I have a Compaq Presario with a Philips DVD8421 and a Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616E (this is how I bought – new).
Since this morning neither will function. I went to Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager and both have the big exclamation mark in the yellow circle.

When I double click on them (both give exactly the same response), it tells me that the driver is missing or corrupt.
I tried to update, rollback and uninstall/reinstall the driver, but it does not solve the problem.

I spent some time on the net trying to find the drivers and download and install them manually, but I’ve had no joy there either L
On the HP site, there is a “Firm Ware and Driver update” file for the Philips, which I have downloaded, but that I cannot use, because the install process require an external media and that my computer does not have an A (floppy) driver and the CD/DVD drives are not working. The install program does not offer or allow the use of a USB pen, so I cannot install it.
The problem seems to be that this is an update file that assumes that your CD/DVD drives are operational, which is not the case.

Unfortunately, the same goes for the Samsung: their site has a download section from where you can download upgrades for that device, that will not install if the DVD is not operational.

I have looked long and hard on the net (but obviously not very efficiently) for the basic drivers for both the devices (not upgrades !!!) but have failed to find them.
I am a bit perplexed that neither HP (Compaq), Philips or Samsung have the basic drivers in their download sections, but maybe I did not look in the right place.

Can anybody help me ?
Thanks a lot,

Ben

The drivers are built into XP.

Maybe SYSTEM RESTORE ??