CD/DVD ROM drive 'gone' from PC - still a prob :o(

[CW1]

Hi,
Posted http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Comp uters/Question803677.html where a CD/DVD ROM drive's disappeared from PC, & was suggested (among other things) looking at hidden devices from Device Manager - it's still not there ! We're gonna get that PC & mine together & swap the drives, see if his really is u/s, but any suggestions what the prob could be if it's not the drive ? This is really getting to be a pain so would be grateful for advice !

[ChuckFickens]

have you checked the motherboard end of the cable is pushed in firmly?

will the drawer open if you press the eject button?

Does it show up in the BIOS? (don't worry about looking in the BIOS, as long as you quit without saving nothing will be changed)

[CW1]

Hi ChuckFickens,
Haven't checked the motherboard end of the cable, will do that when I get the PC. The drawer does open, the drive itself looks perfectly ok. And I'll have a look at the BIOS when I get it too (if I can remember how to get to it !).
D'you reckon there's any danger of damaging MY drive by installing it in HIS PC, or vice versa damaging my PC installing his drive in it ?

[ChuckFickens]

there is no danger at all in swapping drives.

[CW1]

Ok, hope you're still around, ChuckFickens ... ;o)

Checked connections on motherboard. All seem ok - hard drive would be affected anyway, wouldn't it ?

Have swapped drives. The original, 'faulty' one works fine in my PC so prob's not with the drive.
My working drive doesn't work in the faulty PC.
On faulty drive, swapped the 20 pin connector with the one on the hard drive, that's fine so it's not that.
Now, have no power (drawer won't open, was fine yesterday !)), have tried both free plugs. :o(
Only other one is connected to the hard drive. If I swap the power plug that's attached to the hard drive to one that won't work in the DVD drive, could I blow the hard drive ?

Checked BIOS. Nothing about CD/DVD ROM drive in there though there is in my working PC.

What else could it be ?? :o((

[ChuckFickens]

on the wide ribbon cable you need to make sure the edge with the red stripe is closest to the power connector on the drive.

if it's connected to the same cable as your hard drive then make sure the drive is set to be the slave device in the chain.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000415.ht m#02

[CW1]

Thanks for that, you're a star, but apparently it's been sorted by someone else, though I don't understand how.

He had a 2nd hard drive installed too which, because there's only 512mb memory, had fried (huh ?). Don't get that 'cos apparently the old hard drive was connected directly to the ribbon, with the C: drive connected direct to that. Anyway, that was removed and there was a SATA ribbon tucked in behind (!!??). So now, the IDE ribbon's been removed and the SATA ribbon used and while it's s-l-o-w, it's all usable. Oh, and I'd already checked the ROM drive was set as slave.

Now while I'm not a techie, I'm not a complete numpty, and I don't understand why both ribbons were there in the 1st place, let alone how a hard drive and a ROM drive are both IDE and SATA compatible (or even the motherboard !). So when I was asked in the original question if it was IDE or SATA, the answer's actually - both !

I don't get it but I'd really like to, for no reason other than - what's the set up on MY PC then ? I thought IDE, now I don't know ...