so i came home from school and my brother told me that my mom's laptop doesn't detect the dvd/cd rom drive (the drive icon doesn't show up in My Computer). he told me that the drive doesn't even open up (meaning he can't put any cd there). i thought he was just joking so i just shrugged it off. that was until i checked the laptop myself. he was right. the drive is not detected and the icon doesn't show up in the My Computer window. when i checked the drive, the drive light was on (just on, not blinking or anything). i tried pushing the open drive button but the drive doesn't even twitch or something (for lack of a better term). i checked the device manager and it doesn't indicate any dvd/cd rom drive (which was weird). i restarted the laptop and checked the bios and it doesn't indicate any dvd/cd rom drive (meaning it doesn't detect any drive). i'm kinda worried because my brother and i are the only ones who uses the laptop (even though it was my mom's laptop), and my mom might blame us for that.

the last thing i remember i've done using the drive was just burn a data cd (for backing up my files). i don't know if that would have any adverse affect on the drive or something. the last thing i've done in the laptop was to update the windows operating system using windows update and after i've installed all the updates, i've already closed the laptop and didn't do anything else.

the laptop's model is asus a6r. i'll have to check the website to see if i could get help from there as well.

have you tried taking the drive out and checking to make sure there is no gathered dust in the port preventing the connection?

Try taking it out, blowing on the port on the drive as well as the port in the laptop and then put it back in and see if that helps

um... i don't think that would be an option. i don't think i have the right to do that. after all, it's not my laptop. and even if i can do that, i probably won't do it because i'd be risking the laptop and might do more damage.

Taking the drive out will not harm the laptop. Most laptops have drives that slot into holes and connect via a few metal contacts. The drives on laptops resemble more external drives rather than the internal ones from desktops. They are perfectly protected and were originally designed to be removed, so you could put two batteries in, a floppy drive, another HDD.

If the BIOS can't detect it, then the problem does not lie with Windows updates or anything. The problem is hardware based, either the drive itself, the motherboard, or a connection between the two. Try opening the cd tray by poking a pin into the small hole near the button you normally push to open it. This should release the drive tray and it will open. If it doesn't open then it has been dropped or something and the components inside the drive have been destroyed. Using a pin to open it requires no power or connections, and doesn't mean that the electronics work, simply that the mechanics are working.

If you have two slots for drives, usually one on either side you could try swapping the drives around and seeing what happens. Often the hard drive occupies the other slot. Try swapping them over and see if the computer boots. If it doesn't then it can't access the HDD and its a connection problem. If it can access it then the CD drive is the problem.

so i'm assuming it's the connection problem and not the drive being destroyed since the drive light is still working. okay i'll check it. be back in a few.

i am also facing the same problem, my dvd rom combo cdr is also acting like that when switched the cable with my cdrom the pc wont boot

when i switch the cables back again it seems to work fine the pc starts and all, but the bios doesnt dectect it. It opens and closes fine

well if the light is workingand the drive is not working like this or the drive wont worke it could be the curcet bord in the drive is fulty/dameged/fried this kind of thing happend to me befor and i fixed the problem by replacing the drive and it worked fine after

if te laptop in new or still under worrenty bring it back to ware you got it and theyll take care of it for you but if its not try taking the drive out and swapping the bays if the plaptop allows it but if not try taking a cant of compressed air and blowinging it out if that dont work DO NOT TAKE APART THE DRIVE its safe to say get a new drive

I'm having the same problem with my laptop the drive opens and closes I can put cds and movies in it but it wont read them or even acknowledge them being in my computer.. when I look in my computer it doesnt show a drive even being there soo I'm gonna try what you guys said to do and see if it works but I was kind of thinking it might be just windows or somthing cuz I tried running ubuntu and seeing and it works fine soo I know its not the drive but ill try either way just in case

I'm also having the same problem in my lappy but the drive is opening & closing so that I can put cd's in da drive.

May be its a problem with windows vista or may be a problem due to any new virus that my anti-virus couldn't detect.

okie...... I'll format my lappy & if problem persists then I'll send dat to hp care-center thats da last option I could see.

-Nishabd