Also got laptop probs

[hairyasswelder]

 My laptop is feeling poorly,
I have been trying to use the dvd and the comp wil not recognise it even though it is built with it. I thought the drive was u/s so got another ££££££
Now looking through it somehow it has been disabled but I dont have a clue how to do it

HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP          

[strapping young lad]

you need to be a bit more specific...

what is the make/model of the laptop, also spec if you have it

if its from dell or hp or compaq, did you build it with the supplied cd's?

the brand new laptop i have here from work wont install owt from an xp install disc, doesnt recognise the gfx card, audio, network, wifi, nowt so i have to build it with suppiled drivers or im up the swanny.

maybe yours is the same, needs the proper discs for the drivers

[The Landy Guy]

i found this people are really good

they sorted my problem out straight away

http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/

[hairyasswelder]

It is an IBM thinkpad R50e 1.4 celeron m, with win xp home preloaded, approx 16 months old and never been a problem,
The drive is a dvd rw combo as fitted at factory and was working

If i go into the IBM recovery it has a red asterix beside cd rom and says disabled, i dont know how to 'enable' it and dont know why it is disabled  :?

Will try the link, thanks

Steve

[hobbit]

Have you got into the BIOS with it, and had a look through there?

[Wolfie]

Have you tried the simple possibility?

start>Control panel>system>Hardware>device manager
then right click on the device and choose enable.


It's probably more complicated than that, but that's about the limit of my technical knowledge.

[hairyasswelder]

Have you tried the simple possibility?

start>Control panel>system>Hardware>device manager
then right click on the device and choose enable.


It's probably more complicated than that, but that's about the limit of my technical knowledge.

Says there is only a hard drive  :oops:

How do we do the bios?? (wheres the thick emoticom :roll: )

Steve

[hobbit]

Had a word with my mate, he knows these better than I do, to enter the bios, on boot up try pressing F9, if that isn't the one work your way thruough the F keys

Another way may be press a load of keys on powerup, it should come up with an error and ask if you want to go into setup

He's going by using other models of thinkpad, so its a bit of hit and miss, and not sure if this will do the trick or not

Good luck

[marjan]

To get to the Bios on my Thinkpad you press F1 at startup. I think this is where you are most likely to find and cure the problem. If you are not used to going into the Bios then be careful as you can cock things up totally if you are not careful.

[hobbit]

To get to the Bios on my Thinkpad you press F1 at startup. I think this is where you are most likely to find and cure the problem. If you are not used to going into the Bios then be careful as you can cock things up totally if you are not careful.

True, be careful, look for a setting like

Load Optimal settings

[Evilgoat]

This seems to be a common problem of late :)

Go into control panel, find the drive, click properties and it'll show something like:

'The device could not star, code xx'

Go type that EXACT phrase into google and the 2nd/3rd link will take you to a Microsoft Article on how to fix it.

Seen this 5 times in about a month, tis odd that is showing up all of a sudden.

It seems that plugging a USB CD-Rom in will fix it sometimes too, plug in, let it install drivers and unplug and all will be well.

[hairyasswelder]

It was F1  :D
The drive has totally disappeared  :?  not in bios  :? not in control panel  :roll:  just gone  #-o

Tried changing for default settings, booted up, 'found new hardware' cd/dvd an still it does not work nor even exist  :roll:

Seriously confused  :?:  :?:  :?:

Steve

[freelanderpx54]

Go to the microsoft site and check out the Knowledge base. Put a search question "Drive not recognised" and it should give you instuctions (somewhere) on how to change the registry. It is something to do with a numerical change on the registry.

Have you downloaded some trial photo or CD/DVD burning software? SOme programs stuff your PC when you unload them

Cheers
John

[hairyasswelder]

I have norton security installed but I dont download anything but windows updates and dont burn dodgy dvds or anything a bit iffy.
Will look at microsoft as I dont have a usb drive to plug in as suggested earlier   :?

Thanks
Steve

[Thrasher]

Norton? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

/me runs a mile screaming....make it stop make it stop

(and just to qualify I have my own software company!)

[greasemonkey]

Hi go to control panel-system-device manger-double click cdrom drives-high light the defective drive-right mouse and click-uninstall
then come right out and shut down don't re start --once all is turned off wait 5 minutes and start laptop it should find and install the drive if it doesn't then either you have lost the drivers(unlikely as they are basic atapi drivers and never get lost) or the drive is biffed(more likely to be cables not plugged in right)
regards
Steve