good morning,
my cd and dvd drives KEEP disappearing when i try to backup my disks that i need and movies that i want to preserve. I'm running WINDOWS xp with sp2 with a PENT 3 processor and 512 memory on a 200 gig hard drive on a dell optyplex gx150 with a11 bios.When i try to burn i get an error that my burn failed and when i try to open the drive it won't open.I check my drives on my computer and there not there.I then reboot and they are back.I have changed drives and still get the same result also have been looking at the programs i use and have eliminated them one by one and still get the same result, so i'm out of options with my thinking.So any help is appreciated

thank you,
bmacgurkJust a couple of suggestions..Have you verified the jumper SETTINGS on your CD/DVD drives, Master/Slave...Also the cmos settings that automaticaly detect while your in cmos, set to auto if any other is displayed..Check battery or replace also. If nothing verify drivers for drives. The cable could also be bad IDE 40pin, their cheap replace with a UATA/133/100. hello litespeed 14
ive done all that you have said and even changed drives to haveit do it all over again. so i'm thiking still a software or hardware problem.i might just have to format and see if that helps

thanks
bmacgurkTry booting into safemode / Device Manager. Look under CD/DVD cdroms and see if you have multiple copies of your drives. If so, delete everything and reboot. Windows should see them and reinstall.

Alan <><