Hi all, I haven't asked a question for over a month. New one!

[yy4me]

I don't use CD's or DVD's even though my computer has both drives.

Two weeks ago I thought it would be a good idea to transfer my pictures and doc's to a CD but the tray stuck--got out the paper clip. OK now the CD is in the machine-get message that there is no CD is the tray. Same with DVD's. No sounds, nothing.

Today I tried to install the software for a new camera. You guessed it. Nothing.
I went to device manager and the drives show. Somewhere along my troubleshooting way it says my systems are working. Still nothing.

Don't know what to look for or where. Any thoughts?
HP Pavilion
IE 6 SP3
512 mb Ram, plenty of memory(in case you asked )
Have done things recently like run CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller.

Up do date on everything I can think of except IE 7.
Is it time for this machine to visit the shop?

[canetoad]

1. I was missing you yy4me......

This could be an 'open it up' job. Hmmm ....two optical drives (CD, DVD) and neither work.....

Do you know if they are on the same cable?
Have you tried clicking on the drive with the CD in it in My Computer to see if you can access it manually? It may just be something wrong with autorun.

I'm off to walk the dogs now, catch you soon.

[yy4me]

2. I think this machine will be taking a road trip. Cannot make any

headway with your approach either. I end to try thing that I don't understand too. Generally that is why I mess things up. This problem could have been gone ages and I would have never known.

The message I get is: 1: Please wait while windows looks for installation program. Then:

Windows unable to find installation program.

Looks like something major is gone, or some part of it anyway. the Device Manager says the program is OK.-some words to that affect.

Looks like somehow the CD and probably the DVD drive were either uninstalled or something major is on the fritz.

[canetoad]

3. I don't understand the error message

that is, what installation program is Windows looking for? A program on the CD?

[Duer 157099]

4. One easy thing to try is to uninstall the drivers

go into the Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and find the CD/DVD drives and right click on each one and uninstall them, then reboot

[yy4me]

5. Just tried your suggestion. Balloons came up telling me

found new hardware. Still nothing Have to open tray w/paper clip. Nothing happens when I put the disk in. In fact, it does not pull it in, I have to slide the tray in by hand.

Question--maybe the dumbest yet. On the Kodak installation disk there is a QuickTime logo on the bottom. Does that have anything to do with my problem? QuickTime was uninstalled ages ago. I have no idea why. If It does figure in, what version do I have to reinstall and from what source?

It is now 11:30 and I'm going to bed. Anyone here with ideas, I'd see you Saturday AM.

Thanks

[HappyCynic]

6. Maybe power supply or cable...

When you say you had to slide it in by hand, did you mean that you have to push it in all the way? Or just give it a bit of a push before it auto-retracts?
If your drive is not retracting at all, then my guess that it's either the CD rom drive hardware failing or your power supply is going on fritz (and isn't supplying enough power to the drive - enough for it to be active but not to actually do anything useful).
Quicktime probably doesn't have anything to do with the problem but to be sure, you can try putting a music CD into the drive and see if it auto-plays. Alternatively, you can check with a data disk. Pop a disk in and see if you can see its contents via the Windows Explorer.
Something else to check: When you power it up, does the CD light flash for a bit? And if a disk is in the drive at the time, does it spin up? If it does spin up, then the problem could also be the cable connecting the drive to the motherboard. An old cable can cause strange/intermittent errors. If you have a spare cable handy (possibly from another computer) and don't mind cracking open the case, you can try replacing the cable and seeing if that fixes things.

[yy4me]

7. Good Morning, In answer to your questions. I have to push the

tray in by hand, no assist from the machine.Both the CD and the DVD lights will flash for a second to two then nothing.No spinning of disk at all.I just tried to open the CD tray to put in a music CD, 3 green flashes. Had to paperclip the dray open. Doing nothing. No sound at all. When I just pushed the tray to get it out, the tray opened right up, no paperclip, retracted with a tap.

Just tried DVD, out came tray with a tap, back in w/DVD, started movie then came message "Windows Live care has blocked this program temporarily so you can decide if you trust this program. Another window popped up with a message to the affect that the firewall in Windows Live Onecare has blocked the program. 3 Option:s, allow, block and I forget the other one. The movie started as it should. I closed the movie, tapped the tray and it slid right out.

If I try the Installation disk in the DVD drive, will I screw things up? The CD drive does not seen to respond to anything.

In fact the DVD drive will probably not continue to work.

The few times I have used either of these options, I never had any problems. In fact it has been so long, I forget what I used them for except to install my printer.

As I understand my mission--I should be able to put this Installation CD into the CD drive and it should whirl away and install what I need without me doing anything to start it off. Just follow instructions on CD as indicated. Maybe I'm just not remembering something.


Geeze, my 9 year old granddaughter could do better with this than I.

Thanks

[HappyCynic]

8. DVD drive

Sounds like your CD drive may be the one malfunctioning, although it's hard to say for sure without testing it myself. From the sounds of it, your DVD drive is probably working just fine. Your DVD drive should read CDs no problem and you should be able to install it from the DVD drive.