my two drives used to work but not any more. the dvd-rw drive does not work at all anymore, and the cd -rw can play games, cds, but not dvd (which it used to). both drives could do everything except one burn dvds and one only burn cds and play dvds. It happened all of a sudden for no reason, and i have the master and slave settings set right. how do i fix this?

Howdy jjtbejazzin.

Your CD-RW used to be able to play DVD's? now that is weird.

Anyway lets try solve this, it is possible that the drives have become dirty over the years.

• The first and possibly best thing to do would be to purchase a CD lense cleaner. Run the lense cleaner on both drives and see whether it solves the problem.
• Try to change IDE cables because the currect one maybe faulty.

i just installed a game less then a week ago and now the cd -rw drive doesnt work at all also. that doesnt make any sense. i switched the ide cables but still same problem

i was switching around wires a few days ago but i did put them back where the were.

Try them one at a time , maybe there is a conflict. Or maybe the psu is to weak/beginning to fail.

psu?, i tried them sepearte by disconecting one then the other, still does not work.

PSU = Power supply unit.

Do the drives work on their own, i.e disconnect the power/IDE on one drive, turn the machine on and see whether it works.

Do the same for the other drive and let us know the outcome.