Win 7 PC missing CD/DVD drive now other issues!

Kestrel13! · May 2, 2012

Hello guys and gals. This is regarding my PC at my Dad's place. I have not had alot of luck with it at all. Since getting it I think it's had 2 different HD's and 3 different motherboards. It has however been running just fine for at least 6 months until tonight.

I happened to notice that when clicking "Computer" that my CD/DVD drive is missing. So I googled "Missing CD drive windows 7" and I tried the automatic MS fix it. It detected the problem, but did not fix it. I rebooted the machine out of habit after making changes, and could only get as far as the blue ASUS splashscreen for the MOBO which always appears before windows starts to load. But windows will now not load....

I pressed F10 to enter BIOS and changed it to boot from CD first, put in windows CD.... rebooted, it still only gets as far as the splashscreen for the mobo. I can hear the disk spinning though.

I am locked out of my own computer. :-D *Blushes* Any help and guidance as to what steps I can now take would be very much appreciated. Thankyou.

By the way, no data on here I am worried about saving.

The autofix was run here, obviously I've followed a fix for XP instead of Win7/Vista. Damn. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982116

Rikky · May 2, 2012

Sounds like it's having trouble recognising the drive,I would disconnect the drive,hit F10 and select the hard drive as first boot see if it loads windows.

Are the drive's SATA or IDE?

Is the ASUS screen before bios?Can you enter bios?

Kestrel13! · May 2, 2012

I will get back to the machine on Saturday now to try this. (Hopefully Saturday) It's SATA by the way. The ASUS screen is indeed before the BIOS yes. I could enter the BIOS though by hitting F10 IIRC.

Thanks Rikky, nice to have you join me in my nightmare. :-D

Rikky · May 2, 2012

Kestrel13! said: ↑

I will get back to the machine on Saturday now to try this. (Hopefully Saturday) It's SATA by the way. The ASUS screen is indeed before the BIOS yes. I could enter the BIOS though by hitting F10 IIRC.

Thanks Rikky, nice to have you join me in my nightmare. :-D
Click to expand...

If you can get to bios 'Del' check the DVD is recognised in the list of connected drives,F10,11,12 is usually just boot order.

I'm only with you until my ideas don't work:-D

Kestrel13! · May 9, 2012

I got back to my Dad's on Sunday, turned the PC on and it booted fine. :confused It still boots fine today too... -D

Kestrel13! · May 9, 2012

However... the CD/DVD drive is not showing again in "Computer"

Rikky · May 11, 2012

First thing is to try and identify if its a hardware or software issue

Symptoms

Missing cdrom,computer periodically fails to boot

As said the drive needs to be verified working so if you have a spare one laying around swap it out,if you experience the same symptoms with different drive its not the drive.

If this isn't possible when the drive isn't showing in windows restart and go into bios and check the drive is listed in 'standard cmos features' if it isn't listed this points toward a hardware issue,if the drive is listed note what sata controller its connected to and make a note of which sata controller your main hard drive is connected to eg. sata 5/6 sata 7/8

In integrated peripherals find the sata controller your drive is connected to,there should be an option called 'sata control mode' or similar,if your cdrom is on a different controller to your hard disk and is set to 'ahci mode' change it to 'IDE mode',if they are both on the same sata controller leave it for the time being as changing it will stop windows loading and will require the OS to be repaired to boot in this mode,I'll go into that but post your findings first as many boards don't have 4 sat ports on two controllers just 2 on one controller.

EDIT if possible move your cdrom to a different sata connector so its on a different controller to your main hard drive,changing the socket will also rule out connection issues.

If the drive is listed leave bios and load windows,check to see if the drive in in computer 'be sure to click 'drives with removable storage' to make sure the list is dropped. Now go to control panel,system device manager and check to see if the drive is listed or if there are any yellow exclamation marks or red crosses.

Let me know

Kestrel13! · May 12, 2012

That was all like Chinese Mandarin to me :-D I have relayed it all back to Gez though, however, who does understand. We'll get the PC up here to look at it over the next week or so. Thanks Rikky for explaining all that. I'll let ya know how it all pans out, mate.

satrow · May 12, 2012

Looking at the hardware history alone, I'd want to rule out an aging PSU as being the culprit first; it's an item that can and does break hardware, kills data and hard drives, etc. when it becomes stressed.

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Win 7 PC missing CD/DVD drive now other issues!

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

satrow Major Geek Extraordinaire