Have a computer problem I thought maybe someone here might help me with. My dvd burner went out on my main computer recently, and until I replace it I'm using a PNY USB flash drive, and an old compaq presario with a cd burner to archive files. The computer is running xp(no internet). The PNY flash drive was supposed to be plug-and-play compatible with xp, although it did install something the 1st time ran. I don't think it was drivers. Anyway the computer has an added cd burner(drive d), the original cd rom(drive e), and the usb flash drive shows as "drive f". It was transfering files, and the cd burning fine several times, everything working fine, then all of a sudden the two cd drives 'disappeared', no longer showing up under "My Computer", or the device manager. Searched on the internet, and found something about a "flash drive" problem. Ive been just leaving the flash drive plugged in, and the computer on. Anyway I removed the flash drive, and restarted computer, and viola, the two drives reappeared. So I started leaving the flash drive out, and the comp. off until I'm ready to burn. This has worked fine again for awhile, but the other night I left the flash drive in, and comp. on overnight, and the two cd drives disappeared again. Now even after restarting they are still gone from "My Computer", and "device manager". I tried rescanning dm for hardware changes, and also disconnected everything, re-booted, and re-connected, and that didn't work either. The cd burner(drive d), the light is out, and will not open. The cd rom(drive e) light will come on, and I can open it. Neither drive registers on "My Computer", and "device manager". Quick recap in list/capsule form; Old computer - windows xp - no internet. cd burner (drive d) cd rom (drive e) Ran/used PNY USB flash drive. worked for awhile. Then cd drives d, and e disappeared. Removed flash drive, rebooted, and drives reappeared. worked awhile after that. After leaving flash drive in overnight drives disappeared again. Re-booting no help. drive d - no light, won't open. drive e - has light, will open. Neither show under device manager. USB Flash drive still registers as drive f when plugged in. Anyone have any suggestions that might help me get my cd drives to re-appear. Thanks in advance.
If they won't even open, it's probably a power issue. Are they both on a molex (older drive power) connector splitter? Have you checked the BIOS to see if it sees them? Also, it's bad practice to have both CD/DVD drives on the same IDE cable. If they're both on the same IDE cable, I would change out the cable. If that doesn't fix it, change the jumpers to Cable Select, and test them by themselves, one at a time. But it seems like a power issue at first blush. All that button on the front of the drive does is tell the motor to open the CD drive. Has nothing to do with the pc.
Shut down the computer completely. Press the power button, release it, now watch as all the components, including the hard drive (through the light that says it's working), floppy disk drive, cd rom drive, dvd drive, light up. If the drives don't light up, they're either missing power from the supply, or they're malfunctioning. If they light up, then interrupt the Windows OS from loading and just after the computer manufacturer's logo (after DELL/QMachines/Compaq/HP logo) appears, you will see it says "Press F2 [or any other key] to enter SETUP". Press that key before Windows loads, and there you will see the BIOS settings. You should see listings for peripherals, hard drives, cd or dvd rom drives, etc. This is where you check what Xerobull mentioned. Don't change any setting in there that you don't know. Just report that back. If you're answering "don't know" to most of the basic troubleshooting checks people here are suggesting, you might need to turn the PC over to someone who knows how to answer these, so it's easier, and have them show you.
Thanks for replying Swoly. Like I said in my original post, the drive d light doesn't come on at all. Before, during, or after boot-up are all the same. The drive e light does come on during, and after, and will open up. But neither drive registers on disc/device manager. I posted this on a computer help forum before I posted here (always try to get multiple opinions), and someone there was talking about deleting upper, and lower filters, but to make sure, and make a system restore point before. Anyone know if system restore affects drivers?
yup, I'd say you got a power supply issue as well since the drives work sometimes and the clear sign is the drive not lighting up or opening at all. You can rule out the drive malfunctioning because it is very unlikely both drives go bad at the same time. Also, it seems you are simply overloading the power supply and that's why it shuts down the drives. Try taking a drive you don't need out and retry, otherwise get a higher voltage power supply.
WHAT virus is that, that only affects the light on one drive and not the other? Yes. System restore affects drivers that changed their registration before or after the point. SR will have effects in a good way and in a bad way, depending on what you changed before or after the point at which you're restoring.
Go in safe mode, run Quick Scan with Malwarebytes. Reboot, run Full Scan with Malwarebytes. Then slave drive, back up data, wipe, redo OS, and put data back.
Tried 3 times with f2 at re-boot to get bios, and no luck. Must be different key. Doesn't give correct key at startup, just a little bios info, and that's it. Just tried a system restore to the earliest point possible. Didn't seem to work. Hard to believe just having a little 2mb flash drive plugged in a usb slot could do that, but I think you're probably right. Must have been just at the limit before, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back so-to-speak.
