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I have a LiteOn SOHW-1633S DVD dual layer burner that in my device manager shows up under an unknown tab but it shows up with the correct name and under its properties it shows that the device is working properly. It shows up in the "my computer" folder but no program will detect the drive. Also if I put a cd in it will read it. I have tried updating the drivers and firmware, flashing the Bios with an updated version, uninstalling and reinstalling (both secondary IDE Channel and the device itself) but nothing seems to work. It does show up in the BIOS. It has been working normal for PROBABLY a year and about two days ago it did that.

My computer info in case it HELPS to determine a problem,
Windows XP Professional with SP2
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHZ processor
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R motherboard with VIA K8T800
3 - Corsair XMS 256MB PC-3200 memory
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro video card
2 - Samsung SP1614N 160GB Hard Drives
Antec TRUE550 550 watt power supply
Avast Antivirus Home Edition

Does anyone have any idea what could be a cause of this happening and how to fix this problem? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
ThanksMy computer info in case it helps to determine a problem,
Windows XP Professional with SP2
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHZ processor
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R motherboard with VIA K8T800
3 - Corsair XMS 256MB PC-3200 memory
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro video card
2 - Samsung SP1614N 160GB Hard Drives
Antec TRUE550 550 watt power supply
Avast Antivirus Home Edition

When was the last time you updated your virus definitions?I CHECK for virus database updates daily.Okay then. Check to see if the device drivers are up-to-date AND compatible. Also, what were you doing right before you had the problem? That will help us to diagnose the problem so we can tell you how to fix it. Scan for viruses just in case.

--squirrelthe drivers and firmware are up to date. What happened was it was working that night then I went to bed, I was just online chatting with my brother (I leave the computer running) and woke up the next morning it completely disappeared. Like the drive was taken out of the computer. I finally ended up unplugging the secondary IDE cable and plugging it back in to the motherboard and reset CMOS and the drives came back but under the unknown tab.I can put in a disk and it will read them but if I try to use programs like Nero or Musicmatch they will not detect them because of it showing unknown in the device manager.Did you DOUBLE AND TRIPLE check the connections on the inside?yes I made sure all the connections were good and in the right place.For Nero and MM, is there an option to like "add" a device?  Or to recognize one?they each have a pulldown list to choose the recorder but only with a list of available drives that it auto detects. Those lists are empty now.Is there an error code?I get no error code for any of it. What is STRANGE to me is the DVD drives properties say that this device is working properly but it is still under the unknown tab.cedwards1...... Is this drive the only optical drive you have installed ?

Is  the drive on a IDE cable ?
Is the drive showing up in Bios ?
What jumper settings have you set on the drive ?


dl65  I have two cd drives. One is the LiteOn DVD-RW Dual layer drive, the other is an Atapi 52X24 drive. Both are showing unknown in the device manager. I have them connected with the secondary IDE channel. They do show up in the BIOS normally. I have the DVD drive setup as the master drive and the Atapi as the slave drive.cedwards1......  Ok ...before you installed the new drive ( dual layer one )  ....did your other cd rom show up ok ?

dl65