# CD-ROM/DVD-ROMs not in Device Manager



## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

Hey I have seen this problem in a lot of places but mine seems to be a little beyond the normal problem. In device manager their is no section for cd/dvd-rom drives. I went to delete the upper and lower registry values but they weren't there. I tried the microsoft help it said the values were not there but when I reboot nothing happens. Both drives physically open when I push the button but don't read cd's, and they aren't in my computer or device manager still. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.


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## WinXPGeek (Mar 2, 2008)

barry42184,
Wow, this is a hard one!!!
Try going to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060.Download Guided Help. Restart your computer. 
See if that works! I hope this resolves your problem.:grin:
-WinXpGeek


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## mack1 (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi Barry,
In the device manager, drop down view and check "show hidden devices". Also there is an icon on the task bar for scanning for new devices. Try that.
What were you doing when they went away? You might be able to do a system restore to an earlier time and get them back.
Also see if they are seen in the BIOS setup screen.:smile:

Hope this helps.
Mack1


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

Hey guys thanks so far I have tried guided help and it says the Upper and Lower Registry values are already removed. I tried to show hidden devices and I got a section with non plug and play devices but no CD/DVD-ROM's section. I'm going to try and get the latest drivers and see if that works, any other suggestions appreciated.


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

On my DVD drive I downloaded the latest driver software and still nothing.


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

sorry for all the posts, the program says there is no cd device on my system, and I don't see them in BIOS either


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## Geekgirl (Jan 1, 2005)

Open the case and check/change the ribbon cable. They obviously have power but the IDE cable may be faulty


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## mack1 (Nov 27, 2007)

I'd like to support Geekgirl's idea and add a little to it if I might. I once went to a mainframe maintenance school and they said that 90% of all computer problems could
be repaired by unplugging, then replugging circuit boards and connectors. Thus, you need to a little more than just push in on them. Move them back at least a little and then reseat them. The most likely place would be at the motherboard since probably both drives are connected to the same cable. 

Have a nice day.
Mack1


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## oshwyn5 (Sep 23, 2005)

The first thing I would try is to put in a bootable cdrom (like an antivirus install cd, I keep a copy of Knoppix -linux live handy for this sort of testing)
If you can boot to the cdrom then it is functioning correctly and connected correctly.

If not there is a hardware problem either a loose cable or insufficient power.

Have you done anything just before they disappeared? Or have they always been this way? Is this a home build? 

In device manager is there any error by secondary IDE controller (or primary)? 
Sometimes the Motherboard chipset drivers get corrupted and this problem pops up.


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

thanks for all the suggestions so far.. unfortunately nothing has worked yet. I checked the cables and took them out and put them in, there is onle 1 IDE slot and a SATA slot on this computer, it is a Dell Dimension E510. I can boot from the windows disk. Any other ideas???


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## mack1 (Nov 27, 2007)

I assume you have a CD drive and a DVD drive. You didn't say if they were on the same IDE cable or if one was on IDE and the Other SATA.
Point is, are you missing both IDE and SATA? Also, you can boot from the Windows disk...is that the hard drive? 
At this point, is either the CD or DVD shown in the BIOS setup screen?
If the BIOS can't find them, windows can't either.
You might try powering down your computer and removing the battery for the BIOS. I've read that at least 10 minutes is required plus pushing on the power button to discharge any power from the power supply or associated capacitors. Try this and see if it helps. 
Mack1


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

whats up guys, still having trouble here... They are recognized by the BIOS and they are both on the SATA cable. I unplugges and replugged the connectors and till nothing in Windows or device manager. Any other suggestions???


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## mack1 (Nov 27, 2007)

Barry,
I'd like to revisit the guided help thing for removing upper and lower filters. I tried the link above and it said it was not avaliable, so guess I can't see if what they were presenting is what I have. You would have to have a guide to find the filters with names that consist of a bunch of large numbers on the registery location. I'll copy and paste what I have next. See if it is the reg locations that you looked at.
tep 1: Start Registry Editor
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor starts. 
Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry

1.	In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. 
2.	Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet. 
3.	Expand Control, and then expand Class. 
4.	Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. 
5.	In the right pane (topic area), click UpperFilters.

Note An UpperFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the UpperFilters 
registry entry, you must click UpperFilters and not UpperFilters.bak. 
6.	On the Edit menu, click Delete. 
7.	When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of 
the UpperFilters registry entry: 
Are you sure you want to delete this value? 
The UpperFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} 
registry subkey.

Note Do not exit Registry Editor. You must have this program for the next step. 
Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry

1.	In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. 
2.	Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet. 
3.	Expand Control, and then expand Class. 
4.	Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. 
5.	In the right pane (topic area), click LowerFilters.

Note An LowerFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the LowerFilters 
registry entry, you must click LowerFilters and not LowerFilters.bak. 
6.	On the Edit menu, click Delete. 
7.	When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the 
LowerFilters registry entry: 
Are you sure you want to delete this value?The LowerFilters registry entry is removed from 
the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey. 
8.	Exit Registry Editor. 
Step 4: Restart the computer
If a CD recording program no longer works after you restart the computer, you must 
reinstall the CD recording program. 


See if this is what you tried.
Mack1


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

I just rechecked the registry values, when I go in to those folders, the upper and lowerfilters are already gone, there in no .bak or regular files. I did guided help through microsoft and they came up saying upper and lowerfilters are not there. There is an entry for Default that says DVD/CD-ROM drives under data and a Class entry that says CDROM under data. Should I delete these?


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## barry42184 (Mar 2, 2008)

just saw something, I searched for upperfilters and lowerfilters in the registry and it finds them but in a different area. They come under control/enum/ide/cdromdvdrw(the name of my drive). Under the data the upperfilters says redbook and the lowerfilters says imapi.


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## coyote5 (Mar 6, 2008)

Disappearing cdrom drives were a common Win98 problem, and still sometimes occur in XP. If you can boot from the windows disk, and above solutions don't work, do an XP repair. Choose the SECOND repair option which will reinstall Xp on top of itself repairing damaged files.


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## shockj2000 (Apr 29, 2005)

Hey guys I want to thank you ray: I had a problem where the cd roms wern't recognized and could not figure it out. Bios was unable to pick them up either. Between this thread and another I was able to determine that it was a bad connector cable. I also purged the computer of all its power but not sure if this helped also. Thanks again I been fighting with this thing for like a year so i could reformat it, and a simple search today fixed all my problems...	:exclaim:


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## Arra45 (Apr 15, 2010)

When I boot, I have a working optical drive - shows in explorer and in device manager. Then later, it disappears from both places, even the category DVD/CD-ROM drives is gone from the device manager.

When I reboot, everything is back to normal. This is driving me crazy, noone likes to reboot just to be able to use the optical drive.


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## Geekgirl (Jan 1, 2005)

Plz create your own thread Arra45


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