Multiple Optical Drives

[Illyriad]

I've got a BDROM and 2 DVDROMs in my computer, but can't get them to all function at the same time. At first I thought one of my DVD drives was broken, as my computer only recognised the BD and 1 DVD, until after a restart the nonfunctioning DVD drive was working but the other disappeared. The non functioning DVD is not recognised anywhere on my computer (Device Manager, Disk Management or My Computer) and switches between my first and second DVD drive every few start ups, the BDROM always works. Is there any reason I can't have 3 optical drives functioning at once??

Illyriad.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Clarification; you want all three drives to work simultaneously or just have all three to be able to function properly.

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Illyriad and welcome to Windows 7 Forums

I take it that the BDROM is connected via the SATA interface and that the DVDROMs are connected via PATA. Check that the data cable is inserted securely into both drives and the motherboard socket, and that you have correctly positioned the jumpers. I don't recommend the Cable Select (CS) position, instead explicitly set the drives as MAster (the one on the end of the cable) and SLave (the drive on the middle connector). Also ensure that the power connectors are secure.

 

[Illyriad]

@ Bassfisher, I'd like them all to function properly, my computer only recognises 2 at any given time.

@ Dwarf, All 3 are Sata and all 3 work, just not at the same time, so I don't think it's an issue with faulty connections, power or data. It's been suggested it's most likely a registry problem, as different drives are enabled in different startups, but I've no idea how to fix it.

Regards, Illyriad

 

[RhapsodyOfFire]

You can try flashing the bios.
You can try deleting the filters. Read here and follow the steps:
DVD drive not recognized in Windows 7! | Windows 7 Themes
Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs -here is an automation tool/fix from Microsoft.

 

[Dwarf]

You say that they all work, but not at the same time. Are they always all being detected in the BIOS?

 

[Illyriad]

@Rhapsody, already deleted registry filters and run the Microsoft thing, it only detects the 2 drives that are active

@Dwarf, niether of the DVD drives come up under Sata in the BIOS which confuses me even more, they're definetly on Sata cables, though the 2 DVD drives are on a sort of secondary bit, as in there's one housing on the motherboard that my HDDs and Blu ray are plugged into and next to is another that the DVD drives are plugged in to, dunno if that helps?

Illyriad

 

[Illyriad]

All 3 do come up when I do the Flash Bios though...

 

[Illyriad]

These are the Sata specs on my moutherboard

Intel ICH10R : Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 6 x 7pin Serial ATA - 6 device(s) - RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 10 / RAID 5,
Marvell 88SE9128 : Serial ATA-600 - connector(s): 2 x 7pin Serial ATA - 2 device(s),
JMicron JMB362 : Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 1 x 7pin Serial ATA, 1 x 11pin powered external SATA - 2 device(s)

I'm assuming the Intel Sata are my HDDs and Blu ray, the Marvell is my DVDs and the JMicron is my external Sata port

 

[seekermeister]

I'm not certain that I understand, is that external drive connected directly to the motherboard's eSATA, or via an addin card? Don't know anything about the builtin eSATA, but if an addin card is used, the drive won't be detected directly by the BIOS, and will have it's own separate BIOS screen. That doesn't necessarily affect Windows from detecting it, because I have one of my 3 optical drives connected via an addin card, and all 3 work okay at the same time...except that one that I have connected via PATA is sometimes hit and miss.

 

[Illyriad]

I don't use the external Sata port for anything atm, but it's not located with the others, it's at the rear with the USB plugs and that. The DVD drives, from what I can tell, are on the Marvell connector, which is right next to the Intel one, at the front of the motherboard. It's an Asus Sabertooth X58 if you wanna have a look, you'll see there's 8 Sata plugs, 6 in a black housing, 2 in a grey housing, my DVD drives are in the grey one

 

[alphanumeric]

Sounds like the optical drives in Question may be on the RAID SATA ports. If so double check to make sure RAID is disabled in the BIOS and that the RAID ports can be used as regular SATA ports.

 

[profdlp]

My housemate has an ASUS P6T with the Marvel controller. As I recall, when I was setting it up for her I read somewhere that you couldn't run anything but a HDD off of it. Which drives are hooked to which controller?

 

[Illyriad]

@alphanumeric, the Marvell controller is set to IDE, with the option of AHCI, which didn't work either =[

@profdlp, HDDs and blu ray are on Intel and DVDs are on Marvell