Have you tried going into setup (BIOS) mode when you start up the pc?  Most bios will show the drives connected.  If they don't show there, you have either a loose or bad ribbon cable or power cable or supply.  Do the cd drawers open and close when you push the open buttons?
Paul Hachmeyer 
________________________________________
From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of vernon plumlee [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2008 3:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] Lost E and F Drives

I have a compaq presario 5430 running win xp and somehow have lost my dvd
rom and the cd rom. They were drive E and F but are no longer recognized at
 all.
My actions to this point have been (1)  I went to Device Hardware and
initially had the yellow question mark in Device Hardware overlaying each
 Rom device. So,  I right clicked and ran the troubleshooter. It couldn't
complete and came back with a code 39 error. (2)  At that point, I right
clicked and deleted the drivers, thinking that when I rebooted it would
source out what was on the machine and reinstall it. Unfortunately, that
wasn't  the case.
Now, they are no longer in "my computer" or "device hardware" at all. They
aren't recognized anywhere.
Next, I'm thinking to unplug them from the ribbon and boot up.Thinking this
would change the settings. Then shut down, plug them back in and reboot.
Thinking this might make the machine rereference them as new and pull the
drivers.
In retrospect,  I think this might have happened when I disconnected an
external HP dvd writer from the computer. I don't know for sure but maybe it
used the same drivers and eliminated them when it recognized that the
external writer was no longer connected ?!
This machine is about 4 years old and I haven't used either of these drives
much at all so I'm not 100%  sure when I lost them.
Please, in simple terms, explain the right way to get them back. Other
ideas?? Thanks in advance.
Vern Plumlee

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