CD and DVD not seen by XP

[Guest]

Lemme run this by the group:

Like many here, I suddenly found that XP SP2 wasn't seeing my DVD-ROM (D
and CD-RW (E drives upon starting up, either from a cold or warm boot.
The BIOS was OK, but nothing was in Device Manager--it's as if the drives
never existed.

I'll spare you (almost) everything I did to troubleshoot, but I finally
found that if I disconnected the CD-RW/E: drive, the DVD-ROM/D: drive was
properly seen by XP and worked fine. The reverse was not true--the CD-RW
drive is not seen, no matter what.

I confirmed that the power supply and ribbon cables work properly, and I'm
left with the conclusion that the CD-RW/E: drive is just busted; it doesn't
light up, doesn't spin, doesn't eject.

My question is, is this internally consistent, i.e. can a dead CD-RW drive
in series (I think it's in series) with another functional optical drive
cause both to appear nonfunctional?

A related question--in what order are devices chained together to the
motherboard by ribbon cables (e.g. MB ---> drive E ---> drive D)seen? D
then E or E then D?

Thanks!

Dave Mack

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Hardware componenets can do weird things. I am not sure if one device
is no longer working that it will kill the other device, but it is
possible. Have you double checked the jumper settings on the back of
the drive or tried swapping their places and make the end of the cable
Master and the Middle of the cable Slave?