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DVD drive disappears

Recently my DVD drive has stopped responding to discs. I've tried to install software like Rosetta Stone and the Adobe Suite. The disk drive doesn't appear on My Computer.

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SATA or IDE? If you go into your BIOS, does it recognize the drive? Could be a loose cable. – ngen Feb 11 '11 at 20:31
@Mehper C. Palavuzlar Doubtful - in the other one it appears for a short ammount of time. The OP makes no mention of it here. – Joe Taylor Feb 11 '11 at 20:35
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closed as exact duplicate by Mehper C. Palavuzlar, studiohack♦ Feb 12 '11 at 5:18

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

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Does the eject button still work? If so, then it has power. So next is to check the data cable. Power off the computer, unplug it, open it, and make sure the data cable is seated securely to the drive AND motherboard. Close the computer, power it back on. If it still doesn't work, then it may be a problem with windows, or a failed DVD drive.

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Yes, it will still eject. I've never opened a computer before so I'm a bit cautious about trying that out. I'd like to see if it could be anything else and try and leave that as a last resort. – Ambo100 Feb 11 '11 at 21:23
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Does it appear in Device Manager?
To get to Device manager right click My Computer and click manage. Then select the option that says Device Manager (Windows 7, check the web for alternative OS) You are looking for this:

enter image description here

If it does not appear, and you are capable, open up the case (powering computer down first) and check that the DVD drive is correctly connected to the PC. i.e. both the Power and sata (or IDE) cable are plugged in. Also check that the Sata or IDE cable is plugged securely into the Motherboard. If this doesn't get it working try and borrow a similar unit and test it in your machine, if this works then it is likely the drive its-self is bad and needs replacing.

Edit #2: As the drive has power it is just the Data cable you need to check. Just try reseating it at both the DVD Drive end and the Motherboard end.

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How can I tell which disk drive is which when looking in the Device Manager? – Ambo100 Feb 11 '11 at 21:17
I've found the drive and I've updated the question with a link to an image. The driver software is up to date, I suppose I'll have to open it up now... – Ambo100 Feb 12 '11 at 11:42
@ambo100 - Have you tried rolling back the drivers? You could also try deleting the device from Windows and seeing if it auto loads the drivers when it restarts. I would try both these things before opening the case. – Joe Taylor Feb 13 '11 at 1:53
@JoeTaylor The option to rollback the driver has been greyed out. – Ambo100 Feb 13 '11 at 11:22
@ambo100 - Have you tried deleting the device from device manager? – Joe Taylor Feb 13 '11 at 19:38
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