HELP my CR-ROM disappeared!!!!!

[EnragedPC]

My dads computer {an old celeron Pionex} lost its Cd-Rom..I mean it just disappeared..it still opens and closes but it doesnt show up in the system devices or My computer things and Ive tried new cables plugging it into different controllers on the board NOTHING...i dont think its the drive because I just installed it its a Plextor CDRW 8x4x32
PLEASE FIX THE COMPUTER

 

[MiniMe69]

what OS u running?

did u enable the ide channel in the BIOS. just cause u can open and close it just mean it has power... U plugged it in right? red stripe on pin 1. jumpered correctly?? Cable is in good shape not broken?

 

[EnragedPC]

yes i didnt even change anything I just used the burner like a day before then i looked again today and it was just gone disappeared

Im using Win98

im think i should just low level format the drive but I dont think Ide be able to install windows because THERES no CD-Rom drive.... :|

 

[MiniMe69]

Are you running tweakui and maybe you told it not to use the drive letter d or whatever letter your cd rom is supposed to be.

 

[Slikkster]

Try this regedit fix:

The case of the disappearing cdrom....

 

[EnragedPC]

nope the Reg thing wasnt there and nothing has worked yet and im not using TweakUI

 

[amthmi]

Run an antivirus scan on that machine. I've seen boot sector viruses cause that exact problem.
They intercept calls to the ide channels, causing windows to say the device is malfunctioning
in device manager, and will also cause cd-roms not to be detected by windows at all.

 

[earthman]

Or maybe the drive has just failed. I have seen them do that once in a while.

 

[EnragedPC]

still no fix i even tried another cd-rom nothin

 

[EnragedPC]

PLEASE HELP GUYS

 

[Pederv]

Check the bios and verify that the bios sees the cdrom. Watch the system boot, is it detected? If it can't then the problem isn't windows. If it is the try changing the bios to no device on that ide port, or to auto detect if already disabled.

 

[Yzzim]

Is the cd-rom set as master or slave? What's the CDRW set to?

 

[Slikkster]

I'd go back to the registry (regedit.exe) and go to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI

Now, in the SCSI section you should find your cdroms/cdrw's listed. Make sure you don't have any remnants from previous cdroms in there...I just found one in mine for a cdrw that I had replaced with a newer Plextor.
Fortunately it wasn't causing a problem, but older entries in the Enum section CAN cause problems if allowed to remain. Enum is where Windows lists everything it detects hardware-wise.

If you do find an entry for an older cdrom, delete it's master key. In other words, delete the key that mentions the cdrom's name. Each key has subkeys that start out with "MF&CHILD blah blah blah"...don't just delete the subkey(s)...delete the master key for that device.

You don't have to worry about anything you delete from the Enum section of the registry, as if you deleted something that actually existed, Windows would merely redetect it again at next boot. The only issue you might have is with a device that requires drivers that Windows doesn't natively have, in which case, you'd want the driver disk handy.


If you DON'T see an entry for an older cdromm/cdrw, but DO see the Plextor, I'd delete the Plextor entry, and let Windows redetect it at next boot up.

Do take the advice of others who suggested doublechecking the bios for your IDE settings and the drive itself for master/slave. Also, check config.sys, if you have it, and make sure there's no "Lastdrive=" entry in it which might be limiting your drive letters. If there is, make it Lastdrive=z"

 

[EnragedPC]

the bios doesnt actually list the drives in my systen it just says auto or none

still no fix

 

[Slikkster]

You said the "bios" doesn't list your cdrom, which is normal...did you check the registry key I mentioned? What does it show there in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI registry key? Please list its contents.

Additionally, and this is important, check the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

There is a DWORD value in this key labled "NoDrives" and it has a binary data entry.
Make absolutely sure this key has the value "00 00 00 00"

If it has ANY other combination of numbers, you are hiding a drive or multiple drive letters. For instance, the value "08 00 00 00" would tell Windows to hide your "D" drive, and it wouldn't show up anywhere.

If this "NoDrives" key isn't there, create it. It's a DWORD key, so make sure you create it correctly. Once created, give it the value of "00 00 00 00".

Close Regedit, reboot.

 

[EnragedPC]

nope still nothing

 

[Slikkster]

You have to elaborate more when you say "still nothing". Be specific...what's in those reg keys? Are you saying there's no entries in the "SCSI" key I referenced above, meaning there's no drive listing at all? Nothing in the "Policies" key? Please advise, as it's hard to help when your answers are vague.

 

[EnragedPC]

I did what you said in the reg and had to make the DWORD or whatever and deleted the old CD-Rom thing but still the drive is not being detected...none of the cd-rom drives i install are being detected anymore

 

[Scott Newton]

Sounds simple but works sometimes......

Unplug the power to your computer for 1 minute. Plug it back in. Reboot.

 

[EnragedPC]

still nothin

 

[de8212]

Sorry to not give you an answer but my Yamaha 4416 does this occasionally. If you find the answer please keep eveyone informed.
BTW when it happens on mine sometimes I just reboot several times and it all of a sudden appears. Other times I actually unplug the power going to the drive and then plug it back in and reboot. Lastly I just go to Device Manager and Remove the adaptec SCSI card from there, reboot, reinstall the adaptec and that fixes it.
de

 

[Slikkster]

Ok, more specifics...which motherboard in what model of Pionex is this? Let's find out what's going on here.

 

[EnragedPC]

it doesnt say who makes the board but the board model name is: M6TLC

 

[Slikkster]

heheh...ironically, I had that very same motherboard on a Cybermax computer that I bought about 3 years ago...seems like ancient history now. The manufacturer is "Biostar", a Taiwanese manufacturer of inexpensive OEM motherboards.

Here's another area in the BIOS I would check. Go into the bios, then go to the "Integrated Peripherals" section. Make sure all the IDE settings are set correctly:


IDE HDD BLOCK MODE :Enabled

IDE Primary Master PIO :Auto

IDE Primary Slave PIO :Auto

IDE Secondary Master PIO :Auto

IDE Secondary Slave PIO :Auto

IDE Primary Master UDMA :Auto

IDE Primary Slave UDMA :Auto

IDE Secondary Master UDMA :Auto

IDE Secondary Slave UDMA :Auto

On-Chip Primary PCI IDE :Enabled

On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE :Enabled

Does yours read exactly like this?

 

[Pederv]

What I ment by if the bios sees the cdrom is after the memory test a table is displayed that shows cpu, ports, memory, ide devices connected, etc. It happens very fast, just before the list that shows where the bios is assigning IRQ's. Do any of the cdroms show in that table?