DVD drive disappeared

stucchiguy · 03 Mar 2013

The DVD drive in my several year old Compaq Presario laptop stopped working. Inserting a music, video or program DVD or CD causes the drive to whir for a few seconds and then nothing.

Assuming the driver was old or corrupted I checked the device manager and couldn't find a DVD drive listed. Checked My Computer for drives and didn't see it there either.

Looking for advice on reinstalling the DVD drive. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium, installed over XP about 2 years ago with no previous problems.

Any thoughts appreciated.

UsernameIssues · 03 Mar 2013

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

See if this info helps:
Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

ICIT2LOL · 03 Mar 2013

Hello and welcome also stucchi have you considered the drive might be dead mate - easy to fix just whip out the old install a new one end of problem. The are not expensive to by these days and easy to do this if you are confident enough.

One tip though do the job with the laptop placed on a spread out towel of a decent size cos if you drop the very small screws they will not clatter onto the floor they will usually bounce once and land back on the towel (white is good colour for seeing the little devils:)

See How to disassemble Compaq Presario F700 notebook >> Inside my laptop

if the problem persists after that then it can be a software problem but check that out first as User says.

FuturDreamz · 04 Mar 2013

ICit2lol said:

Hello and welcome also stucchi have you considered the drive might be dead mate - easy to fix just whip out the old install a new one end of problem. The are not expensive to by these days and easy to do this if you are confident enough.

One tip though do the job with the laptop placed on a spread out towel of a decent size cos if you drop the very small screws they will not clatter onto the floor they will usually bounce once and land back on the towel (white is good colour for seeing the little devils:)

See How to disassemble Compaq Presario F700 notebook >> Inside my laptop

if the problem persists after that then it can be a software problem but check that out first as User says.

The trick is to either get a replacement drive for the same model, or to swap the faceplate. both are potentially difficult.

ICIT2LOL · 05 Mar 2013

I agree FD but I have found it is not so much of a problem fitting a new drive as the majority area standard fitting just like Hard drives or RAM but more that that face plate may not in all instances fit the new drive.

If that is the case then it is up to the owner to either find a genuine replacement - in my experience unless it is a very new or reasonably new machine can be a pain in itself.