Can you help us relocate/reinstall D & F drives ?

[SALT]

Sept. of 2000 we purchased a Gateway 866MHz PIII Gateway computer w/ 128MB, 12x/40x DVD Rom drive, RW 8x/4x/32x IDE CDRom drive, w/ floppy diskette. We are running WIN M. Our RW disc broke and my husband tried to replace our original (Phillips Model CDD4801/81) this afternoon with a Sony CD-R/RW CRX220A1 52x/24x/52x. When we went to run the new software we found that our two CD drives are gone. We aren't able to locate them anywhere and are now unable to add software or reinstall any drives. The system only recognizes the "A" drive. We tried to replace the new CD/RW with our old one to see if it would bring the D & F drives back up - no luck. Nor, does anyone recalls ever deleting these drives.

Can anyone give us any help as to how or where to begin? We aren't total computer idiots, but considering all of the recent advancements - close to it.

Thanx

[thekingofpain]

Make sure your cables are correctly installed and firmly plugged into the sockets for them--- "maybe" the ide cable isnt firmly seated in the m/b---are the 2 missing drives attached to the same cable by chance?
Seems like nothing else has changed except the new cdrw---id suspect the cableing...

[Micro Bean]

Also you also have to make sure that, if the two drives are on one cable you have to change the setting on the drives, One for Master and one for slave. You can see this one the back of drive you will see a jumper. Make one ROm drive into a Master and the Other one to a SLave and see if that helps

[fyxxer32]

Check to see that the ide cables are plugged in the right way also. Most new drives and cables have a tab that lets you plug them only one way. BUT if you look at the cable ,most likely one side has a red mark running down that side indicating pin #1. Make sure it is plugged into the corresponding #1 pin on the drives which you can find by looking at the back of the drive most likely. Be sure to let us know how it comes out so we can pat ourselves on the back!!!LOL

[SALT]

Thanks - we will take a look and try the above. However, pretty sure that the cables were correctly reconnected, but will check. We 'imitated' the prior connections without disrupting other connections. I'll be sure to check back and let you know. All additional help is GREATLY welcomed. This is a fantastic resource and we really do appreciate everyones help!!!

[Strawbs]

Also check the back of the drives for any bent or folded pins. A slight misalignment when reconnecting could have damaged something.

[SALT]

We have tried all of the above and can't find anything. Will keep troubleshooting - or - if all else fails, take it in somewhere. Thanks