DVD burners not recognized on boot-up...

1. Just today, neither of my DVD/CD burners are recognized during boot-up. They do not show up in WinExlorer. A bootable CD [XP install disc] is not recognized during boot-up. The floppy is still there. I've checked all cables. Everything is hooked up.

2. At the same time the burners were lost, sound was also lost. Going into Sounds and Audio Devices, the Creative sound card is no longer listed. When I plug into the MoBo's on-board sound, I get sound back. Without DVD/CD drives, I cannot install new audio drivers.

3. I don't know if this is part of the problem in the subject, but here it is anyway.
The last few months I've had a reoccurring problem with Zone Alarm and "New Network Found". Until the last week or so I've been able to use the fix of deleting files in the Internet Logs folder. Now for the last week or so, the problem is constantly on going. Installing an earlier Ghost Image of the OS partition doesn't stop the problem now either.

I'm beginning to suspect that the MoBo, or possibly the sound card is the source of the problem.

Any thoughts or advice on this would be appreciated.

 

For the information of anyone running into similar problems, I've got it fixed.

Installing a new IDE ribbon cable and updating the BIOS had no effect on the problem.

Completely de-powering the MoBo (unplug the PS), draining all residual power (press the start button) and then re-booting ( plug it back in and press the start button again) did fix the problem.

Keep that little maneuver in your quiver of "quick and dirty" things to try.

 

I have a similar problem. Was this fixed? If so how?

 

Repowering did not cure it. Plextor 716A recognized by BIOS but nada in Win XP Pro.
Are there other solutions?

 

Make a new thread instead of piggybacking onto this one, and I'll get ya going.