CD/DVD drive not recognized?

I just posted this thread a few days ago http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1601286#post1601286 I am now having another issue with this same computer, Compaq 7599, about 3 years ago a power surge took out the power supply and we had it replaced. When we got it back we were just packing up to move so we turned it on to make sure it worked but we didn't actually use it again until now. I want to do a fresh winxp install except the cd and dvd drives won't work. The lights flash and the drawers open when you first turn it on but as soon as you want to boot into windows it all stops. They don't show up in the device manager, they don't show up in disc manager, or control panel or the BIOS. All it sees is the floppy drive and the HD. I thought maybe doing a windows recovery would work but I don't know the admin password. I replaced the cd drive thinking it was just the drive that maybe the surge took out more than just the power supply but the new drive is doing the same thing. I checked the cables and everything seems secure. Is there anything else I can do? I'm going to look at purchasing an external CD/DVD drive if nothing else but I'm trying to set this up for my mom she's getting back into using computers and I want to make things as easy as possible for her. So if I can get the drives in the computer to work it would be preferable so she won't be too over whelmed.

 

Have you tried a different data ribbon ??? if you do change make sure it is connected to the rom correctly . The red stripe should be facing you when connected to the rom. Are you saying that the computer hasn't been used for 3 years since the power overload ?? Also go into the Bios and look under ''BOOT'' section and see if it is listed there.

 

Well my sister has used it for a few months and besides being slow had no problems with it as far as I know. Now when I turn it on and get to windows log on the mouse won't work USB of PS/2 and I've tried 3 mice. The keyboard also won't work so keyboard shortcuts are out, it won't boot from the CD drive and the only thing I can possibly use is windows recovery which I have never used before and am not sure what to do with. I have a "undo disk" floppy my uncle made I'm not sure if that's relevant or not. I'd have to purchase another data ribbon to try.

 

Also the mouse and keyboard has been working up until early this morning so I know the ports aren't bad or the keyboard or mouse.

 

After checking the IDE ribbon cable to the drives, I would reset the BIOS to the factory default settings:

Restart the computer and enter the BIOS screen by pressing the F1 or F10 key at the first screen.
Press the F5 key to load the default BIOS configuration.
Select YES by using the arrow keys, and then press Enter .
Press the F10 key to save the settings and exit.
Select YES by using the arrow keys, and then press Enter .

Then reboot into the BIOS (F1 or F10 again) and check to see if the drives are listed in the BIOS.

Sam

 

I did the default my BIOS gives me: MAIN STORAGE SECURITY and ADVANCED under STORAGE I have diskette drives (listed are floppy diskette A which is there and floppy diskette B that we don't have) IDE devices (listed are all enabled) and Boot order 1st floppy drive (A: and 2nd hard drive (C: