Hi,

I've been searching the internet for solutions to this problem, and nothing works so far...
I have a Pentium IV windows XP PC with 2 internal CD drives installed.
I recently got a new internal SONY DVD writer drive to replace one of the CD writer drives.
I wasnt able to get it to work so tried various configurations of IDE cables and jumper settings with no success. I am now unable to get ANY of the CD/DVD drives to work - either the new or the old one, even if I go back to the original configuration.
Currently I'm just trying to get the original drive to read CDs. I've got it plugged in as Master to the secondary IDE cable. It powers up OK, and I can eject CDs. I dont know much about BIOS, but it seems to be recognised correctly on start up as far as I can tell. Its seen by Device Manager which doesnt indicate any problems. However although the drive is seen by explorer anything I put in (data or audio CDs) shows as blank. I'm unable to see or play any type of CD.

I've tried the following, with no success:
- Replaced secondary IDE cable with a new one
- Made sure that the drive is fitted to the correct slot on the IDE cable and the jumper is set as 'Master'- tried 2 different drives and 2 different cables.
- Unistalled drive and reboot, uninstalled and reinstalled driver (many times!). Windows does recognise the drive as new hardware on start up if it is removed, and reinstalls the driver, but it doesnt solve the problem.
- Tried editing the registry to remove the 'Upperfilters' and 'Lowerfilters' entries as recommended in several places, didnt work.
- Uninstalled Nero
- Uninstalled Winamp (I originally thought this might be why it wasnt playing audio CDs so reinstalled it- no success so now uninstalled again)
- Removed the 'PowerupXP' utility I had running (Ashampoo software) after restoring the PC to the original settings

I think the fact the problem occurs with new and old hardware rules out any obvious hardware problem. To make the problem more irritating, I've started getting windows installer asking for the Microsoft office CD every time I reboot- no apparent reason for this- but I cant fix it as I dont have a CD drive to use...

I'm not a PC expert and running out of ideas... I need the PC to play music!
Any suggestions gratefully recieved.

I forgot to mention I have tried the doug knox 'restore CD/ DVD drives to explorer' fix linked above, which also didnt work.

Have you tired to update the driver from the device manager. And have you made sure it has not been disabled in teh device manager, in the device manager highlight your device, right click and select properties and at the botton theere is a drop down menu, make sure use this device (enable) is selected.

I had a similar problem in the past and it was the the drive but the fact that they both dont work tells the device is fine.

Good luck

Thanks for the reply- unfortunately no luck, it is enabled and I have already tried updating the driver, Windows says it has the latest one.

I'm beginning to think I might have to reinstall windows...

Well good luck, I just had to do a re-install to and so i know how you feel.

I have another question, are you sure the Cd's you are putting in are compatible for PC as all Cd's are not, and Have you tired a bunch, if you look at the back of the case for the CD it will tell you if it is MAC or PC compatible. I am looking through my text books for some assistance on this one. Lets see what i can find.