both cd drives have disappeared

[k9mom007]

strange thing...both my cd drives (NEC DVD RW ND-1300A and JLMS XJ-HD166S) have dissapeared. They do not show up in "My Computer" and in the Device Manager, the both are have exclamation points in yellow circles on them. When I click on this it says: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing (code 39)
The computer is still under warranty, so I called tech support, they had me boot from disc, with both my driver disc and my restore disc. That didn't help.
A couple of times, when rebooting (through this customer service help), a window would pop up on the task bar and say that "new hardware was found", and would list both drives, but still, they're not listed in "my computer" or device manager.
I've check the cables and everything looks plugged in to me. (mind you, my cats knocked the tower over. last week, and it could have layed on it's side for several hours). Is it possible that I burnt something up??
Both the doors work on the drives and the lights come on. (and I was able to use them to boot from disc). Any advice. I really don't want to have to ship this thing off to no where land.
If anyone could help, I'd appreciate it, and I can give you any info I'm missing here
Thanks

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

The computer is still under warranty...my cats knocked the tower over

Hi k9mom007 welcome to CyberTechHelp.

If that computer was running when it fell...that is very bad. They are very delicate instruments
and they don't even like to be bumped. It was most likely damaged in the fall.

Send it back under warranty and when you get it replaced screw the tower down or get rid of the cats

[k9mom007]

i agree about screwing the tower down....I'm gonna secure it, in a better place....as for getting rid of the cats...trust me, it's crossed my mind. I'm a "dog person"....have 4 of them, and I work closely with rescue groups, so someone would surely scalp me alive if I were to "get rid" of the cats (twin sisters, raised since birth, rescued of course).
Thanks for taking the time to reply!!

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

i agree about screwing the tower down...as for getting rid of the cats...someone would surely scalp me

Ok, how about screwin' down the cats instead?

(cat-lovers, I'm kidding)

[k9mom007]

that's crossed my mind too...these are extra-ordinarlly ornery cats (Manx) and are very clever...they're called the "dogs" of the cat world. Like I said, I'm not really a "cat person", but I just can't get "rid" of them.
go to this link, from Microsoft, and read, and then reply to me with your thoughts...I did get a "code 39", and the last time I used either of the cd drives, was when I was using "easy cd creator".
here's the link: http://support.microsoft.com/default...314060&sd=gtwy

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

go to this link, from Microsoft, and read, and then reply to me with your thoughts...

UpperFilters LowerFilters removal is they exist will make drives that have disappeared show up,
but that when it's a software problem.

You should look in the Registry as instructed, it doesn't hurt and it's free.
If those two are there delete them.

[k9mom007]

yes...those two..EXACTLY...are there...but I was a big chicken sh*t....didn't want to mess with the registry....I'll give it a try...I did do a backup of the registry, as it currently is, with Erunt and it's saved to a folder..should I burn that folder on a floppy, since I obviously can't burn it on a disk??

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

those two..EXACTLY...are there...but I was a big chicken sh*t....didn't want to mess with the registry

No more dangerous than eating ice cream.

I did do a backup of the registry

What you can do to back up the entire registry is this...
Start
Run...
type regedit hit enter
click once (highlight) My Computer
in the menu above
Registry
Export Registry File...
name the file reg.backup.sept.2005 (it will automatically get the file suffix *.reg)
save it to the Desktop

Then delete those filter thingys.

should I burn that folder on a floppy

I'm a terminology freak We copy/save to floppy(s) and folder(s), we burn to cd/dvd(s).

You will not be able to fit a Registry back up on one floppy. You'd need somewhere around 30+ floppies.

[k9mom007]

thanks for the correction on terminology....i knew that...duh....so....I did what you said, and then went in and tried to delete both of those entries in the registry, and it wouldn't let me.
hmmmmm??...now what?

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

it wouldn't let me...now what?

Boot to Safe Mode at try.

[k9mom007]

booted to safe mode...same thing...wouldn't let me delete it...says: Cannot delete (the value) Error while deleting key.
This is really above my 'pute knowledge, and I really appreciate your patience and help.
any more ideas???

[Spider]

Originally Posted by k9mom007

I really appreciate your patience and help.

No problem, I am much more patient than a computer is stubborn.


On the left side of regedit is the Branches and on the right side are the Keys.

Highlight the branch (one click on it) where those keys your trying to delete are, and once highlighted
go to the menu in regedit
Registry
Export Registry File...
name the file keys.wont.delete (it will automatically get the file suffix *.reg)
save it to the Desktop
open that file in Notepad
copy and paste here please.