Win XP Pro doesn't see CD Drives

[dcasper70]

I have 2 CD drives in my machine, one is a regular read-only drive while the other is a CD R/W.

I have not needed to use either of them in a few weeks, and now my pc doesn't see them at all. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

If I shut down, unplug these drives, reboot, shutdown, attach them again, and reboot, sometimes (20%) they are there, usually not...

When they are visible, I frequently get an 'Unsafe Removal of Device' error window when accessing them. Then they disappear again. This routine sucks. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

I've done quite a few google searches, but no real good results. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

[TheTROLL]

Crap cable, surely? The "Unsafe removal" warning suggests they've become physically disconnected during the session. If both are on the same ribbon cable, that would be the first thing I'd swap out. If not, it looks like a motherboard problem.

[dcasper70]

[ QUOTE ]
If both are on the same ribbon cable, that would be the first thing I'd swap out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Decent enough idea. I'll give that a shot tonight & report back. Thanks.

Any other thoughts?