im hoping you can help me. you seem to know a lil about this kinda stuff. heres what happened: I recently installed media player11 off of the web, well ever since then, i have not been able to use my cd/dvd player/burner. it dont recognize it. it thinks that it is unplugged, or that i dont have one. but i know i do. it was working fine before.do you know anything i can do to fix my prob??? any suggestions would be greatfully appreciated. thank you. -Sandy

Hi, Sandy. Does the CD drive appear in Explorer? For example, if you open My Computer from the Start menu, do you see it there?

Yes, it says : local disk c. You know, this is weird, but today it worked for long enough to burn one disk, then it did the same thing again. when i go to the media player, and set up a burn list, above my playlist where it should say “insert a blank disk”, it says “please plug in a burner, then restart the player to continue.” I have had many problems before, but i have never seen this.I tried going to the microsoft help sites, but they don’t seem to know what i am talking about.Thank you for your response.–sandy

Sandy, it sounds like your CD drive is flaky. That’s a technical term that means there’s probably a loose cable or a short circuit. Do this:

1. If it’s a laptop, remove and re-insert the CD drive (assuming you can). If it’s a desktop, shut down Windows, unplug it, and open the case. Remove the cables from the back of the CD/DVD drive, and then reconnect them. Follow those cables to the motherboard, unplug them, and then plug them back in.

2. Start Windows up. Is your CD/DVD drive visible from My Computer? If so, keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way. Problem solved.

3. If your CD/DVD drive isn’t visible, or if it disappears again, it might be a driver problem. Presumably your CD/DVD drive worked in the past, so maybe we can go back to an earlier version of your driver. Click Start, type devmgmt.msc, and then press Enter.

Device Manager appears.

4. Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives. Right-click your drive and then click Properties (as shown below).

5. On the Driver tab, click Roll Back Driver (as shown below, if it’s available).

6. Follow the prompts that appear, and restart your computer if required.

If your CD works now, great. If not, you probably have failed hardware. Don’t worry, they’re cheap. You can get them any most computer electronic stores, or order one on Amazon–like this USB drive for $20. You won’t even have to re-open your computer case to install it.

Let me know how it goes!

…and Sandi did let me know:

i just wanted to let you know that the actions you prefered me to take, worked. and i also wanted to tell thank you!!! you were a real big help. i wrote down the web addy that you gave me, just in case it happens again. again, thank you!!!