My computer no longer recognizes my cd/dvd drive

You can not format your hard drive using it's on software on the same hard drive. Because your notebook does not come with a DVD rom or CD rom what you need to do is to get yourself an external DVD rom which you connect to the computer with a USB cable. Then you use the disc of the operating system that you want to use on that Notebook. When you reboot the operating system disc will be recognized and on the screen you will be asked to press any key if you want to run the disc. So you will press and follow the instructions the rest will take you to formatting the disc and loading the operating system.

Acer Aspire 4520 Notebook Technical Specifications:


Operating System Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Processor AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-57 (512KB L2 cache, 1.9GHz) Chipset NVIDIA nForce 610M Memory 1GB (1GB installed in one of two memory slots) DDR2 667 SDRAM User upgradeable up to 4GB (one 2GB memory card in each slot)* subject to availability of 2GB cards
*If upgrading after initial purchase, one or more of the memory cards provided with the system may have to be replaced with optional larger memory cards in order to achieve the maximum capacity.
Storage 120GB* hard disk drive Integrated variable-speed Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM):
-Read - 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-R, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD-ROM, 8X DVD-R, 8X DVD+R, 6X DVD-ROM DL (double-layer), 6X DVD-R DL (double-layer), 6X DVD+R DL (double-layer), 6X DVD-RW, 6X DVD+RW, 5X DVD-RAM
-Write - 24X CD-R, 10X CD-RW, 8X DVD-R, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD-R DL (double-layer), 4X DVD+R DL (double-layer), 6X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+RW, 5X DVD-RAM
5-in-1 card reader for optional MultiMediaCard™, Secure Digital card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO™ or xD-Picture Card™

Surely to load XP is a DownGrade. As this notebook is dual core, I would run Vista 64 or better still Windows 7 64.
If you wish to persist with an old system, you require SP3 for XP.That may be available from a software store but is no longer supported by Windows.
Try http://www.notebook-driver.com/laptops-information/acer-aspire-4520-notebook-technical-specifications/ for drivers that you will require to have support from Acer.

Hope that clarifies your situation.

Will the Notebook boot from the CD/DVD with a system disk installed? Have a check first, if not:
Ensure your CD/DVD tray is empty and re boot your Notebook. If you still get the problem, I suspect the driver has corrupted. Go online to the Acer web site and download an updated driver. Follow their instructions to re install it and that should be that. If you still have a problem, maybe the drive itself has failed.

Hope that helps

This is a common problem with Aspire 4520 AMD Laptop. The problem is relating to NVIDIA Chipset. For solution contact 9811049801

Presuming that you've already tried add new hardware in control panel
remove the drive from the machine. normally there are a couple of screws in the base of the laptop. boot the machine and do a normal shutdown. reinsert the cd drive and reboot.

why my laptop cannot detetct dvd??

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_4520.html

from ths link you can download the drivers ...

You can check the BIOS to see if the drive is recognized and even attempt to boot from the drive using a bootable CD to verify it is functional (if using the Windows disc - just verify it reads - DO NOT REINSTALL)

If the drive works use the following to get the drive back in Windows:

Always backup your registry before editing and use care to find exact key!
Start Registry Editor (Start, Run and type in regedit then click)

Find "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" (and "UpperFilters.bak" "LowerFilters.bak", if they exist) value under the following key in the registry, and delete it:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Quit Registry Editor.

Reboot.

NOTE: You might need to reinstall any CD recording apps you have, if they start to not work completely, after doing this.

You will need to install chipset driver but it will be much better if you reinstall all driver for it.

Acer Aspire 4520 driver for windows xp can be downloaded here :

http://www.drivercabinet.com/driver-acer-aspire-4520-windows-xp/

puchase one vista cd/dvd and install no other option