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Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

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Latest post 11/04/2009 06:21 PM by osprey4. 6 replies.
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Joined on 06/16/2009
Posts: 5
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Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

17 Jun 2009 09:34AM

2005 model

ONLY Recent change : Installed 2 512 mb Kingston memory sticks to bring up memory to 1.25 GIG on this box.

 

Now the CD drive will not show up in any views and when I go to Device manager it does not even show up with a yellow ? in there.

I figured the drive just went bad, so installed another CD drive I had in another machine that I KNOW works and same thing.

I have tried to run add a Hardware device wizard and everything else I can think of including making sure the device driver for the IDE channel was up to date.

Any ideas?

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6 Replies:

New Mexico, USA
Joined on 08/26/2001
Posts: 11,714
Points 14,008

Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

17 Jun 2009 10:44AM

When a drive disappears from the Device Manager, it is
usually a connection problem.  Since you were in the case
installing memory, you may have disturbed the IDE cable.
Often overlooked is the connection of that cable at the
motherboard.  Follow the IDE cable to the motherboard
and redo the connection there to see if that helps.

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Joined on 06/16/2009
Posts: 5
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Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

17 Jun 2009 11:04AM

Yea, I did that like 3 times as had same thought.  Also checked the jumper settings on the drive to ensure was same as old drive I replaced.

Also, when I do the F12 at bootup and go in and check for Boot paths it says the CDROM is not installed.

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Joined on 06/16/2009
Posts: 5
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Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

17 Jun 2009 11:40AM

New update:    This morning the CD drive all of a "sudden" mysteriously shows up when looking at " My Computer"

No idea why this machine had nbeen re-started numerous times during this period.   I never got the " new hardware found"  messages.

Problem is now that even though it showed up, it will not read anything.

Also forgot to mention OS is XP Home Edition with SP3

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Joined on 06/16/2009
Posts: 5
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Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

19 Jun 2009 11:07AM

another update.

This is actually my neighbors PC and he told me wrong.  The CD drive still does not show up anywhere, not in device mgr or My Computer.

I KNOW this drive worked when I installed it in there cause I tested it on the box I took it out of.

Does this mean motherboard is bad to not see this drive anymore?

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Joined on 06/16/2009
Posts: 5
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Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

03 Nov 2009 04:53PM

Last update I will post:

11-2-09

This issue was never resolved.....I did replace the drive with a known working drive and same result.   Finally just gave up and have no CD drive.
there is a weird Microsoft repair patch you could try ( did not work for me but has others)

Disclaimer:   I am not responsible for any issues it may cause.

read about it here:


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

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South Jersey
Joined on 07/06/2001
Posts: 31,196
Points 60,192

Re: Dell Dimension 4600 CD drive wont show up

04 Nov 2009 06:21PM

Hi, dplantz:

That article is not a patch but refers to the well known upper/lower filters solution. Since in your case, the CD does not show up in the BIOS, removing the filters is not going to help.

One of two problems is most likely the cause:

1. Bad IDE cable

2. Drive jumper not set to cable select.

Please post back and let me know if you need more help. If my suggestions have helped you solve your problem, you can click Accepted Solution next to my post to tell other forum users where they can find help. Feel free to send me a PM if you like, but I will post suggestions in the forum, not by private message.

Osprey

CD/DVD FAQ

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