Cd-Rom Drive Undetected

I've been having a problem with dvd-rom as sometimes the computer recognizes it and sometimes it doesn't. I've come across several screens that have told me the secondary master has failed, but on a couple of occasions I've been able to run the dvd-rom perfect fine. Now the computer isn't detecting the dvd-rom at all so I was wondering if anyone could help me with my situation. I have Windows Me and i just reformatted the hard drive in order to narrow down the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks you.

 

First try replacing the cable to the DVD-ROM. At the same time make sure that none of the pins on the DVD are bent or pushed in.

Also check the power cable.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I've messed around with ide controllers and i've managed to get my dvd-rom recognized, and although i connect it to the master interface cord it still shows up as slave, that shouldn't be anything to worry about right? Now the problem I'm having is my cd burner won't show up, but i'm going to try everything in my power before i buy a new one. A few questions also, my power supply cords look very similar to the interface cords. I can't seem to detach my dvd-rom's supply cord but i can detach my cd burner. I'm hoping that if i detach the supply cord and reattach it to the dvd-rom it will help the cd burner get the power back but i can't seem to remove it. I'm not sure what the power cord is called but i know for sure it isn't a splitter. Is there a specific way to remove the power cord as removing the cord to the burner was easy but the dvd-rom's cord won't seem to budge. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

I've solved all of the problems except I can't get the computer to recognize the two cd-roms at the same time. I've hooked them up individually leaving the other one out, and they show up and work fine, but when i try to hook them up together, they dont show up. By now it doesn't seem to be any hardware problems, but i'm not sure, any suggestions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Set the CD-RW drive to master and the DVD_ROM to slave, put the CD-RW at the end of the ribbon cable and the DVD-ROM on the middle connector of the ribbon cable then see if it works.

 

Thanks for the reply Just Playing,
I initially started out with that connection and it won't seem to work. I've tried the dvd-rom as slave and cd-rw as master and dvd-rom as master and cd-rw as slave. For some reason they don't work together, but I can hook them up individually only. It's not too much of a hassle right now, just sort of an annoyance. Any further help would be appreciated, thanks.