DVD and CD ROM drives hidden?

[Bluesummers]

Running XP and basically when I got to My Computer my disc drives do not show up at all.

It's very random, I haven't messed with any of the connections on my comp or anything, just randomly one day my younger brother went on to play a game and it did not show up.

 

[Azimer]

What have your tried so far? Does this happen only between reboots? Do the drives return when you restart? Did you check the cables? Did you ensure the drives are detected by the BIOS when you reboot? The community will need more information before we can assert a solution.

 

[Bluesummers]

Um, I googled it and it said to delete some value in the registry and that didn't work. The drives don't return after restarting, and yeah I checked the cables, they're fine. I'm not sure about the BIOS thing.

And btw I'm running Windows XP Pro, the DVD drive is a Sony DRU-V200A

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Reconnect the disk drive cables.

 

[zAlbee]

Make sure the disc drive itself is working. Load a bootable CD in there (such as Windows CD or a Linux Live CD), and reboot your computer. If your computer doesn't boot from the disc, the problem is not with Windows.

 

[t0rek]

It might also be a trojan, nowadays they are very common (an epidemy) and do that kind of mess with drives. Try some antyspyware software or Combofix (but be sure of what you are doing with that one)

 

[Bluesummers]

K so, the drives are not detected by the BIOS, and I have scanned the computer using Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, and then scanned it with Avast! as well.

I don't know how there could be anything wrong with the drives themselves though, at least not the DVD drive. I got that one about a month ago, and haven't done anything with it except install it. The CD drive is old so I can understand that one.

 

[t0rek]

OK, if they are not detected by the BIOS, discard any OS, virus or trojan stuff. If they are IDE check the Master and Slave pins

 

[Bluesummers]

What do you mean by discard?

 

[t0rek]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discard

I mean that if the BIOS doesn't detect the drive is not an OS related problem

 

[Doomulation]

Make sure all cables are tightly fastened and are correctly inserted into the Motherboard. If you have spare cables, try those too.
You may also try reseting your BIOS. Sometimes it can interfere.
You may also try to look in the BIOS and see if there is an option for the BIOS to auto-detect your drives in there. Some BIOSes may rely on manual configuration and some on auto config at boot...

Typically, it is a loose cable.

 

[revl8er]

It could be a loose cable or a bad cable. I suggest checking your cables first to make sure those are good.