case layouts where it is extremely easy for this to happen, so it is at least worth checking.
Since it's a laptop, that's not likely. Power and data run through the same cable. Since it's spinning, it's got power.
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