My DVD Burner suddenly after a manually reboot stopped showing up in either Windows or the BIOS. I read this thread http://www.computing.net/answers/ha... It seemed to be very similar to my problem but I have some questions about replacing my drive's IDE cable. Firstly I tried removing it but neither end seemed to budge, is there a special way to remove them? It doesn't seem to be the case from what I read but trying to pull either end up got me nowhere. Secondly would using the IDE cable from my floppy disk drive be compatiable? I say this because I don't have a spare one and I want to test and see if that's the problem before buying a new cable to check, both of these drives cables look the same, ribbon ones. Since I only got this drive installed around 4 months ago it seems unlikely it's just crashed, the opening and closing still works and so does its light.

No Floppy drive ribbon cables are not the same as IDE drive cables. When removing an IDE connector from either the drive or motherboard, do not pull on the cable itself. Firmly but gently prise the connector out of it's socket. It is a snug fit. Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

Out of frustation I decided to try it before recieving your reply, they looked the same, they were the same length and each had a slave connector on them. However the floppy one didn't have differnt coloured ends and it didn't have a little hole missing from each end like the DVD one but when I reconnected my computer the floppy drive still shows up in both the BIOS and Windows but the DVD burner is still not showing up in either. I don't suppose HD ribbon cables are the same as DVD ones? I think that because the DVD cable worked for my floppy disk drive that they're probably the same enough to conclude that even replacing my DVD cable with another DVD one wont solve the problem. I downloaded days ago an update for my chipset but it wont run. It has its application(setup.exe) running in Processes but it wont show up, dunno why. Is there anything else I can try or does it look like I'm going to need a new DVD burner? I also realised why I thought I was having trouble removing the IDE cabble, I was actually trying to remove the power cable or whatever it's called.

Also wanted to add that it appears these cables are compatabile with each other, this page displays a very similar version of my IDE cables and it says they can be used for DVDs, and other style drives, it doesn't say floppy but it might explain why my floppy drive works with my DVD IDE cable. http://www.cablechick.com.au/cables...

rock chick A true floppy drive cable IS NOT interchangable with an IDE cable. The pin count is not even the same. If your cable is interchangable you must have a ZIP drive, which is a hybrid floppy drive. Look at the link below for more info. DVD burners need the 80 wire IDE cables that DO have the colored ends. The burner function may not work right without it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_drive

Well I got a new DVD burner installed and it is having the same problems so it wasn't the drive. I am now stumped as to what it is.

First off, you need to use a known good 80 wire 40 pin cable. Then boot to the BIOS to verify BOTH IDE channels are enabled. On the drive configuration page check to verify all lines are set to auto configure. Jumper the drive as a Master, if that is the only drive on the cable. I believe you said you had it connected by itself. If the drive connected to the secondary IDE channel still doesn't show in the POST screens then the secondary IDE channel may be defective. In that case you can connect TWO drive to the Primary channel.