CD drive not showing up.

**Getzen_Guy** · 11-19-2009, 10:58 PM

okay so my laptop is acting weird.

I am using a compaq presario f700 with vista premium, when i open MY COMPUTER
my cd drive does not show up. I tried the filter delete in the registry but there were no filters to delete.

what else can I try? the drive still has power and opens when you press the button, just doesn't show up anywhere, not in the device list or when you search for a new device.

is this a drive issue or a board issue?

let me know something?

**tnthub** · 11-20-2009, 05:09 AM

Did you look at device manager to see if any unknown devices are found?

If the drive powers up but is not seen it could be a cable issue...

You could always remove the drive and power the unit on, then shut it off and re-install the drive and see if it finds the device?

Have you made any changes? Perhaps a firewall setting preventing the device from being accessed?

**Getzen_Guy** · 11-20-2009, 10:01 AM

tried all that too, I figured removing then restarting and putting the device back in would work.

the drive is only connected by a single plug, so should i order a new drive or would it be a waste

**tnthub** · 11-21-2009, 05:12 AM

I do not have an good answer for you. You know the drive does not appear as a device so troubleshooting needs to isolate and identify the problem.

If you have chenged the connector cable, that only leaves the board or the drive... Drives are less exensive than system boards... I have a pile of computer stuff to use n my office since I work with computers for a living so in my case I would not have to make a purchase to complete the troubleshooting process.

If the single connectors on the hard drive and cd drive are identical, absolutely identical, you might consider removing the hard drive and plugging the cd drive into the hard drive connector on the system board and see if the device if found. I would go this direction before the opposite direction because if something on the board damaged the cd drive, it could also damage the hard drive (potentially).

If trying a different cd drive isn't too costly, you could try purchasing a replacement unit. However if your laptop is one of those F700's with a 40G drive and 1G of ram, you could probably replace the whole thing with less hassle and risk...

Or... Just pick up an external USB CD/DVD drive as a work around and then you have an external drive you can use anywhere...

**Getzen_Guy** · 11-22-2009, 08:25 AM

see i've been afraid it was my board, i'm going to order a new drive since they're pretty cheap.

**KahanaReef** · 11-22-2009, 10:45 AM

You probably have, but just in case... did you uninstall and reinstall the driver? I've had a few issues with Vista Ultimate and had to reinstall drivers for no apparent reason. Either an auto update that went bad or ???