Neither the CD/RW - DVD writer or the DVD-ROM drives on my Compaq desktop are recognising discs....any ideas?

Have the drives still got letters assigned? I know from experience that VIA 4in1 drivers can knacker up the drive letters.

Just a thought, check that the power leads are in properly. If they're fed from a power splitter cable, check the feed to that. If they're getting 5 volts but not 12 volts, it may be possible that they're recognised by Windows but won't read discs.

If you have any bootable discs (Windows install disc for example) try booting off one. If it's a Windows issue, this will work. If it's a hardware issue, it won't.

I don't think it's hardware Martin, both drives have been assigned designations and they open/close/spin up ok when the disc goes in.....just won't do anything after that.

[quote name='Mr Morse' post='366685' date='Jul 15 2006, 06:46 PM']I don't think it's hardware Martin, both drives have been assigned designations and they open/close/spin up ok when the disc goes in.....just won't do anything after that.[/quote]


Thats how mine started mate

Look in device manager ( control panel / system ) and see if they are recognised with no errors.

If you have the drivers for them then try disabling one then enable and re-install drivers.

Have you done a windows update recently, this can cause similar problems.

Just tried that Steve.....

Disable / Enable

Drives are all recognised but don't respond to a disc

Go to my computer, right click on one of the drives and select properties, then hardware, then click on one of the CD drives, does it say "drive is working properly"?

If you know how to go into BIOS check that the CD / DVD drives are set up in there and not disables.

Also what had you done prior to them not working, anything significant that you can remember?

[quote name='Steve ( West Mids )' post='366745' date='Jul 15 2006, 10:15 PM']Go to my computer, right click on one of the drives and select properties, then hardware, then click on one of the CD drives, does it say "drive is working properly"?

If you know how to go into BIOS check that the CD / DVD drives are set up in there and not disables.

Also what had you done prior to them not working, anything significant that you can remember?[/quote]

1) Yes both OK, working properly

2) Not sure about BIOS & how to do this

3) The only additional software I have installed was the iPOD CD & ITunes which are installed on an external HDD

To get into BIOS restart and keep hitting delete every few seconds and it should eventually get in there. Use arrow keys to move around. Go to main I think it is and make sure the CD / DVD drives are showing. Then use exit ( escape and confirm exit without saving ).

Have you tried different CD / DVD in the drive? i.e. music, DVD, normal files like software. If so you can try the troubleshooter that shows in the post I put before. Otherwise you will have to uninstall the drive, reinstall and have the driver disc ready.

Try Add Hardware in Control Panel and see if it recognises any new hardware.

Otherwise you will have to uninstall the drive, reinstall and have the driver disc ready. Can't remember how to do this, I think it's different on fifferent versions of windows.

While I was working for PC world as a temp mobile tech (dont laugh) I came across this problem about 3 times, the ahem "official fix" was to do a system restore back to factory settings using the recovery CD, Now Im not sure what caused this error, maybe some software or even spyware, but restoring the PC did fix the problem. But you will loose everything you have put on the PC since you got it. so back up everything you want to keep. im pretty sure that both the CD drives had yellow exclamation marks next to them when looking in device manager. maybe its caused by a windows update. so you could try rolling back your PC to an earlier time first before doing the full factory restore.

The answer is [url="http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2058815&#2058815"]HERE[/url]

lol. Shoddy Apple software... Thought MS was bad...