I am working off of Win XP. Somehow my cd rom drive has been removed. I recieve power to my cd rom, my computer just isn't reading it. In my device driver there isn't an extension for cd rom at all. I can't install new hardware from wizard, I do not have the disc. I am not sure what to do. I have a Mitsumi cd rom fx240s. I have opened my tower and disconnected/reconnected everything and that didn't work. I have tried to restore my computer but the restore point has passed that would take me back to the day it was uninstalled. What can I do?

Thank you,
Danielle

Ok, Asssuming there have been no hardware changes at that time,,, it's one of two things,,, the ribbon cable has failed or the CD has failed internally.
1st - goto control panel, open "System" icon.
2nd - click on the Hardware Tab, then the "Device Manager" icon.
3rd - check if there is a listing for "CDroms" if not there, look for an "other devices" icon.
4th - if there is no entry at all under either of the step3 locations then the cdrom has failed,,, buy a new one...

if the is and entry under "Other Devices",, something like generic cd,,, then you have just lost the driver... Go to the makers website and download the new driver and after reboot your cdrom should be back....

..... if cables have been rearranged, then check for primary or secondary settings and that the red stripe is connected to pin1 of the cdrom....

Go to the makers website and download the new driver and after reboot your cdrom should be back....

Not good advice nor accurate. Downloading a non-existant driver (or one that does exist) and rebooting a pc will not make a drive work. Also, there are several reasons (other than what you listed above) why a drive fails to work in Windows XP os.

Show me just one website having Windows drivers for any optical drive...... there are none.

SYMPTOMS
After you install Microsoft Windows XP, the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or CD-ROM R/W drive may not be visible in the My Computer window. Additionally, there may be question marks on the devices that are listed under CD-ROM drives in Device Manager.
CAUSE
An incorrect device driver was installed for the CD-ROM device.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this behaviour, use the following methods in the order in which they are presented.
Method 1: Remove Registry Entry
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/Curretcontrolset/Control/Class/{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
4. On the File menu, click Export.
5. In the File name box, type savedkey, and then click Save.
6. Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type UpperFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes. NOTE: If this data type is missing, continue to the next method.
7. Click the REG_MULTI_SZ data type LowerFilters, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
8. Quit the Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.
Method 2: Replace Existing Driver
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. If Control Panel is in Category view, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.

-or-

If Control Panel is in Classic view, double-click System.
3. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.
4. Click the drive with the question mark next to it.
5. On the Action menu, click Uninstall. When you are prompted to confirm the removal, click OK.
6. Repeat steps 4 through 5 for any other drives with question marks.
7. On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.
NOTE: If Windows XP cannot locate the driver for your device, the device may not be supported by Windows XP. To see the list of supported devices, see the most recent Windows Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) at the following Microsoft Web site:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



SYMPTOMS
After you remove either compact disc (CD) recording software or other software from your computer, your computer may exhibit the following behaviour:
· In My Computer, there is no access to your CD-ROMs.
· In Device Manager, the following error message appears in connection with any CD-ROM device that is part of your computer system:
The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device
(Code 31).
· Device Manager displays the following error message:
A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled (Code 32 or Code 31).
You may also receive an error Code 39 message that indicates that the driver is corrupted.
· Device Manager displays the following error Code 19 message, which means that the registry returned some unknown result:
Your registry might be corrupted. (Code 19)
· You may also receive the following error message:
Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device. (Code 41)
RESOLUTION
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this behaviour, follow these steps:
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the UpperFilters value under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
4. Locate the LowerFilters value under the same key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor. NOTE: After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, if you notice lost functionality in a particular program, such as CD recording software, you may need to reinstall that software. If the problem recurs, consult with the software vendor for assistance.
7. Restart your computer.
STATUS
This is a known issue that can occur when you remove Easy CD Creator version 5.01 or earlier or DirectCD version 3.01c or earlier. This issue may also occur with Easy CD Creator version 5.01 and with DirectCD 3.01d or later.
MORE INFORMATION
There may be other third-party CD-writing software products that exhibit similar behaviour. Some or all of the troubleshooting steps in this article might apply if such a product also adds entries under the UpperFilters or LowerFilters value in the registry, either by adding its own filter drivers or by removing the registry keys and values outlined in this article that begin with:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to record (burn) data to a compact disc recordable (CD-R) drive or compact disc rewritable (CD-RW) drive, you may not have the option to send data to the CD-ROM drive.

When you view the properties of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive, you may notice that the Recording tab is not displayed in the CD Drive (drive_letter) Properties dialog box, where drive_letter is the letter of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.

NOTE: To view the CD Drive (drive_letter) Properties dialog box, click Start, click My Computer, right-click the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive that you want, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu that appears.
CAUSE
This issue can occur when the drive is misdetected as a non-recordable device.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, edit the Windows registry to identify the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive as a recordable drive. To do this, follow these steps.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Expand the following registry subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives
4. On the File menu, click Export.
5. In the File name box, type backup of drives key, and then click Save.

NOTE: You can restore this registry subkey by double-clicking the backup of drives key.reg file that you saved.
6. In the left pane of the Registry Editor window, click the Volume{GUID} folder under Drives, where GUID is a 32-character hexadecimal globally unique identifier.

NOTE: If you have more than one CD-ROM drive in the computer, an additional Volume{GUID} folder is listed for each drive.
7. In the right pane of the Registry Editor window, double-click Drive Type.
8. In the Value data box, type 1 or 2, depending on the drive type, and then click OK.

The drive type should be 1 if it is a CD-R and 2 if it is a CD-RW.
9. Quit Registry Editor.
10. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
11. Under Devices with Removable Storage, right-click the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive, and then
click Properties on the shortcut menu that appears.
12. If the Recording tab is displayed, the drive is successfully recognized by Windows as a recordable
device.
13. Click Cancel.

NOTE: If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, or CD-RW drive in the computer and the Recording tab is not displayed, an incorrect drive may have been configured as "recordable" in the Windows registry. To troubleshoot this issue, follow these steps:
1. Follow steps 1 through 9 to edit the Drive Type value of the Volume{GUID} folder whose
value you previously changed.
2. In the Value data box, type 3, and then click OK.

The drive type value of 3 indicates that the drive is a standard CD-ROM and is not writable.
3. In the left pane of the Registry Editor window, click the next Volume{GUID} folder.
4. Follow steps 7 through 8 to change the Value data entry to 1 or 2, depending on the drive type.
5. Quit Registry Editor, and then follow steps 10 through 12 to confirm that the Recording tab is
displayed in the properties dialog box of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.


How to Troubleshoot Issues with Reading CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD Discs

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...1&Product=winxp