Where did my CD & DVD Burners go?

I run a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop with Win XP Pro SP2 op system, with a modular built in Sony CD burner. Two days ago I used it to re-install McAfee anti-virus software because its ActiveShield was acting up. It worked fine. After that I uninstalled NERO Burn (new) and Cyberlink's PowerDVD program for a new external USB Cyberlink DVD burner. The software wouldn't work so I uninstalled both NERO and PowerDVD. I reinstalled NERO and the CD burner/player worked fine.

I then started to use the DVD burner for the first time to copy (back-up) my MY DOCUMENTS folder. The NERO seemed to be working as it's progress bar showed the copying progressing normally and it went through all the steps. I didn't see my DVD burner's green "on" light and couldn't hear it spinning but I let NERO go through all it's steps. I had forgotten to re-install the PowerDVD program before I started to burn the back-up DVD. After NERO went through it's copy steps I put the PowerDVD program CD in the CD Burner/player to install the program and it wouldn't work. I opened My Computer and it listed only the a:\ and c:\ drives. neither the d:\ (CD burner) nor the e:\ (new DVD burner) show.

I went into Control Panel Add Hardware Wizard and it lists both drives with a yellow ! on both. When I highlight each to install, I get the error message ["Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"] Windows Update says my drivers are all up to date. (Probably because Windows doesn't know the drives are there.

I turned off my computer, and unplugged the DVD, rebooted then plugged the burner into it's USB port, hoping the Plun N' Play would detect it. Nothing!! I can't re-install anything now because I need the CD drive to do it.

Aside, I have the hijack trojan "thesearchmall" in my computer and some other 'MajorGeeks' are helping me there. I have run tons of anti-virus and other cleaners through my computer the past 2 days, following their advice, so it should be clean of everything except the trojan which is still there. I also ran Hijack This but haven't sent it in to anyone yet until they request. The log is full of the hijacker.

Any help from anyone please! I need my CD and DVD burners back. I know they're here....I can see them!
Thanks

 

Delete the drives from the device manager and reboot, windows should detect them upon the restart. This is usually more effective then unplugging, also are the drives detected in your BIOS?

 

Have done what you said with no success. About the BIOS, how do I get into that to see if it detects the drives?

 

This will be my last post on this thread that I started because I found the solution and have my CD and DVD drives back. I will share with all because it is an elusive fix.

Cause was due to uninstalling Roxio Easy CD Creator in MS XP and /or 2000. Typical error codes seen in Device Manager for the devices are Codes 19, 31, 32 or 39. Fix requires going into Registry and here are the steps:

[NOTE: BACKUP REGISTRY BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES AND CREATE A RESTORE POINT AS WELL!]

In Regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
open SYSTEM
open CurrentControlSet
open Control
open Class
click 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318
on right side, click LowerFilters and delete
on right side, click UpperFilters and delete

-after this step, look for other CurrentControlSets such as CurrentControlSet 001, CurrentControlSet 002, CurrentControlSet 003 and so on. Follow same steps as above to delete any UpperFilters and LowerFilters in these folders. You need to follow the same procedure to delete any UpperFilters and LowerFiltes in all CurrentControlSets.

When complete, reboot normally and you should have your drives back.

 

I was wondering if you found the solution to your problem because I am having the exact same problem. I did all the same steps you did and the little yellow circle with the ! comes back everytime, no matter what I try. No one seems to be able to fix this problem. You have to be able to use the CD to fix the CD. Can't find the right drivers to download either. Why is this such a major problem? It seems a lot of people are having this problem.