lost drives

**james mckie** · January 24th, 2004, 04:06 PM

i have lost all my 3 drives from my computer after installing and uninstalling a few copying programs, i have had same prob few years back and had to change some registry entries but i havn't got a clue which ones, any help would be much appreciated.
James Mckie

**eboyjones** · January 24th, 2004, 07:29 PM

welcome, and what operating system? Does your c:/ boot at all even in safe mode?

**james mckie** · January 24th, 2004, 08:27 PM

operating system xp pro hard drive works fine just my three disc drives

**confus-ed** · January 25th, 2004, 05:07 AM

Originally Posted by james mckie

operating system xp pro hard drive works fine just my three disc drives

Still need to clarify a bit more ... missing 'completely' or showing in device manager but not in my computer ?

**eboyjones** · January 25th, 2004, 05:30 AM

also what were these "copying programs"? and what 3 drives don't work?cdrom,zip,cd-rw,external etc.

**james mckie** · January 25th, 2004, 05:48 AM

drives that are missing are dvd, cdrw + dvdrw the drives are shown in device manager with alert icons says drivers installed but cant find devices. i had installed both xcopy plat and instant dvd 6.5 and removed both hope this further info helps

**confus-ed** · January 25th, 2004, 06:02 AM

Originally Posted by james mckie

drives that are missing are dvd, cdrw + dvdrw the drives are shown in device manager with alert icons says drivers installed but cant find devices. i had installed both xcopy plat and instant dvd 6.5 and removed both hope this further info helps

Any other yellow exlamation or red x's ? particulary for 'IDE ata/atapi controllers ?'

You might like to try starting in safe mode, log-in as administrator & delete the errant devices, windows should re-find them anyway next time you restart 'properly' - hopefully correctly

(maybe not but worth a 'go' now).

No other writing s/w 'left' to complicate matters ?

**james mckie** · January 25th, 2004, 06:14 AM

no other fault icons on any other devices i have other writing software installed but not that is new and been messed with .i have left a message for noo noo as it was noo noo that helped out last time i had this prob at that time i was instructed to alter the registrty which worked straight away so i think i would like to try this route first before i try anything else.thanks for all your help

**confus-ed** · January 25th, 2004, 06:28 AM

Okay then so if I'm not 'good-enough' we'll let her make an appearance

In the meantime I shall amuse myself by making a 'physic' prediction !

Upper & lower filters

CD-ROM Drive or DVD-ROM Drive Missing After You Install Windows XP - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 320553

**james mckie** · January 25th, 2004, 06:52 AM

Thanks for the info confus-ed, tried it worked i remember it was same thing as before but theres that many reg keys it would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack without that webpage i appreciate all your help and noo noos last time, thanks again hope i wont speak to you soon (meant in a good way)