PC Won't Read CD-Rom Drive

I have a Dell Dimension C521 with a CR-W/DVD-R (are those abr. right?) that has worked perfectly so far. The computer is under two years old, but past the warranty (of course!) and without warning, the computer started acting like the drive isn't installed! Usually, when I insert a disk, I get an auto-start menu. When this didn't happen, I went to "My Computer" to try and manually open the content on the disk. The drive wasn't there. It showed the path to the floppy A drive, but not my cd-rom drive. I know the drive is connected in some way because the green light flashes and the drive revs when I put in a disk, but the computer isn't sensing the hardware for some reason. What's causing this and what do I do to fix it? My OS is Vista. Thanks so much!

 

right click Computer > manage

Go to device manager and see if the drive is being read in there. It should be listed under DVD/CD rom drives. Also check to see if there are any yellow question marks. Post with your reply.

 

Yup. There's a yellow triangle with an exclamation point on it. The label is PBDS CDRWDVD DH-48C2S SCSI CdRom Device. I clicked on it and this is what it said under the "general" tab:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

 

Find out what model the dvd or cd drive is and find the drivers and re install them. If your computer is a dell with a service tag then you should be able to find them on the dell site.

 

Will do. Now...how do I re-install the driver?

 

Sorry I should have specified more. On the site you download the the file, extract it and it will have the file, probably lieka setup file. You jsut click that then next next next normal installation deal nothing special. It will then ask you to do a reboot. If you have to talk to dell tech support they will walk you threw as well.

 

Ok, I'm on the Dell site, typed in my service code, and am looking at the drivers there. It says "firmware", and the number looks right, except at the end it says HH SATA 48x, whereas my computer has a SCSI. When I don't narrow down my search, I get a whole list of different things to download for drivers for the same model of computer. What kind of file am I looking for?

 

Oh, well, that's lovely. I went back and checked more...they don't have driver downloads for SCSI's. Now what? Leave it to me to make this complicated...

 

Your dvd drive is scsi?? How old is it lol

 

Under 2 years!!! *sobs*

 

If its under 2 years theres no way its a scsi drive. From what im looking it it should have either

16X DVDRW Internal Drive for Dell Dimension C521/ E520/ E521 Desktop Systems - Black

48X Serial ATA Internal CD-ROM Drive for Dell Dimension C521/ E520/ E521 Systems - Black

 

That's what my computer's telling me. =(

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060. Hope this helps!

 

Hi IHR,

Windows already has the driver to read a CD in the Drive. Go to System Manager, Remove the CD and reboot. It may reinstall and your Burner Software may come to life. If it reads but wont burn you will have to reload the Burner Software. If it still wont read the drive may be bad.

Good Luck, Jim

 

Open device manager, and double-click on the CD drive in the list. A window should open detailing the specifics for the device. Navigate to the "Driver" tab, and click on "Update driver". See if the OS will install the correct driver for the device.

 

Other option which has worked for me in the past, is to uninstall the device, reboot, and Windows will recognize the drive as "new" hardware. Then go through the usual steps to install the device. Anyone think that's a bad idea?

 

Thanks so much everyone for your time. Here's what I've tried:

I tried uninstalling and rebooting...it did nothing. I tried this about three times.

I tried updating the driver...nothing

I tried rolling back the system updates like another guy told me to...nothing.

What's wrong with my computer???? I'm like a computer tech's worst nightmare. :cry

Another guy I talked to said that I could try using the reboot c.d. to wipe the driver software so that it re-installs. But unfortunately I can't do that until my dad buys an external hard-drive so that I can back up all my work.

Thanks everyone for trying and if you have anymore ideas...please let me know.

 

You could try the link that I provided in my first post and see if that helps, as I didn't see you mention trying it!

 

Yes, I just backed a few of my things onto a floppy A and I'm about to try it! I'll let you know if it works.

 

You're a genius!!! Thank you!!! Its working perfectly now!! :-D Hee hee!!!

 

Which fix worked for you. The cdrom driver reinstall or the link to microsoft fixes.

 

I believe it was the link that Novice shared. =)