DVD drive not showing up

Start by checking in the following to see if it is recognized:

1 - BIOS settings

2 - Device Manager

If it is not recognized in the BIOS settings, then check your connections, or try connecting it to another connector if possible (i.e. swap with any other optical drives to check ribbon connector).

If it is not recognized in the Device Manager, but is recognized in the BIOS settings - turn off computer > disconnect the drive > check for bent pins, or loose terminals in the molex connector - if found, fix and reattach > restart computer. (note - if the all connection parts are fine, reboot computer without drive connected to load Windows without the drive, and then turn off so that Windows saves settings without reference to the drive - reconnect drive > start computer > see if Windows loads a new hardware device.

If the drive is recognized in both BIOS settings and Device Manager, but not in "My Computer" - try uninstalling via Device Manager and reboot to force a reinstallation of hardware.

Disconnect the device. Delete/disable it in the device manager. Shut down computer. Reconnect it. Start up. Should solve problem.

Thanks for ya'lls help. I figured out the problem, though. On a hunch, I figured it may have something to do with my recent install of Nero 7, so I uninstalled it. And majically that fixed the problem. I appreciate the help all the same. And if it happens again for some other reason, I'll know what to do.

While not totally related , Sony had nasty DRM on some of their cds , that broke your drive if you found out where it was hidden and tried to disable it.