I am working on a computer in my computer class at college. The computer doesn't RECOGNIZE the cd drive. It doesn't show under device manager. The computer is a dell dimension 3000. The OS is Windows XP home. The processor is an Intel Celeron. I have tried another cable and another cd drive.Have you checked in the BIOS of the computer to verify that is enabled? Is this your computer or does it belong to the college. If it is the latter then they should have a tech support person that can deal with it . truenorthThis computer belongs to another student who is enrolled but not in a computer class. I checked in the Bios says there is not a drive.What type of connector ? ?
Whether it's IDE or SATA replace the connector with a new ONE...Also try different MBoard connections as welll...
Are you sure the other drive you swappes in is in working condition ? ?

Also Run This Patch...
Then re-boot.I put a brand new drive in. It is an ide connector. I put another cable in also.And ? ?.....

Did you DLoad and try the script above ? ?
Did you try the other MBoard IDE connection ? ?I didn't see the rest of the LAST post until I looked again. I found that script earlier and tried it, The only other ide connection is the hard drive so I didn't try that one. Thanks for the help. Since the student needed his computer he said he is going to buy an external cd drive.Since you have tried another cd drive,ide connector and it still does thesame thing,try use your cd drive and its cables in another system,if working perfectly that shows your ide port on the mobo is faulty.Then change the moboSome things to try:

1. Uninstall the drive through Device Manager.
Restart computer. The drive will be automatically reinstalled.
or...

2. Delete Upper & Lower Filters
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982116
Restart computer.
or...

3. Download, and run Restore Missing CD Drive patch
Double click on cdgone.zip to unzip it.
Right click on cdgone.reg, click Merge.
Accept registry merge.
Restart computer.
or...

4. Go to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.