CD drive malfunctioning

June 19, 2008 2:57 PM

My CD drive still exists, but my computer system apparently doesn't realize it.

When I put in an audio CD to be played/imported, the drive still opens when I push the button, but the operating system (Windows Vista) doesn't recognize that the drive (E, or whatever it is) is even there. All that shows up is C and D. I have rebooted several times, both by restarting and by turning the system off manually. When I try to burn a disc, I am told, "Disc burner or software not found."

Under "DVD/CD-ROM Drives," I see an "Optiarc DVD RW AD-7561A ATA Device." The device status for this is as follows: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

Any solutions?

posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

The CD drive could possibly have gone bad. Here's what I would try:

Firstly, see if there's a specific driver available for your CDROM drive. Download it and save it to your hard drive.

Next, in Device Manager, right-click on your CD drive and choose Uninstall. Answer Yes, etc. Then reboot.

After the reboot, your computer should automatically display the Add Hardware Wizard or show a message in the systray about New Hardware Found. If you're prompted to, install the driver you downloaded.

If this doesn't work, I'd replace the CDROM drive.
posted by eratus at 3:15 PM on June 19, 2008

If that were my problem, I'd start by trying the instructions for Code 39 from this Microsoft knowledge base article.
posted by flabdablet at 4:40 PM on June 19, 2008

You might also care to read this MSDN Forums thread.
posted by flabdablet at 4:51 PM on June 19, 2008

I've had this happen before. Careful editing your registry, if you're on XP/Vista make a system restore point before you start.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
posted by Nerro at 12:33 PM on June 20, 2008

Gah, link-a-fied.
posted by Nerro at 12:33 PM on June 20, 2008