I am running xp pro sp3 on Dell Dimension 2400 w/512 RAM. My internal cd-rw dvd drive, which ordinarily appears as the “D” drive, does not appear in explorer or device manager. When I try to open my cd burning program I get an error message saying that no writeable drive is detected. I have opened the BIOS and the boot menu and the drive continues to appear there. The drive continues to function physically, but no information gets to the system. The light flashes, the drawer opens and closes, and an inserted cd spins, but still the system does not see the drive. I have inserted a music cd and opened windows media player, but it does not see the cd. I have opened the back of the computer and unplugged and replugged the power cable and the ribbon cable on the device and on the motherboard. No change. The fact that the device appears in the BIOS suggests to me that this is a Windows issue rather than a hardware issue, but I am not sure.
I do not remember the last time I used the drive, but it was not too long ago. I think I have installed Windows xp service pack 3 since then, but I have experienced no other issues and I have done the same thing on my laptop with no drive problems.
As a last resort I unplugged the power cable and the ribbon cable from the back of the device and plugged them into an old cd rom. The BIOS did not recognize it but Windows installed it and it appeared in explorer and functioned perfectly.
Is this a Windows issue or do I have a bad device? Thanks
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