DVD/CD Category Missing from Device Manager

[klischke]

Hey there.

I recently started having trouble with my internal CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive on my Sony Vaio laptop. I am running Windows XP Home, SP1. One day recently, and I wish I would have noticed it right away because I'm not sure when it occurred, my drive disappeared from the My Computer listing. When I went to the Device Manager to troubleshoot it, the DVD/CD Drive category is completely missing from the listing.

I have googled and googled and I can't find anyone else who has had this problem. Do any of you know what the heck happened? I'd just back up my files and reinstall XP, but I can't do it without a CD-ROM drive!

[pcdoc4christ]

Klish:

Does the drive tray open?  What happens when you put a CD in the drive?  Have you tried to have Windows search for new hardware using the Add/Remove hardware program in the Control Panel?

Doc

[klischke]

Hi, thanks for responding. You ask some great questions. I should have supplied all that info in the first place.

The drive will open. When I put a CD in and close it, the light does blink and I can hear it spinning up. However, nothing happens. (No autorun, no change in My Computer).

I have tried multiple times to scan for new hardware.

I have also tried to hook up an external CD/DVD drive via USB, but it is trying to install as a USB Mass Storage Device and then it shows up in the device manager with a caution mark because it hasn't installed correctly. However, that is probably not related to the problem I'm having here because I tried to install that same drive on my other computer and it did the same thing and also does not work on that machine. (That drive is a Mad Dog Mega Stor 16x Triple Format DVD-RW drive.) I've scanned for new hardware probably a dozen times after uninstalling the USB Mass Storage Device entry that gets added when Windows XP tries to install the external drive, hoping that one of my two drives will show up.

I also deleted the registry keys for the UpperFilters and LowerFilters according to an article in MS's troubleshooting database:

1.      Click Start, and then click Run.
2.      In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3.      Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
4.      On the File menu, click Export.
5.      In the File name box, type savedkey, and then click Save.
6.      Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type UpperFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.

Note If this data type is missing, go to Method 2.
7.      Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type LowerFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
8.      Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

But this didn't help either.

I also tried the XP DVD/CD fix utility that is found here:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_cd_dvd_fix.htm

And then restarted, again with no joy.

Thanks again for asking for clarification. I hope someone here knows what is wrong with this laptop I'm about to throw out the bloody window!

Kathy

[pcdoc4christ]

Kathy:

A few possibilities:

A. The DVD-ROM drive is damaged. Solution: To verify that it is not damaged, check the BIOS setup (you can enter the BIOS setup by pressing the key indicated in the display when you first start your computer).  If it does not show up in the BIOS setup, have a computer technician open the computer case and test the drive using a multimeter.

B. The DVD-ROM drive is disabled in the BIOS setup. Solution: Enter the BIOS setup and verify that it is listed as enabled.  If it is disabled, change the setting to enabled, and save the settings before exiting the BIOS setup.

C. You have installed a DOS program with a DOS CD-ROM driver. This will keep the drive from showing up in My Computer.  Solution: Uninstall the DOS program, and located and delete its CD-ROM drivers if they are not removed when the DOS program is uninstalled.

D. There is damage to some Windows operating system files. Solution: Reinstall Windows.

Let us know if you need help with any of these suggestions.

Best regards,
Doc

[Lynx-sd]

Hi,
I have the same problem but on a desktop.  My C-mos does not see my CD-burner or my DVD reader.  Both devices are located on IDE channel 2.  I checked Device manager and it reports the IDE channel as working.

I went out and purchased an IDE add-in card for a PCI slot but haven't tried it yet.

I suspect the registry is damaged because I hung a bad drive on IDE channel 1 as a slave last week so I could pull my data off it before disposing of it. It was after I removed the bad drive that my problems began.

I'm going to try removing the data and power cables from the two drives and let Windows think there isn't anything on the channel. Then I will re-install them and see if Windows can find them. (If you try this you have to shut all the power off to the PC for each step. I don't know what effect the battery in a laptop will have in this situation.)

If this doesn't work, I'll try the add-in card.

If the add-in doesn't work, I'll wipe my drives and start over with a clean installation.

Please let me know if you find an answer. I really understand you're frustration working without a CD.

The only saving grace in all this is I picked up a 1 gig USB "thumbdrive" just before this thing happened and I've been using it for transporting files to and from work .

[Lynx-sd]

Hi,
I have the same problem but on a desktop.  My C-mos does not see my CD-burner or my DVD reader.  Both devices are located on IDE channel 2.  I checked Device manager and it reports the IDE channel as working.

I went out and purchased an IDE add-in card for a PCI slot but haven't tried it yet.

I suspect the registry is damaged because I hung a bad drive on IDE channel 1 as a slave last week so I could pull my data off it before disposing of it. It was after I removed the bad drive that my problems began.

I'm going to try removing the data and power cables from the two drives and let Windows think there isn't anything on the channel. Then I will re-install them and see if Windows can find them. (If you try this you have to shut all the power off to the PC for each step. I don't know what effect the battery in a laptop will have in this situation.)

If this doesn't work, I'll try the add-in card.

If the add-in doesn't work, I'll wipe my drives and start over with a clean installation.

Please let me know if you find an answer. I really understand you're frustration working without a CD.

The only saving grace in all this is I picked up a 1 gig USB "thumbdrive" just before this thing happened and I've been using it for transporting files to and from work .

[Lynx-sd]

Hi
It's the newbe again.
I was successful at restoring my CD drives.
I tried disconecting the drives entirely from my system by removing the data cable.
After removing the data cable I went into device manager and removed the secondary IDE controller.
I rebooted with this revised configuration.
After rebooting I shut down the machine and reinstalled the drive cable. Actually I replaced it with a new cable just to be sure.
When I re-booted, the drives were back.
I don't know that this method would apply to a laptop because they often have proprietary drives and methods of suppling the power and data links but something along these lines may work.
You certainly should be able to remove the IDE controller from device manager.
I don't know what the consequences would be if you removed your primary IDE controller, I doubt device manager would allow it.
If your comfortable with removing the CD device physically from the machine, I'd try that first. Then uninstall the device driver, re-boot, shut down, reinstall the device physically, re-boot and re-install the driver if it uses one.
Good luck.