Sporadic absence of CD drive

velocet_gurl · 10-22-2008, 05:36 PM

Hi all,

I have searched through the forums and cannot find an answer. I have a very old Dell Inpsiron laptop with a Panasonic cd-rw running windows xp pro. The issue is that this drive occassionally goes "missing". As in the drive itself will not show up in bios nor the device manager.

I have already made sure that the device has power and indeed does work as when I boot, I see the light flashing and a feeble attempt to read the disk.

When this has occurred I usually attempt to uninstall all software that deals with the ripping/burning/playing of my cds. The last combination that worked was uninstalling media monkey, reboot, re-installing itunes 8, reboot, uninstall itunes, reboot, reinstall media monkey, reboot.

My drive has since gone missing again and I cannot seem to find the magic combination to bring it back (not that I am sure why anything worked in the first place)

Can anyone tell me:
a) what is happening
b) how to get my cd drive back on a more stable basis
c) how to stop this from happening over and over again.

Thank-you

seriouschat · 10-22-2008, 06:06 PM

It seems XP (and vista for that matter) can have issues when certain programs or upgrades are installed. The result - CD drive goes missing.
A fix that seems to work for most is editing the Filter registry keys.

- Go to Start - Run - type in 'regedit'
- Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
Key Name: {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
- Click file - Export - and make a backup.
- Delete the value data (NOT THE KEY) for the UpperFilters & LowerFilters
- Exit Registry & reboot.

If it doesn't work, double click the backup you made, run it, and your filters will be back.

Edit: here's a link that might be more useful to you.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/

velocet_gurl · 10-23-2008, 04:38 AM

Thanks for the response. I did a pretty good google search before posting and found that article. I have already deleted my upper and lower filters. I did a quick double check though, and they are still absent.

I'm not sure what else to try, any other suggestions?

dai · 10-23-2008, 06:08 AM

sometimes the contacts o the back of the drive lose contact
removing and reinstalling the drive sometimes works

velocet_gurl · 10-23-2008, 07:32 PM

That did not. Thankfully the same behavior is occurring and the light is still flashing at boot, though the disk drive is still not detected in bios nor device manager.

dai · 10-23-2008, 09:38 PM

it points to a faulty connect on the drive or the m/b

10-22-2008, 05:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
velocet_gurl Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows xp Pro	Sporadic absence of CD drive Hi all, I have searched through the forums and cannot find an answer. I have a very old Dell Inpsiron laptop with a Panasonic cd-rw running windows xp pro. The issue is that this drive occassionally goes "missing". As in the drive itself will not show up in bios nor the device manager. I have already made sure that the device has power and indeed does work as when I boot, I see the light flashing and a feeble attempt to read the disk. When this has occurred I usually attempt to uninstall all software that deals with the ripping/burning/playing of my cds. The last combination that worked was uninstalling media monkey, reboot, re-installing itunes 8, reboot, uninstall itunes, reboot, reinstall media monkey, reboot. My drive has since gone missing again and I cannot seem to find the magic combination to bring it back (not that I am sure why anything worked in the first place) Can anyone tell me: a) what is happening b) how to get my cd drive back on a more stable basis c) how to stop this from happening over and over again. Thank-you

10-22-2008, 06:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
seriouschat Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 68 OS: Ubuntu 8.10 / Vista	Re: Sporadic absence of CD drive It seems XP (and vista for that matter) can have issues when certain programs or upgrades are installed. The result - CD drive goes missing. A fix that seems to work for most is editing the Filter registry keys. - Go to Start - Run - type in 'regedit' - Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class Key Name: {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} - Click file - Export - and make a backup. - Delete the value data (NOT THE KEY) for the UpperFilters & LowerFilters - Exit Registry & reboot. If it doesn't work, double click the backup you made, run it, and your filters will be back. Edit: here's a link that might be more useful to you. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/ Last edited by seriouschat; 10-22-2008 at 06:10 PM.

10-23-2008, 04:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
velocet_gurl Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows xp Pro	Re: Sporadic absence of CD drive Thanks for the response. I did a pretty good google search before posting and found that article. I have already deleted my upper and lower filters. I did a quick double check though, and they are still absent. I'm not sure what else to try, any other suggestions?

10-23-2008, 06:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,234 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Sporadic absence of CD drive sometimes the contacts o the back of the drive lose contact removing and reinstalling the drive sometimes works __________________

10-23-2008, 07:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
velocet_gurl Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows xp Pro	Re: Sporadic absence of CD drive That did not. Thankfully the same behavior is occurring and the light is still flashing at boot, though the disk drive is still not detected in bios nor device manager.

10-23-2008, 09:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,234 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Sporadic absence of CD drive it points to a faulty connect on the drive or the m/b __________________