Optical Drive Not Recognized in Windows or BIOS

[jamespoo]

its a lg super multi blue bd reader

totally confused on what else to try.

Ok the drive wont show up in the bios and my computer. The drive works, it opens and closes, can see the light working when its reading the disc.

Ive tried:
Updating the drivers (cant remove the drivers)
changed sata cable
power cable
updating firmware
removed registry files (lower and upper filters)

last thing im thinking is re-installing windows but dont see how that would help since its not showing in the bios :S

im sooo confused. Please help guys.

[Hoser Rob]

Have you tried the device on another computer?

[jamespoo]

Have you tried the device on another computer?

no there are no other computer here that can use sata

also the drive is like new only used 4 times and that was just to copy my music cds for my ipod

i did get a blue screen of death 3 days ago on my computer that could be to do with the disc drive?

just today the disc drive is not showing in my computer

[Kerry56]

If it isn't showing up in the bios, there isn't much you can do with the drive. It may have suffered a failure that doesn't effect the tray opening and closing.

One last test you can try is to put a bootable disc in the drive and try to boot into that disc rather than your operating system on the hard drive. Any bootable disc will suffice, like a Linux live cd, or a Windows installation disc, or even a copy of the Ultimate boot cd

You might have to change the boot order in the bios and set it to boot to an optical drive first rather than the hdd.

If it will work using a boot disc, you know the drive is still functional. But I doubt this will work if it isn't showing up in the bios.

[jamespoo]

If it isn't showing up in the bios, there isn't much you can do with the drive. It may have suffered a failure that doesn't effect the tray opening and closing.

One last test you can try is to put a bootable disc in the drive and try to boot into that disc rather than your operating system on the hard drive. Any bootable disc will suffice, like a Linux live cd, or a Windows installation disc, or even a copy of the Ultimate boot cd

You might have to change the boot order in the bios and set it to boot to an optical drive first rather than the hdd.

If it will work using a boot disc, you know the drive is still functional. But I doubt this will work if it isn't showing up in the bios.

but if disc drive is not showing in bios how can i boot a disc then?

today i turned on my computer and the disc drive showed up in my computer then i clicked it and my computer stopped responding so i had to shut down my computer because i could not force close my computer

[Kerry56]

As I said, it probably is a waste of time if the computer isn't recognizing the drive. But trying to boot from the optical drive bypasses the operating system, and eliminates software as a possible problem.

Since the drive is now showing up intermittently, you might have a better shot than I originally thought.

And though you cannot update drivers for the optical drive, you might want to try reinstalling or updating the motherboard chipset drivers, as they contain the SATA drivers used by the controller on the board.

Hoser Rob's idea of trying the drive in another computer is really the only other alternative, and it is a good one. No friends willing to help out?

[jamespoo]

As I said, it probably is a waste of time if the computer isn't recognizing the drive. But trying to boot from the optical drive bypasses the operating system, and eliminates software as a possible problem.

Since the drive is now showing up intermittently, you might have a better shot than I originally thought.

And though you cannot update drivers for the optical drive, you might want to try reinstalling or updating the motherboard chipset drivers, as they contain the SATA drivers used by the controller on the board.

Hoser Rob's idea of trying the drive in another computer is really the only other alternative, and it is a good one. No friends willing to help out?

took the drive to mums house but i had no time to test my drive so i just took her drive she only used it twice and i know it work (also it reads all disc formats so its better then my one) so i put that into my computer and the bios could see it so i booted to windows put a cd in and then it was trying to load it but the computer froze so i restarted and bios can see it anymore

i will try and update the motherboard now hope this works thanks for your help

[jamespoo]

ok so i updated the bios also the motherboard chipset drivers restarted my computer it and the disc drive is showing in my computer but it just froze when i clicked on the cd drive now its not there anymore when i restarted the pc again

[Steve(MS)]

What OS do you have?
It sounds like your OS has become corrupt, either missing or corrupt files or perhaps some malware has screwed it up.

Could be other things no doubt.
What software are you trying to use?
For writing to disc, use ImgBurn.

Look in device manager and see if you see any 'yellow' marks by devices.

I suppose there is a chance that codecs out of control could cause various problems.

The list is too long of possible problems, including a bad optical drive.
Your hard drive could be dying...causing lockups.

Likely time for you to do some serious troubleshooting to find out what is going on.

[jamespoo]

What OS do you have?
It sounds like your OS has become corrupt, either missing or corrupt files or perhaps some malware has screwed it up.

Could be other things no doubt.
What software are you trying to use?
For writing to disc, use ImgBurn.

Look in device manager and see if you see any 'yellow' marks by devices.

I suppose there is a chance that codecs out of control could cause various problems.

The list is too long of possible problems, including a bad optical drive.
Your hard drive could be dying...causing lockups.

Likely time for you to do some serious troubleshooting to find out what is going on.

only thing in device manger that shows up with yellow !

but i don't think that is to do with the disc drive

i know this disc drive works

also if it was an os problem the bios should be able to see the drive right?

[gll99]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the fact you can open and close the disc tray. It's a good thing indicating it is receiving power but its a mechanical / electrical response and doesn't mean the drive is operational.

You've eliminated the drive itself and cabling as an issue by switching them out and it's near impossible to mess up sata connections so did you try a different sata port on the mb or do you always plug it into the same one?

btw) I'd uninstall that "yellow" device and let window find it again after a reboot.

[Steve(MS)]

Do you have some kind of "boot" cd disc you could try to see if the optical drive is working, bypassing the OS?
Stick it in and reboot to see what happens.
If it reads then the drive should be fine.

What OS are you using?

You could turn off all that optical "auto play" stuff in your OS so there is no conflict when you try to use some other program
with the optical drive..yet I have doubt that will help...might though according to what programs you are using.

If the device manager recognizes the optical drive then I would say it points back to OS problems or the hard drive.

Do all other programs open up and work correctly that are in no way tied to a optical drive...and without crashing or showing weird problems?
(No long hesitations for them to startup.)
Try starting up some/all programs and see if they are working correctly.

[jamespoo]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the fact you can open and close the disc tray. It's a good thing indicating it is receiving power but its a mechanical / electrical response and doesn't mean the drive is operational.

You've eliminated the drive itself and cabling as an issue by switching them out and it's near impossible to mess up sata connections so did you try a different sata port on the mb or do you always plug it into the same one?

btw) I'd uninstall that "yellow" device and let window find it again after a reboot.

ok i will uninstall it now also have tried other sata ports with no luck also the original drive and the one from my mums pc both work fine just not in my pc

[jamespoo]

hey guys i never thought to try the black sata port i only tried the 4 blue ones as i thought the other ports where just for hdds but i tried it and now the drive works im so happy