DVD drive not showing up

Published on December 7, 2005 By Monte Cristo In PC Hardware

Can anybody tell me why my Sony SRU 720a DVD writer isn't showing up anymore? It tells me the device driver is loaded, but that the device is not connected, but I know it is, because I went in and unconnected it then reconnected it. Anybody got any suggestions?

Windows XP pro sp2

Comments

Corky_O

on Dec 07, 2005

Start by checking in the following to see if it is recognized:

1 - BIOS settings

2 - Device Manager

If it is not recognized in the BIOS settings, then check your connections, or try connecting it to another connector if possible (i.e. swap with any other optical drives to check ribbon connector).

If it is not recognized in the Device Manager, but is recognized in the BIOS settings - turn off computer > disconnect the drive > check for bent pins, or loose terminals in the molex connector - if found, fix and reattach > restart computer. (note - if the all connection parts are fine, reboot computer without drive connected to load Windows without the drive, and then turn off so that Windows saves settings without reference to the drive - reconnect drive > start computer > see if Windows loads a new hardware device.

If the drive is recognized in both BIOS settings and Device Manager, but not in "My Computer" - try uninstalling via Device Manager and reboot to force a reinstallation of hardware.

MasonM

on Dec 07, 2005

Disconnect the device. Delete/disable it in the device manager. Shut down computer. Reconnect it. Start up. Should solve problem.

Monte Cristo

on Dec 08, 2005

Thanks for ya'lls help. I figured out the problem, though. On a hunch, I figured it may have something to do with my recent install of Nero 7, so I uninstalled it. And majically that fixed the problem. I appreciate the help all the same. And if it happens again for some other reason, I'll know what to do.

LittleBearJason

on Dec 14, 2005

While not totally related , Sony had nasty DRM on some of their cds , that broke your drive if you found out where it was hidden and tried to disable it.

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