Iv'e been having a nasty problem where when i turn on my computer the DVD and CD drives work for a very short amount of time, and then my computer freezes. When i restart it is as if i dont have either of them pluged in at all. They dont even show on the DOS looking screen before windows loads. I dont think it is a virus because i have reformated my computer since this started and it made no differnce at all. I have never even opened my case because i cant figure out how, so i dont think there are any loose connections. Also, i looked at the Microsoft KB article. The first method didnt work, and i am unable to do the second because the drives dont show up in the device manager after they stop working. Can anyone help me with this?

If your computer freezes then you lose your CD/DVD drives, you may be looking at a controller issue. Is the CD/DVD drives connected to your motherboard, or an add-on controller? If its your motherboard, there may be an issue with it. You may want to try purchasing a cheap controller and plug your drives into it.

If one of the drives on a cable is defective it 'can' disable the other drive. I suggest that you open the case and disconnect the ribbon cable of one drive at a time and see if the other one works. Also, you might try reseating the power connectors on both drives.