DVD drive not found

caro · Post by **caro** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:45 pm

I have an Acer 3690 laptop running 17.1 xfce-32, formerly XP, that I reclaimed from my daughter and renovated with Mint after malware brought it down. She doesn't remember when the drive stopped working; I assumed it was a byproduct of the infestation. I would like to be able to use the drive, but it isn't essential. I've managed without it up to now (about 2 years), but it would be nice to get it working again.

I began the rehab with 16 and later moved to 17 and then 17.1 as they became available, and the drive hasn't worked in any Mint version. It lights up when its button is pressed, will open and then will spin briefly when closed, but nothing further happens, and the system doesn't see it, at all--not anywhere, not with any query I've tried. It's getting power and responding minimally (though I did have to use a paperclip to open it, at first--it wasn't opening before I did that, just lighting up), but as far as the system is concerned, it doesn't exist; the only drive it sees is the hard drive.

Is this more likely to be a hardware or software issue? Or possibly a connection failure? I haven't removed the drive; I'm hoping to diagnose as much as possible without breaking in, as everything else is working well. I'm still a Mint beginner, so any suggestions anyone has would need to be explained to me at a fairly basic level--apologies for that in advance.

austin.texas · Post by **austin.texas** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:34 am

How did you install Mint 17.1? USB?
Have you tried to boot any bootable DVD or CD?

all41 · Post by **all41** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:39 am

Perhaps a clue may be found by seeing if the drive is listed in your bios setup under devices or boot options?

caro · Post by **caro** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:08 am

austin.texas wrote:How did you install Mint 17.1? USB?
Have you tried to boot any bootable DVD or CD?

I did install from USB, both times. I haven't tried to boot from the drive as it doesn't seen to know that it's there.

caro · Post by **caro** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:14 am

all41 wrote:Perhaps a clue may be found by seeing if the drive is listed in your bios setup under devices or boot options?

Good point. No, no sign of it in the bios.

austin.texas · Post by **austin.texas** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:58 am

It is time to check the internal cable connections and cleaning...

all41 · Post by **all41** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:27 pm

Most of the time the dvd drive has but a single screw that must be removed to slide the drive out.
It is usually under one of the access panels--check out the owner manual

caro · Post by **caro** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:34 pm

austin.texas wrote:It is time to check the internal cable connections and cleaning...

I think I'll probably just let it be. I did pull the drive out and take a look, and the bracket on the back that holds it in the bay, which is supposed to be attached with three little screws, was only held on with one screw on one end. I moved the screw to the center to tighten it down some and replaced the drive, and it still isn't showing up but I'm pretty sure now it's a hardware issue. Who knows what's going on inside the thing--I don't doubt it is a loose cable or some such. If anything else fails, I'll break in, but for now I have a nice little usb cdrom that meets my limited needs for an optical drive. Thanks for the input, though.

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