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#1
DVD drives disappear after Windows 7 install
This is strange - AND driving me nuts. After a green light from the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate x32 on an HP Pavilion a6530f. I expected some software issues, and chose the 32-bit version to keep those to a minimum. The machine belongs to a client who is quite attached to some old programs.
Installation went great and one of the first things I did was test his printer. I was so happy when, without any interference from me, his printer worked. But then he asked me to try printing a CD label, something he does a lot, and I realized I needed to install the whole Epson kit & kaboodle. I used one of his DVD drives to do so. Still having problems, I found an Epson Windows 7 upgrade to download and that got his labels going. Thought things were great....
BUT, after a reboot, I noticed his DVD drives were no longer visible in My Computer. They ARE in BIOS AND Device Manager. I KNOW the drives were there before, so I know that, in some configuration, Windows 7 CAN handle his drives on this machine. They just don't anymore.
I searched in vain for BIOS updates, drivers, firmware, but HP apparently doesn't support Windows 7 on this particular model. It seems crazy, because I'm typing this on an HP notebook which has a much slower processor and half the RAM but comes with Windows 7 Home Premium x64.
When I ask Windows to search for driver updates, it tells me they're already updated. I've tried uninstalling both drives (not physically) and that doesn't work, either. Needless to say, they've stopped reading discs.
So I'm wondering if there's a work-around, or if I should try 7 x64 (his machine originally came with Vista x64, but I "upgraded" it to XP.) The machine is NOT on the list of HP machines which handle Win 7, as I found out as I dug around. :/