CD-R & DVD drive lights flash at boot up,not reconized in XP hardware

[Peyton]

Ok,first things first:
I just installed XP Pro (a friend gave me his copy he didnt like it..yeah thats it!),it didnt do this the first few times I booted up but now when I do both my CD-R and DVD drives Lights flash off and on and the system wont boot up.I turn the power off and then reboot and get the same thing,after a few restarts I finally get it to boot up.I see the drives detected in the boot screen,but after XP starts up they arent listed under Device Manager.But the controllers are there.Here is another quirk,when I open one of the doors,noticing it mostly on the DVD drive,the door opens at three times the speed it used to,then closing it it does the same only it will open and close itself up several times before coming to a rest.No DVD or CD will play in either drive.Upon rechecking the CD-R wont open at all.
Now,every once in awhile it will boot up just fine and alls well and everything works fine.
Thats all I can think of,I have tried updateing my firmware(when the drives are working,I did this) and other things,I dont know where to go from here and I know you guys can help me out.
Here is what I have:
ECS K7S5A motherboard
512 MB DDR Crucial 266
XP 1600 CPU
300 watt Power sdupply
Lite-on 16X DVD drive
Lite-On 24 X CD-R
W/D 40 gig HDD
Gainward geforce 2 MMX 400 64 MB video card
AverMedia TV PVR TV tuner
Creative X-Gamer sound card
Volcano 5 heatsink and fan
Netgear PCI 32 bit 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
5 fans including two small ones on video and chipset
I know you probalby dont need all that info,but just in case.
Thanks in advance for helping me out on this,I have an idea now that I read throught the forums a little,as to what it is,but I wanted an experts opinion.😉

 

[RemyCanad]

This is just here to help me follow you.

1. Installed Windows XP Pro
2. After a but computer would not start up. (Only lights would flash)
3. Once booted XP does not find them. (The are listed on boot screen)
4. The drive doors will open and close erratically.
5. Some times it will work fine.

End.

Well I would first download a program and check your voltages. (If possible use a multimeter.)

Here are some things I would try.

1. Open the case up.
2. Make sure the computer is shut down.
3. Pull the IDE cable from both drives (leave the power)
4. Power on the computer and see if the doors on the drives work correctly. (Repeat multiple times)
5. If they work plug on in.
6. Boot to windows and see if it works.
7. If it works plug the other one in also. If not plug the other one in by it self.
8. If nothing works try the drives in another computer.
9. Reinstall windows
10. Look for updates of bios.
11. Look for new drives

There are some things I would try.