I’ve managed to “lose” both CD Drives. :( *** Hey guys, Basically, both my D and E drives no longer work. Whereas they were once listed under My Computer, now there is nothing. When I put a CD in the drive, nothing happens. The D drive was a DVD reader as well, and the E was a Burner. They’re simply… missing. I’m pretty useless with computers as it is, and I’m extremely worried. What information do you need about my computer in order to help out, and how would I retrieve it? Thanks a bunch, Richard

Hi first off it would help to know if you messed with any settings, anded hardware or software? Or anything else you might of done to cause this problem. DO not get me wrong I'm not saying that you did do anything, just might have.

Doesn't sound good! Could be a broken ide cable but normally they don't break in a closed case. Otherwise I had the same with a friends mainboard power cable and he never opened his case! If both drives are linked to the same ide data cable I think one of the two drives is gone bad and because of it the other can't be detected anymore. First check if the lamp at the front goes on at booting or if the cd tray opens. Otherwise check the power connections first. Next connect both cd drives as slave to your harddrive (first one, then the other). You have to change the jumper on the master cd drive and check the harddrive jumper settings because some harddrives need different settings if they are alone on a ide cable or with a slave present (for example moster Western Digital harddrives). If both drives show up it should be the ide cable, if one doesn't show that drive should be bad. If both drives don't show you should look for something else because it's unlikely that they both fail at the same time!

Hi, No problem – I usually do stuff wrong. ;D In the last couple of days, I’ve only downloaded 2 things that would have effected it – CloneCD, which I have since removed, and Insektor which I have also since removed. When I installed Insektor, it talked about adding a new Driver, so I just followed the instructions. When I uninstalled it, I clicked on the “remove driver” option, rebooted the computer, and then unistalled. Here’s hoping I’ve given you something to work with. Thanks for your help, Richard

Free Weasel, “Doesn't sound good!” Uh-oh! “Could be a broken ide cable but normally they don't break in a closed case. Otherwise I had the same with a friends mainboard power cable and he never opened his case!” Yep, I have a closed case, and I haven’t moved the computer for about 3 months! “If both drives are linked to the same ide data cable I think one of the two drives is gone bad and because of it the other can't be detected anymore. First check if the lamp at the front goes on at booting or if the cd tray opens. Otherwise check the power connections first.” The two drives' lamps definitely shone and flickered on boot, and both drives open and close when I press the buttons. “Next connect both cd drives as slave to your harddrive (first one, then the other). You have to change the jumper on the master cd drive and check the harddrive jumper settings because some harddrives need different settings if they are alone on a ide cable or with a slave present (for example moster Western Digital harddrives).” Okay, here you lose me! What do you mean by connecting it as slave to the harddrive? Pardon my ignorance, but I’m not very good with computers! Thanks for all your help, I truly appreciate it, Richard

Hi Due to a program i downloaded and installed , my comp freezes and now will do a clean install of win98. so it happans to all i bet.:( do not know winxp so will not give possible bad advice.

the missing drives is due to a glitch in XP when burning software goes awray. It's an easy fix look here (and ignore the part about this being for EZCD, it happens with all burning software) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;270008