XP won't recognize my optical drives

[Mike W]

I have a computer that I want to clean up and give to my sister. My
kids filled the drives and I got them a new system. I'm trying to
reinstall XP Home to wipe it clean and have a fresh start. I have the
Dell CD, but it wouldn't boot off of it (I changed the boot sequence
menu). When I go to device manager, both drives (I added a dvd drive
years ago) have the yellow exclamation point, which I think means the
computer can't see them. I have tried "update driver", and uninstall/
reinstall and I can't get them back. I also went to Microsoft.com and
downloaded and recorded a set of 6 floppies (I have a floppy drive in
the system) that seemed to be the way to go. It boots off floppy one
and asks for the rest. When I get to number 3 I get an error message
"error number 7" (thanks, Microsoft). What can I do to get the drives
recognized?

 

[Mark Adams]

I have a computer that I want to clean up and give to my sister. My
kids filled the drives and I got them a new system. I'm trying to
reinstall XP Home to wipe it clean and have a fresh start. I have the
Dell CD, but it wouldn't boot off of it (I changed the boot sequence
menu). When I go to device manager, both drives (I added a dvd drive
years ago) have the yellow exclamation point, which I think means the
computer can't see them. I have tried "update driver", and uninstall/
reinstall and I can't get them back. I also went to Microsoft.com and
downloaded and recorded a set of 6 floppies (I have a floppy drive in
the system) that seemed to be the way to go. It boots off floppy one
and asks for the rest. When I get to number 3 I get an error message
"error number 7" (thanks, Microsoft). What can I do to get the drives
recognized?

Check out the following KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
This may restore your DVD drive. As for the boot order, go into the BIOS and
set the boot order to the CD drive first, then exit and save changes. Also,
with some computers you have to press F2 at startup and select a boot device
from the menu despite what boot order you set in the BIOS. When all else
fails, read the instructions that came with the computer! ;-)

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I have a computer that I want to clean up and give to my sister. My
kids filled the drives and I got them a new system. I'm trying to
reinstall XP Home to wipe it clean and have a fresh start. I have the
Dell CD, but it wouldn't boot off of it (I changed the boot sequence
menu). When I go to device manager, both drives (I added a dvd drive
years ago) have the yellow exclamation point, which I think means the
computer can't see them.

It means that there is an issue with the drive, yes.

The drive may have physically failed. DVD burners are now around $30 new
and are trivial to install.

I have tried "update driver", and uninstall/
reinstall and I can't get them back. I also went to Microsoft.com and
downloaded and recorded a set of 6 floppies (I have a floppy drive in
the system) that seemed to be the way to go. It boots off floppy one
and asks for the rest. When I get to number 3 I get an error message
"error number 7" (thanks, Microsoft). What can I do to get the drives
recognized?

Windows driver don't matter at all to having the drives recognised at boot.
This is handled by the BIOS, which doesn't care whether there is an OS at
all.

If you want to isolate the problem, simply power off, disconnect the hard
disk power and data cables. Power up again, and the only drives that
should be available are the floppy and optical drives. If the optical
drive won't boot here, replace it.

Incidentally, if your system is a Dell and has a floppy, it is probably at
least 5 years old and it wouldn't be suprising that the optical drive had
failed.

HTH
-pk

 

[Mike W]

It means that there is an issue with the drive, yes.

The drive may have physically failed.   DVD burners are now around $30 new
and are trivial to install.


Windows driver don't matter at all to having the drives recognised at boot.
This is handled by the BIOS, which doesn't care whether there is an OS at
all.

If you want to isolate the problem, simply power off, disconnect the hard
disk power and data cables.   Power up again, and the only drives that
should be available are the floppy and optical drives.   If the optical
drive won't boot here, replace it.

Incidentally, if your system is a Dell and has a floppy, it is probably at
least 5 years old and it wouldn't be suprising that the optical drive had
failed.

HTH
-pk

How likely is it that two drives fail simutaneously while I am trying
to reinstall the OS?

 

[R. McCarty]

The problem is likely an Upper/Lower filter driver that comes as
part of many "Burning" packages. Microsoft now has a "Fix It"
option on the following web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060

It means that there is an issue with the drive, yes.

The drive may have physically failed. DVD burners are now around $30 new
and are trivial to install.


Windows driver don't matter at all to having the drives recognised at
boot.
This is handled by the BIOS, which doesn't care whether there is an OS at
all.

If you want to isolate the problem, simply power off, disconnect the hard
disk power and data cables. Power up again, and the only drives that
should be available are the floppy and optical drives. If the optical
drive won't boot here, replace it.

Incidentally, if your system is a Dell and has a floppy, it is probably at
least 5 years old and it wouldn't be suprising that the optical drive had
failed.

HTH
-pk

How likely is it that two drives fail simutaneously while I am trying
to reinstall the OS?

 

[Mike W]

 The problem is likely an Upper/Lower filter driver that comes as
part of many "Burning" packages. Microsoft now has a "Fix It"
option on the following web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060










How likely is it that two drives fail simutaneously while I am trying
to reinstall the OS?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks to R. McCarty! That "Fix It" tool worked perfectly. I suspect
when I uninstalled Nero and iTunes while cleaning up the computer, it
corrupted those registry entries. My drives appeared and I
reinstalled XP off of a CD.