IBM ThinkPad R40 2722 Notebook Logo
Posted on Oct 31, 2007
Answered by a Fixya Expert

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CD / DVD player not listed as device on Windows Explorer

R40 Thinkpad - 4 years old - Windows XP -
CD / DVD player has been working until recently. 
PC DOCTOR - does not list DVD as a device
WINDOWS EXPLORER - does not list DVD as a device
CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE / DEVICE MANAGER - does not list DVD / CD-ROM DRIVE as a device
Put CD in drive and close door - spins and read light lites - no software player popup on screen appears.
DISK is 95% full - cannot do defrag - not enough space

Fixes Tried:
Running latest files Norton Virus scan now ... do not expect detection
Turned off and reboot - 1 error displayed "Windows Defender... memory location listed with error message"
Rebooted with ACCESS IBM button - does not list CD / DVD player
NEW HARDWARE - ran with "new hardware installed" does not "see" new cd drive.

Hardware or driver problem?

  • 1 more comment 
  • liwise Nov 03, 2007

    I have the exact same problem for the same model laptop (2722). The inserted CD initially turns in the drive, but nothing will happen afterwards. The device is not listed on the Device Manager. I suspect the same problem is also responsible to the extended waiting time during startup.

  • Anonymous Dec 27, 2007

    i have the same exact problem but with an hp pavilion dv2500

  • laralou719 Jan 30, 2009

    I also have the same problem on my HP Pavillion zv6000. One day my computer just stopped recognizing the D drive (CD/DVD). It does not show up when I open my computer. When I put in a CD it spins and makes noise like it might do something, but then it doesn't do anything. It doesn't work when you run a command either. I have Windows XP. Does anyone have a solution? (I do not know how to remove the drive.)

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  • Posted on Dec 28, 2007
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I also have the same problem. I've tried all the above plus some added info. The floppy still works when I swap it with the DVD. Occasionally it works for a short time right after a hard boot but soon after it appears to uninstall. I have searched the net for answers to this problem without success. I tried the registry correction without avail. There has been some online comments that the problem appeared after an auto update from uSoft. I believe the problem is software or firmware related.

A

Anonymous

I took it to a local PC repair and found out it is on the motherboard. I tool it to a swap meet and plugged in a replacement CD player (R40 device), and the screen popped up "error on device". So, it's the mother board... or the controller on the mother board for the device. I'm giving up and getting an external drive. Good Luck with your problem.

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  • Posted on Dec 20, 2007
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I've got the same laptop with the same problem. Unfortunately, I cannot click on the device as suggested by Kawika because the device is not showing in the Device Manager (as the two other posters already explained). The device doesn't show in the bios either, by the way. I'd like to know if the problem is with the motherboard or the DVD.

  • Anonymous May 22, 2008

    I've also given up on this and am using an external CD rewriter together with a USB hard disk. The IBM tech I talked to said she'd never heard of the problem.

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  • Posted on Nov 01, 2007
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Go to your "Device Manager" (Right click on ‘My Computer', select 'Properties', click the 'Hardware' tab, click the 'Device Manager' button. Click the "DVD CD-ROM drives"). If there is some kind of a "Warning" icon superimposed on the 'DVD' icon there is your problem!
If no "Warning" icons then try...
Double click the device.
Click the "Properties" tab; look for any "Warning" icons
uninstall the DRIVERS for THAT DEVICE only. See instructions below.
Click on the faulty device and hit the remove button, follow the instructions given by the program.
Shutdown, restart, the device will automatically reinstall by the "Found New Hardware" program.
NEXT -- Your Hard-drive is OVER-FULL
You need to uninstall a lot of programs.
Select the ones you never use.
After uninstalling
Then do a search for 'all files and folders' - search for both whatever "Company Name" and then whatever "Program Names" associated with what you uninstall, with the options "Search system folders", "Search hidden files and folders" and "Search sub-folders" checked. Delete all of those found.
You should do this search and delete whenever you uninstall any programs. It will remove lots and lots of leftover junk files taking up room on your hard drive. It will also give you a "clean install" when you reinstall or install an updated program. Do this ESPECIALLY when updating to a NEW anti-virus programs and “Internet Security Suite” programs such as McAfee or Norton etc.
You will probably have a lot of left over Registry entries and errors leftover from this, try a registry repair program such as 'Registry Mechanic'.
Get rid of files you no longer need.
Or you can buy an external storage hard-drive or a larger hard-drive.
Then defrag.

  • Anonymous Nov 01, 2007

    Right click any divice in Divice Manager, select "Scan for hardware changes"

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Anonymous

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  • Posted on Nov 09, 2007

SOURCE: CD / DVD player not listed as device on Windows Explorer

Try physically removing the player and fire up the laptop. Power down the laptop, replace the player and power back up. If that doesn't help, see if BIOS recognizes it.
If that doesn't work, get back to me.
Ron-

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  • Posted on Aug 25, 2008

SOURCE: R40 Thinkpad CD drive

I also have an IBM R40 with a combo drive that showed the same symptoms. I switched the drive with two another two which I can assure that work 100% correctly, and the same problem happens. First the drive wasn't detected some of the times, or it got randomly "disconnected" while the laptop was on. Nowadays (about 1 year ago), the drive never gets detected, not by the BIOS or by the operating system (Linux, but also tried on Windows), even so, If I don't keep the drive disconnected, when the laptop boots the BIOS hangs for a long time like it was trying to detect the drive, but it doesn't. It turns out that is a system board problem. Hope this helps you on finding the solution. Regards

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