# XP can't see CD-ROM drives **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911 "2002-03-24T23:17:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911/1 "2002-03-24T23:17:34Z")
A friend is haveing problems with her XP box. She deleted her Norton Protected Recycle bin and now she cant access her CDROMs. The cables are good and mobo is good because the HD’s work on(in) them. We are having issues finding drivers to replace the stock XP ones. I **know** thats its something stupid that I’m overlooking but for the life of me I cant figure it out. Has this happened to anybody else? We have replaced the drivers, uninstalled the drivers and did the windows restore thing all to no avail. Any ideas? dead0man ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911/2 "2002-03-24T23:44:33Z")
In times like this I clear the Bios NVRAM–which remembers what’s in the computer. If it doesn’t change, it doesn’t know there is something new in the computer. Can be a few otehr things. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911/3 "2002-03-25T04:09:54Z")
Does “drives” mean that one of the drives is a CD-RW? If so, did your friend (un)install Adaptec’s Easy CD Creator? If so, then a registry fix might be in order, as the same thing happened to me (albeit under Win2K) a few months ago. A quick check of Microsoft’s support documents (or whatever they call 'em) should yield a solution fairly quickly. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911/4 "2002-03-25T16:36:42Z")
You could also try the startup disk to see if it can see the drives. ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-cant-see-cd-rom-drives/99911/5 "2002-03-25T19:07:11Z")
Odd… by ‘can’t access’ I assume you mean that XP sees the CD drives, but anything actually in the drive is in la-la-land as far as XP is cncerned? The one time I had a problem with that, a program I installed for a workaround for something else had disabled the CD drives. Solution: re-enable them. A similar problem I had under 98: a mistaken driver update made 98 lose the CD drives all together, but the BIOS could still see them. Solution: uninstall the HD drivers, reboot, force 98 to use the orignal HD drivers. Boom, there were my CD drives back. Has a ‘simple’ re-installation of XP done any good? If it asks, have it use the orginal (older) drivers instead of any new ones it finds. Good luck! * * * \<\< Give me chocolate and no one gets hurt. \>\>