Cd-rw And Dvd-rw Drives Not Working

My husband and I recently had our motherboard go out on us so we got a new motherboard, new computer casing, a new processor, and new memory. The computer place was supposed to return the computer to us working but instead the two drives don't work. One is the cd-rw drive that came with the original compaq presario computer and the second is a dvd-rw that I bought for my husband 6 months ago. The computer is just straight-up not aknowlegding them at all. What can I do to make them work? Prehaps a driver download? Please help! Thank you, ~M~

Hi skick! First thing I would do is make sure the IDE cables are connected to the motherboard and the CD-RW/DVD-RW drives properly. While you're in there, might want to check the jumper settings on the drives to make sure they are correct as well. Could also be the BIOS isn't configured to autodetect them. When your computer boots up, at the first black screen where it gives BIOS info and does the memory check… It should show you what is being detected on your IDE chains. Look for your CD-RW and DVD-RW… if you don't see them, you will have to go into your BIOS and set them to be autodetected. You can enter the BIOS(or Setup) by pressing Delete(may be different on your system, but Delete is common) at the boot up screen I described in the above paragrapgh. Let me know how it goes!

I appreciate the help but I don't know anything about BIOS or IDE cables. Could you please be more specific? Thank you.

The IDE cables are what connects your CD-RW/DVD-RW/Hard Drive to your Motherboard. You are going to have to open the case up to check to see it they are connected properly to both the motherboard and the drives.

The IDE cable will look something like this…

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As for the BIOS…. Basic Input/Output System is the program which starts up your computer and communicates between the devices in your computer (such as your hard drive and graphics card) and the system.

When your computer first boots up, it will show what is called the POST(Powe On Self Test) screen. This is the first screen you see where it goes through the memory check, checks for your hard drive and whatnot. At the bottom of the screen somewhere it should tell you what button you need to hit to enter the Bios or Setup. This is most commonly the Delete key, but can be something else… F1 for instance. You must press it at the POST screen to enter the BIOS.

A BIOS screen looks like this…

[external image: Posted Image]

Once in the BIOS, you will look for headings named IDE Primary Master, IDE Primary Slave, IDE Secondary Master, and IDE Secondary Slave. These are the connections to your Hard Drive and CD/DVD-RW's. Make sure these are set to Autodetect.

In the picture of the BIOS, you will see IDE Configuration. Those are settings you will need to look at.

If they aren't, change them. You will not be able to use the mouse in the BIOS. You will have to use the keyboard. You can navigate through it using the arrow keys. You can change the settings by using the "+" and "-" keys.

To exit the BIOS, press F10, and choose the selection that says something like Save changes to BIOS and exit.

A good site for basic BIOS info is here. This is for a Phoenix BIOS… you might have that…. you might have an Award BIOS, but they will be pretty much the same for what you will need to look at.

Thanks for the help but I fixed the problem using an online technician that gave me this link:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts/xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs

I deleted/uninstalled the cd-rom drive and the d vd-rw drive and ran this link and then restarted to working drives again. YAY!

Excellent! Thats a handy little script.. will have to remember that one