Neither of my dvd-rom or cd-wr is recognized by Windows XP

[hychka]

A few days ago both drives were recognized and working. However, in a fever
to purge any file or program that might contain the source of annoying
"pop-up"s, I think I destroyed a vital file...probably one of those shared
files WINXP asks if you really, really, really want to delete before you
can. Well, I did it.

BIOS sees the drives and so does Device manager; device manager shows yellow
exclamation marks.

Now neither drive works, which severely limits how I can add back and repair
problems. For example, the machine won't read the MS-WinXP software recovery
disk or the original XP software disk. Device manager shows yellow
explanation marks next to each device. I have deleted drivers and downloaded
and installed new drivers until becoming blue in the face. The problem is
NOT that we need new device drivers.

To make matters worse, this is the machine that hosts my broadband modem and
router, which means that reformatting the main hard drive to solve this
problem will cut out e-mail and internet lifelines to help for new drivers,
on-line help etc.

Any advice before I pitch the hard drive and reconstruct the entire system?

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Did you ever have or do you have Roxio's EZ CD Creator installed?

 

[hychka]

I don't recall having that program.

Did you ever have or do you have Roxio's EZ CD Creator installed?
--
Neo [MVP Outlook]
Due to the Swen virus, all e-mails sent to this account will be deleted
w/out reading.

A few days ago both drives were recognized and working. However, in a fever
to purge any file or program that might contain the source of annoying
"pop-up"s, I think I destroyed a vital file...probably one of those shared
files WINXP asks if you really, really, really want to delete before you
can. Well, I did it.

BIOS sees the drives and so does Device manager; device manager shows yellow
exclamation marks.

Now neither drive works, which severely limits how I can add back and repair
problems. For example, the machine won't read the MS-WinXP software recovery
disk or the original XP software disk. Device manager shows yellow
explanation marks next to each device. I have deleted drivers and downloaded
and installed new drivers until becoming blue in the face. The problem is
NOT that we need new device drivers.

To make matters worse, this is the machine that hosts my broadband modem and
router, which means that reformatting the main hard drive to solve this
problem will cut out e-mail and internet lifelines to help for new drivers,
on-line help etc.

Any advice before I pitch the hard drive and reconstruct the entire system?

 

[hychka]

I was able to solve this problem, exactly how is not my point in writing
this morning.

After not receiving any helpful replies to my post I started reading other
posts and answers and found references to Microsoft help. I googled a
request with the key words in the error message I receive and read the
replies. Slowly but surely I found very specific and detailed instructions
on how to fix my problem.

So, hopefully, you, dear reader, can do the same.