CD Rom and DVD not recognized

Recently my computer has been acting up regarding my CD Rom and DVD Drives. When I start my computer I sometimes get a screen that says "The Following Configuations Were Automatically Updated" Disk 1- 28629 MB and CD-Rom Disk 3 and CD Rom Disk 4. When the Computer finishes booting up, neither the CD Rom nor the DVD Drive are showing in "MY COMPUTER" or on the Device Manager. Also, the green light sometimes remains lit after boot up. There are times when I restart the computer and the DVD Drive will be recognized and times when it will not. I have reseated the cd rom and dvd cables inside the tower but that did not fix the matter. In the "Boot Order" neither are showing. Just the Floppy and Hard Drive. Any suggestions ? I have even reinstalled my Windows XP and still have the same problem. My computer is a Compaq Presario 5WV280 and I have even tried to download the latest drivers from HP or Compaq but they are all up to date, supposedly.

make sure, in bios, that both IDE controllers are enabled then boot up. In the device manager, expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"… does it show them both to be enabled and ok?

CROW, Thanks for trying to help me out with this ! Today my DVD is recognized in the Device Manager but not my CD Rom. In the Bio's, ALL the components are "Enabled" those being - IDE Drive Translation, Enhanced IDE Transfer, Ultra DMA, Primary IDE Controller, and Secondary IDE Controller. In the Device Manager, my DVD is showing but not the CD Rom, although the green light is remaining lit on the tower. When I expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller three items are listed - Primary IDE Channel, Secondary IDE Controller, and VIA Bus Master Controller. If I select the Primary IDE and VIA Bus items I get the "Uninstall" icon only on the top menue bar, when I select the Secondary IDE item, I get both the "Uninstall" and "Disable" icon above. If I'm not mistaken, that looks like then the only one "enabled" is the Secondary IDE Channel since it is giving me the option to "Disable" it. If I need to Enable the others, how do I do it ? Thanks again !

Well your primary is enabled because thats where your Windows installation is located (or should be). If the light stays on it could be one of several things. Either the cable is plugged in wrong or has come loose, its not configured correctly (which most are not, in my opinion) or it could simply be a bad drive. What I would do is this. Open up the tower and look to make sure that each drives jumper settings are correct and that they are in the correct order. Normally I find they are not configured correctly (again, my opinion, ..its not exactly wrong, it just aint right) You should have one hard drive, one cd drive on each cable. The cd drive being set as slave (via jumper) and in the middle of the cable, the hard drive set as master and on the end of the cable. The reason you dont want two (2) cd drives on the same IDE is because the BUS is not large enough to hold that much buffered information so it normally will not let you "burn on the fly" (copying cd to cd). So it should go like this. From the board, to the slave, to the master. It will work with 2 cd drives on one IDE, I just dont recommend it. If you do this and still have the same issue. The next step would be replacing the IDE cables all together. If that is not the issue then, if you can, put the cd drives in to another tower and see if they work in it. If they do, then your problem is either viral, or the controller is going/ has gone/ out. I havent run across a virus that affects drives like that. But thats not to say that there aren't any out there that will. Ironically, I repaired 2 HP's Monday that had the same issue. Each one had 2 bad drives, as odd as that may sound. I dont run across that very often but was the case for each one.

Hey Crow, Thanks again for your time. I didn't change the cable configurations inside the case. I've had this computer for about 7 years now and don't think the cables would be an issue now, or could they ? I just ordered another processor because again, I think this one is just getting old and worn out. In fact, other other issue I was having that is driving me crazy is that when I boot up the thing takes for ever to start. The Windows XP splash screen displays for 90 - 120 secs before it will move on to the Welcome screen, I guess this would be another topic, eslewhere. This is why I'm thinking the processor is on the "fritz", between the cd rom issue and boot up issue. Oh, and by the way, I have very limited items started at "startup", just my windows and anti-spyware program starting.

I understand that you havent changed anything and I didnt mean to imply that you had. Simply that most of time, computers that are bought "off the shelf" are configured incorrectly. Before you evev got it, i mean. But anyway, yes it is possible that a cable is bad (however, unlikely, unless your in it all the time and moving them around). As far as the startup goes.. you should use msconfig (Microsoft System Configuration Utility) to control your startups but I dont think that is the reason for the slow boot. Its because its got hardware that it cant recognize. And the hardware its having troubles with are in the bootstrap so its not sure what to do. Purchasing a new CPU (while is an upgrade) is not the problem. And you need to make sure that proc you ordered is for the correct socket you have on your board..among other things.. if you have any issues installing it, just post it here and ill walk you through it. Try unplugging both (I am assuming you have 2 and only 2 cd/dvd drives yes?) cd/dvd drives completely… the IDE and the power (leave them mounted in the case, just unplug them)… and boot up and see if that makes a difference.