no CD drive

suiko

Not strictly an Internet question, but...

My PC for some bizarre reason no longer recognises the CD drive. As this is just one of the issues it has, I would like to reinstall Windows. But how to do this without a CD drive?

:rolleyes:

Jemma-T

Do you have the original Windows disc?

It can be done with an external USB dongle, DVDROM or HDD. If you only have a basic knowledge then it would be best to go with an external DVDROM. What you really need to have a go at is to fix the DVDROM (or CDROM?). It may be easily fixed by being unplugged, restart the computer then plug it back in again.

Does your ROM show up on the machine? Download Belarc www.belarc.com/Programs/advisor.exe and post the relevant info here if you need more help. Any other problems with your machine (including USB errors)? You may also wish to reinstall the chipset drivers which control your devices. Again, post the info from above.

If you want an external drive something like this: www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001MA2UY6 will do it. Argos sell that also for £10 more.

Whatever you decide if you post back you'll need to give much more info (including your budget if it's important).

suiko

No, sorry, the computer's 2nd hand. I have an original disc (no reg number tho), and a copied disc, with reg number. I always use friends' old PCs, so don't want to spend any money on it at all - it's a work thing, not for pleasure!

I'll try Belarc tonight at home, thanks! Restarting/unplugging the PC doesn't work - but might it work if I restore settings to how they were, say, a year ago?

macman

Go into Device Manager and see what it says. Disable then re-enable the drive, or reinstall the drivers.
Is the drive still physically working, i.e if you insert a CD does it spin up?

suiko

I think it spins, but nothing happens, of course. Will have a look at Device Manager - I didn't know you could "re-enable" the drive.

macman

suiko wrote: »

I think it spins, but nothing happens, of course. Will have a look at Device Manager - I didn't know you could "re-enable" the drive.

Which indicates it's probably just a software problem. See if it has a yellow warning sign against the drive in DM, if so click on it and it will give you the options.
If not, new CD drives are cheap as chips.

suiko

Yes, it does have the yellow sign.

lrr_2

this happened to me and was due to a windows update, try going on microsoft and getting the fix update

macman

Right click, Properties, Driver tab. Then try Uninstall. then reboot your PC and Windows should detect the 'new' hardware. Or try update/roll back driver aas appropriate.
When it's reinstalled and the driver working, then the yellow flag should vanish.

suiko

OK, I'll try that. So no point in doing the Restore thing?

macman

Well you could, but it's a bit drastic to restore your system settings back a year just to enable an optical drive. You'd have to then download a year of Windows Updates etc. Complete overkill.