Device manager does not recognize cd-rw/dvd

Hello. I'm brand new to these forums and have very little understanding about hardware. I have been having difficulty with my computer recognizing my cd-rw/dvd drive. The drive literally arrived yesterday, and I cannot get Windows to recognize it.

I have a IBM Thinkpad R32 that's just under 2 years old with one of those Ultrabay devices that allows you to swap drives from floppy to cd-rom to cd-rw, etc. The weird part is that my computer recognizes the floppy drive when I put it in, but not the cd-rw or the cd-rom drives. I am putting the drives in the device the same way, so I am assuming that it is seated properly in the device. I am running Windows XP Home and my cd-rw/dvd drive is Model number GCC-424ON-IMCO. I have no idea if that's helpful, but I thought I'd provide it anyway.

I've gone through all the troubleshooting steps IBM has provided on their website, including making sure the latest BIOS has been installed, etc. Right after that happened, and I rebooted the computer, I did see the d:\ drive appear in my computer, but if you clicked on it, nothing happened (I had a IBM CD-RW & DVD-ROM Software & User's Guide cd in there). Later, I refreshed the view and the d:\ disappeared.

I've also tried to scan for new hardware from my device manager. The first time I did it, it worked--it found my cd-rw/dvd drive. It read the cd for about 20 seconds and then stopped completely, and then everything disappeared again from device manager. Now if I try to scan for new hardware again, it doesn't find anything new.

Finally, I've tried using IBM's own "automated solution" from their website to try to "troubleshoot cd or dvd hardware problems". The site apparently scans my computer to find the cd or dvd drive. It says that it cannot find one on my computer.

I'm at a loss here. Any suggestions for me?

one more thing--after reading some of the other similar threads here, I did reboot my computer and checked the BIOS to see if it recognized the cd-rw/dvd drive. It doesn't--I couldn't find the drive in the config if that's where I'm supposed to look.

Welcome to Windrivers j

where did you get this cdrw from? Does it have a warrantee? I hope so, because it sounds like it's faulty.

Thanks, NooNoo, for replying. I receive the brand new cd-rw from IBM. IT does have a warranty--I can return it without a problem in 30 days and it's under warranty for a year. My question is how can you tell if it's the drive itself or something weird going on with my operating system? The reason I ask is because I ordered the new cd-rw/dvd drive after my cd-rom drive stopped working. I figured it was the cd-rom drive itself and wanted to "upgrade" anyway.

The short and quick answer is to put the drive in another similar machine - if it does the same thing, its bad. However, this is going into a bay on a laptop, so it could be the bay is faulty here.

You guessed it, check the cdrw is NOT faulty, therefore making the bay suspect.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NooNoo

The short and quick answer is to put the drive in another similar machine - if it does the same thing, its bad. However, this is going into a bay on a laptop, so it could be the bay is faulty here.

You guessed it, check the cdrw is NOT faulty, therefore making the bay suspect.

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I have the same problem. 2 yr old r32. old cd/rw went intermittent. upgraded to cd/rw/dvd from IBM. New drive recognized once when drivers cd was in drive. Updated bios, updated drivers, trouble shot. Returned drive under warrently and received another... same problems.

What was your resolution?? Was ultrabay 2000 slot the problem or since drive was detected only before new drivers were installed were the drivers the problem?

Welcome to windrivers Tlass
You could try clicking the pm button at the bottom of j-fo78's post to message him directly to see if he got a fix.

If not, you will need to find someone to with the same ultrabay and see if your drive works with it.

Did anyone ever get a resolution to this problem?

Dick Steflik