# D: drive missing from my dell optiplex gx520



## riccet1104 (Jan 19, 2012)

Why is my D: drive on my dell optiplex gx520 not showing up?


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Is the D: drive an physical (i.e. optical) drive or is it a partition?
If it's an optical drive does it show in Device Manager or the Bios?


----------



## riccet1104 (Jan 19, 2012)

I'm not that computer literate, so I will explain, yesterday I placed a disc in my cd/dvd drive and nothing happen, by the way this is a computer at work that I have just taken over, when I went to my computer I did not see a D: drive so i went to device manager and I don't see a cd/dvd rom drive. There's a disk drive, which I assume is my hard drive. I looked into it a little and I don't know if it's any help but my physical cd/dvd drive is connected to the motherboard by a IDE cable (flat wide cable).


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check if it is listed in the bios

if not try a new data cable on it


----------



## riccet1104 (Jan 19, 2012)

And where would I find the Bios? Is it the place when you press F2 at start up? Told you I'm not up on my computer lingo.

What kind of data cable would you recommend?


----------



## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Yes, press *F2* at bootup to enter *Setup *(Bios) here you should see the HDD and it should show the CD/DVD rom drive. If not, then either the cables are not connected correctly or the jumper pin on the drive is not configured correctly. (You may need someone a little more computer savy in the room with you to check this if you feel this is too complex)


----------



## riccet1104 (Jan 19, 2012)

I did not see HDD in Bios, I did see a Drive Category but there was no CD/DVD rom in it. I looked inside my computer and the CD/DVD Rom Drive has two (2) cable one is going to the power box (bunch of little wires) and the other one is the wide flat cable (IDE cable maybe) and I disconnected it and reconnected it and still no detection. I'm not sure what the jumper pin is so I can't help you there. I'm pretty decent at utilizing a computer just don't know the technical names of the internal parts.


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

try a new 80 wire ide data cable on the drive


----------



## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

After you have changed the IDE cable for the drive and made sure it is plugged into the motherboard as well as the drive correctly (red stripe on the cable points to the power plug of the drive and is facing same direction on the motherboard as other IDE cables) , when you start the computer press the eject button on the drive, does it open the tray? (that means the power is working) Then press* F12 *at bootup and do the *Dell Diagnostics,* if it still doesn't detect the CD/DVD in the diagnostics, or in Setup (Bios) then the drive has probably failed.


----------

