missing dvd drive

ok here is the deal i got this laptop given to me after removing all the layers of infections i noticed the dvd drive was missing in both the my computer and system device manager so started trouble shooting it i tried every thing i could find on the net to do except uninstall drivers and rebooting because it dont show up anywhere to do that except one program i downloaded to try a registry key thing i did see 3 enters for dvd cd rom on there but could never do anything with it in there it did say it was NOT DISABLED AND WAS NOT CONNECTED saw a lot of stuff about cables and jumpers but it is a laptop no cable or jumper to deal with so when all else failed i did a system recovery of the image drive and set everything back to factory settings and guess what still no dvd drive any where i dont think it is a bad drive because sometimes it will open and the light comes on and it seems to spin my o s is vista home premium would like to change it to 7 but cant boot from dvd drive so please help and by the way after reload of factory settings did the fix it and tried the windows explore solution but did not have the uncheck hide empty drivers option i hope i covered it all so we can move forward instead of covering old ground

 

Hi

Have you tried using a bootable Linux CD to see if the laptop will use the CD drive to boot? Also, you will probably have to go into the BIOS and set the CD drive as the first boot device.

 

This is an unfortunate possibility. In this case, it'd be best to buy an external DVD drive, as often a replacement internal laptop drive is over $100. I checked into one for an older HP laptop a few weeks ago, and they wanted about $160 for a replacement DVD drive!

EDIT: If you simply want to reinstall Windows, and have the disk and a 8GB+ flash drive, there are tools available to convert the Windows installation DVD onto the USB drive to install from it.

 

So you tried the Microsoft upper filters registry fix?

 

ok let me see if i can answer all the questions bios wont boot from dvd drive has the option to change order in bios but in the change boot order screen it is a separates screen to pick what u boot from right now it does not see it hope i am clear on that i replaced the dvd drive with a new one my friend bought for his old hp hook ups were the same just the front cover was different and it did not find it eather and as i said before lights come on and right after a reboot it will open and close i i really do think when it tries to boot from it i hear it spinnning but it could be bad and yes again i did the reg upper lower fix to no a vile but i am real interested in the tool to load windows 7 onto a flash drive i already tried to do it but got boot errors

 

That's strange!

I don't recall the source for the USB installation tool I have, but I've found one here that should work:

http://www.askvg.com/a-bootable-usb...e-to-install-windows-vista-server-2008-and-7/

 

Last time this happened I think I removed the IDE & Sata controllers from devices and rebooted, then it detected the cd-rom next boot.

 

ok was able to make a bootable flashdrive and i am currently loading windows tiny 7 ty for that info will see if it resolves my missing drive problem if not i will try the ide sata reboot trick if that dont work i will just live with out the dvd drive it is just a travel computer anyway but am worried about the overheating problem was doing windows updates all nite and had 3 overheating crashes but again as a travel computer it will not be running that long will update u all when the install is completed