CD/DVD Drive gone from laptop

[admin_exported]

We seemed to have lost our CD drive from our laptop. You enter my computer & it's not there. If you try to play a CD/DVD the drive makes noises then nothing. Any help would be appreciated as it's a bit annoying not being able to add anymore music to our itunes at the moment.

 

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It's a bit difficult performing remote hardware support with no idea of the Operating System, laptop make, etc...

But, basically I would hazard one of three causes:

1. It's a Windows Laptop and an automatic MS update has been applied that has disabled the drive
2. You've managed to get a nasty trojan/virus
3. Your DVD/CD drive is broken.

You might want to try booting your laptop in "Safe" mode. If, when you do this, the DVD/CD is accessible, you can rule out (3), but 1 & 2 remain a possibility. However, if it doesn't work, your DVD drive may have failed - the stepper motor or laser may have broken, it happens - in this case, time to replace the drive.

If the drive does work after booting in Safe Mode, run a Virus scan to check for anything nasty...

After this check whether MS has installed any automatic updates since the drive last worked and see if you can roll them back.

From what you say (3) sounds the most likely...

 

[John Duncan]

Wouldn't it still appear in explorer though? I think 1) sounds most likely, but will have to dig to find out how to detach and attach it again...

 

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JohnDuncan:Wouldn't it still appear in explorer though? I think 1) sounds most likely, but will have to dig to find out how to detach and attach it again...

No, if it's broken, or a Virus/Trojan is involved, it can disappear from Explorer as well, depends on what's broken. I tend to agree, hence why I suggested the Safe Mode reboot first... But, thinking about it, this still might fail if the drive has been disabled in the profile.

 

[scene]

You might want to look at this Microsoft support page: click - it suggests you run the MS automatic troubleshooter for DVD/CD drive issues (links to this page - click) which I would try first. After that it goes through the DIY, check the registry approach, etc. which is not for the fainthearted...