windows problem?!

[Gos]

I'm trying to help a friend with a computer problem and need some help,
My friend took his Compaq and bought a new case, mobo, video & sound cards but is still using his old hard drive(which was reformated and has Win98 SE) and and CDRW and DVD drives. Everything was working fine for 3 days but then Windows started not reconizing his CD drives(they didn't appear in the device manager either). I had him check his BIOS and they were both being detected there so I'm thinking its something with windows. Could it be something with drivers? Any quick solution for this problem?

thanx

 

[Tarfin]

Given the fact that they were transferred to a new case its very likely that the cables are not firmly seated. Also try a different IDE cable.

 

[Gos]

It was put together by a computer store and it was working at first, plus the BIOS still detects them so they have to be connected. But I will try a different cable

 

[bacillus]

are there any exclaimation marks in device manager? if yes, he may have the noide bug.
Click Start, then Run... , and type regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\IOS
if you should see a value named "NoIDE". Delete it, close regedit and reboot!

alternatively, he could have have picked up a boot sector virus so try running a full virus scan or have a damaged MBR!
Report back with your findings!