CD/DVD drive isn't working on HP Pavilion--VISTA

My dvd drive isn't recognized on my computer.
I put in a dvd and it does spin and light up, but Quick Play says no disc inserted.
Doesn't show up in Device Manager.
My cd/dvd drive just vanished.
Any help would be appreciated.

Can you boot from it?

Pretty common early Vista issue. Make sure you have your system up to date on windows updates I believe one of the services packs addressed this.

Links to get you fixed
http://support.microsoft.com/mats...e_problems
http://www.randomfix.com/2007/04/...rom-drive/
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-...734360.htm

Quote from LiquidRetro : Pretty common early Vista issue. Make sure you have your system up to date on windows updates I believe one of the services packs addressed this. Links to get you fixed http://support.microsoft.com/mats...e_problems http://www.randomfix.com/2007/04/...rom-drive/ http://forums.techarena.in/vista-...734360.htm

#1 didn't work "CD/DVD drive not detected"
#2 didn't work no UpperFilter” and “LowerFilter appear for me
#3 didn't work either...

I think I'll buy an external CD/DVD....any suggestions?

Do you have a bootable CD somewhere? Like a Windows installer? Or a Linux LiveCD? (A Linux LiveCD is easy to create if you have fast Internet access and a working CD burner)

Try booting off a bootable CD, as recommended above (but don't actually install anything, if running an installer).

Your computer might be configured to boot off a CD automatically, or you might need to hit "Esc" when the HP splash screen shows up at the beginning of boot, then choose "boot device" > "CD" (I think that general procedure will work on an HP).

You also could try booting into "Safe Mode" [google.com]. I dunno if it'd help, but it might be worth a try.

dvd/cd isn't recognized at all, not even located in device manager, can't create a CD, there's no CD drive (it vanished) . Computer works fine other than that.

Quote from kathicake1 : dvd/cd isn't recognized at all, not even located in device manager, can't create a CD, there's no CD drive (it vanished) . Computer works fine other than that.

Right, the poster above is saying to use one created somewhere else. What this will do is rule out if you have a hardware issue or a software issue.

I am not a fan of external optical drives as they tend to be slow and more expensive. You can replace your current drive if it ends up being hardware for about $25 for an internal drive, externals tend to be more expensive.

Quote from LiquidRetro : Right, the poster above is saying to use one created somewhere else. What this will do is rule out if you have a hardware issue or a software issue. I am not a fan of external optical drives as they tend to be slow and more expensive. You can replace your current drive if it ends up being hardware for about $25 for an internal drive, externals tend to be more expensive.

Thanks, will probably go that route since I've done everything that has been suggested