DVD drive disappears

Hi. My Sony Optiarc DVD drive keeps disappearing from 'Devices with Removable Storage'. Sometimes I look and it's reappeared including whatever disc is in it, but then after a while it vanishes again. The drive physically works, flashing light comes on when disc is inserted, opens and closes fine. If I open and close the drive with a disc still in it, the light flashes to say it's loading it but it still doesn't appear on screen under Computer//Devices with Removable Storage. Some windows corruption?

The standard fixes for this are:

• Hardware devices are not working or are not detected in Windows
  
  
• Fix problems with CD or DVD drives that can

Let us know whether you still need help after running those.

Thanks for the links. I just got this though

Could it be a loose physical connector, like the sata?

It could. Have you checked all your connections? It could also be a bad cable, or even the connectors themselves on the drive or motherboard.

Avoid Static Damage to Your PC when checking the connection and connectors.

Well I dusted out the pc today. All connections were fine which kind of disappointed me as I was hoping to find the sata connector loose for an easy fix. Anyway, I blew and brushed out the sata connectors at both ends and the sockets. So far, that seems to have fixed it. The DVD drive is visible and not disappearing. Must have been dust or perhaps the connectors needed a nano of a millimetre further push into the sockets.

That's good news! Let us know how things are going in a few days. Hopefully the problem does not rear its ugly head again and the dust/reconnect fixed it.

writhziden said:

That's good news! Let us know how things are going in a few days. Hopefully the problem does not rear its ugly head again and the dust/reconnect fixed it.

Yeah. Well, so far, still so good. I'll report back if it changes.

Awesome! Looks like it is solved. :)