CD/DVD drive not responsive

Okay, I have just now finished removing a virtumonde infection from my computer. Before I came to these forums for help, I tried to install Norton Anti-Virus onto my computer from a CD my dad baught for the computers in our house. I stuck the CD in, but the drive didn't do anything, nor did anything appear on my computer screen. I tried to open the drive, and there was no response. I tried to reboot my computer, and through the boot, it would often times pause at certain spots and give me random messages, none of which I recorded or remember. I shut the computer off, unplugged it from the wall, and stuck a safety pin in the drive to remove the CD. While trying to fix the virus on my computer, I had to reboot several times. Each time during boot-up, I would get a message saying this exactly: "Secondary drive 0 not found Secondary drive 1 not found Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run setup utility" When I hit F1, the computer will boot normally. I have not tried F2 as not to mess up my computer. I now press the button to open my CD/DVD drive, and it is not responsive. I'm guessing this drive is one of either drive 0 or drive 1 described in boot up. The drive also does not appear in "My Computer". My computer is a Dell Dimension DIM2400, Celeron CPU 2.40GHz desktop. I have 2.39 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM. The machine is about 3 or 4 years old, and it's running Windows XP home. When the problem occured, the programs that may have been open were Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Mozilla Firefox, Spyware Doctor, Western Digital 5000 AA External USB Device, Logitech Video, and McAfee Anti-Virus. The only things I had tried to do to fix the problem were nothing beyond trying to fix my virus problem. I hoped that'd fix the problem, but it has not. I'm hoping you guys can help me just as you have with my viral problem. Thank you!

Hi star6phoenix9,

I read your thread through where LDTate helped you with your malware problem. Hats off to him, he is absolutely wonderful, so patient.

The first thing I noticed in your post to this forum is you are attempting to install Nortons Antivirus and you also mention that you have McAfee Anti-Virus on your machine. Only one Antivirus is acceptable to any one system, if more than one they will conflict.

How long is it since you have defragged your HD? To do this, go to start > programs > accessories > system tools > disk defragmenter. You can analyse the drive to see if defragging is needed by highlighting the drive > click action > analyse.

I would also suggest you do the following:

Backup/archive/copy

To be on the safe side I strongly recommend that before doing anything at all you check that your back up/archive/copy of all your important data, drivers, files, settings, work, etc is 100% up to date accurate and reproducible, (even if your back up is even only a day or so out of date, it's worth updating it now.)
Also don't forget to check that you have all your application Installation CD's to hand together with the product keys (including those for Windows itself)

Windows Protected System File Checker SFC

Start>Run
type:
sfc /scannow (note the space between the c /)
Have your Win XP installation disc handy as if damaged files are found they will need to be copied across from your disc, if SFC can't find correct copies elsewhere.

Windows XP Installation disc not available or wrong Service Pack - SP1 when SP2 is needed

There are work- arounds to this problem but the easiest, by far is to borrow one and use that. It is perfectly OK to do this, for the purposes of running SFC,and if you ask around all your friends, you are likely to find someone who will be able to help you out.

There will be no report shown after the SFC scan so please post back after rebooting your machine and let us know if your computer is running any better after the suggested help.

kind regards,

Thanks for the reply. The only problem is that if I do an FSC, I can't use my XP installation disc because one of my problems is that my CD/DVD drive is not responding. It won't open… Last time it opened, it did nothing and would not open again unless I stuck a pin in. Also, I did not install Norton and no longer intend to. My C drive is defragmented now, though.

Hi star6phoenix9,

We may need to check some rather basic elements in your machine.

1.
We need to know for sure that the optical drive is receiving power.
Is there a LED light that blinks on for a short period of time when you first turn your computer on?
Even if the light comes on, it is "possible' that it is not receiving sufficient power and the power connector may have jiggled loose. Unlikely to be that coincidental with your Virus/Trojan difficulty, but possible.

Shut machine down and Disconnect the power to your machine by removing the power cord.
Then press the power button on the front of the machine for 30 seconds to discharge remaining power.
Use Static Precautions when opening and inspecting the inside of your machine.
(ground your body to the chassis by touching bare metal frame or use a wrist strap)
examine the IDE connector and the power connector to the optical drive to assure they are seated properly.
(Don't do inside the case work) if you are not comfortable and confident.
______________________________-

2.
Boot into BIOS Setup (restart your machine and press the appropriate key - usually F1, F2, or DEL) Yours is F2
Don't make any changes, but use the arrow keys to browse to IDE devices.
Your Optical Drive should be recognized and ordinarily set to Auto or Automatically Detect

3.
If the above all prove positive (that is - no problem detected) then we move to the most likely causes:

• Wrong Optical Device Driver (or device driver has become corrupted)
• Corrupted Registry value
• Corrupted System files

The most likely situation is that the Device Driver for your Optical Drive has gone missiing or become corrupted.
Check in Device Manager for warnings - Remove and reinstall if warnings are noted

The remaining possibilities are relatively straight-forward, but require long explanations.
In some cases the repair involves changes to the Registry…….. Back Up your Registry before making changes.

Here's a link to a comprehensive and accurate tutorial to follow for the remaining items to investigate.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-reco…XP-t142390.html

Don't hesitate to post back with questions as they might arise.

Best Regards