Lost Drive

[sharon5804]

I have an older computer with windows ME. My kids use it for games and etc.
I got on it today to take pictures off my digital camera and I only have a,cand d drive. The other day I had e as well. I am trying system restore right now. did I mess up by connecting my digital camera. Please help more information will follow as I try different things.:dizzy:

[degsy]

Was E a second harddrive, a partition of the main drive, a CD/DVD, a USB/External device???

[sharon5804]

It was a CD/DVD drive. However I now have even larger problems. I tried system restore and it said I could not restore. so I have a rescue disk I made from the Mcaffe on that computer. Now its giving me a error say reading drive E and has just froze up. I can't remember how to get a prompt back so I can type help. This is a bad deal for an illiterate. Also I really need spell check to use this site.:dizzy: sharon

[degsy]

goto Control Panel>System>Device Manager>

under the CD section see if the device is still listed.
If it is goto the properties and see if you can change the Drive Letter.

[sharon5804]

No it was not listed there. I went at it every way I could think of to try to find it. However if I can't get the stupid computer back to Windows ME I can't find anything else out.thanks sharon:dizzy:

[degsy]

Does the drive show in the POST screen?

Here is an example of a post screen
http://www.degs.co.uk/test/cyber/post2.jpg

[sharon5804]

Heres exactly what is on my screen:CDR101 is not ready reading Drive E:
Abort, Retry,Fail
A:\

[degsy]

That seems more like a hardware error.

Check the cables to make sure they are secure.
Does the drive still power up? Any LEDs? Can you eject the draw?

[hypnotizeminds]

sharon5804,

Do you have any other optical drives (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc) installed on your system that still work?

[sharon5804]

Okay, now have win me back went into system. Still only shows one drive. Both Cd drives light when my computer boots up. I put a cd in the top one and it does not read. If I put one in the second it holds it hostage and keeps running. The only way to get the disk out it turn off the computer. I am thinking maybe when I connected my camera to a usb port in back that it confused the computer kinda like it does me. All my cables are tight and everything is ok. I can't figure out even which drive the computer is acknowledging. I put a disk in each and type the letters they used to be and try to run. It doesn't even read the disk. Yes I checked the disk on this computer to make sure the information was readable. Bedtime maybe I can dream it to work.


Sharon, Thank you again for all your help.:dizzy:

[THE LOCKER]

HI SHARON,

HOPE THAT YOU SLEPT WELL.

TRY THIS:

SWITCH THE COMPUTER ON AND AS IT IS BOOTING HOLD DOWN OR RAPIDLY TAP THE DELETE KEY. THIS WILL GET YOU INTO THE BIOS.

USE THE ARROW DOWN KEY TO SCROLL DOWN TO 'ADVANCED SETUP' AND PRESS ENTER.

USE THE DOWN ARROW TO SCROLL DOWN TO 'DETECT ALL DRIVES' WHEN THERE PRESS ENTER.

PRESS Esc

USE THE DOWN ARROW TO SCROLL DOWN TO 'EXIT' AND PRESS F10 THEN 'Y' THEN 'ENTER'.

YOUR COMPUTER SHOULD THEN CONTINUE TO BOOT UP AND UNLESS THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE RADICALLY WRONG YOU SHOULD FIND THAT THE CD/DVD DRIVES THAT YOU HAVE NOW WORK AS THEY SHOULD.

IF YOU GO INTO 'MY COMPUTER' YOU SHOULD SEE LISTED ALL THE DRIVES THAT YOU HAVE.

GOOD LUCK

DAVE

[sharon5804]

I have tried but have been unsucessfull at getting in to BIOS. Sharon:dizzy:

[hypnotizeminds]

SWITCH THE COMPUTER ON AND AS IT IS BOOTING HOLD DOWN OR RAPIDLY TAP THE DELETE KEY. THIS WILL GET YOU INTO THE BIOS.
Most systems use the F2 key to enter the BIOS setup program. Delete is used not nearly as often.

[sharon5804]

Got into BIOS finally! However didn't see anywhere to detect all drives. If it will help this is on an old computer with Phoenix Bios. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Thanks all,
Sharon:dizzy:

[Landon]

The screen shot that you posted...

Where it says PRIMARY SLAVE is where your E: drive is supposed to be, if it cannot be found here it has nothing to do with Windows, the motherboard itself cannot find it, I'm taking a wild guess that one of the following has happened:
1 - It died.
2 - The cable has somehow come loose (from the CD-ROM end of the cable).
or
3 - Someone went into the BIOS (without your knowedge) and turned the interface for the PRIMARY SLAVE off (highly unlikely).

Try pulling the drive out and install it in another computer (roommate's, friends, etc.) and see if another computer can "see" the drive, if another computer cannot find it it is dead.

Also - while in the PRIMARY SLAVE position it should be sharing the same cable as your hard drive.

Hope this helps!

[sharon5804]

I think it probably has died<I am however going to take it out and put it in this and see if it works. It may take a few days but I'll geterdone.

Thanks again
Sharon,
:rotflmao: