CD and DVD-ROM problem; drivers corrupted or missing (Code 39)

I recently realized my Samsung CD-R/RW SW-252S and Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616E were not working. I have a Dell Dimension 4600.These are internal drives in the tower; I made no changes to anything.
When searching for a solution I found this conversation on the forum: "my samsung sw-252s CD rom/RW isnt there!!!" I read all of the instructions and comments described in that conversation. I tried to troubleshoot through Windows with no luck (uninstall driver etc). It simply says I have the most up-to date driver. I also downloaded the file to upgrade firmware (sfdnwin). When I ran "Sfdnwin.ex", a pop-up window appears but there are no drivers listed. I get the message "no driver found". At this point I don't know what else to do. Any ideas?
If you need more specific information about my system please let me know. Thanks for taking the time

John

Open the computer and remove the IDE cable from both drives (remember which is connected to which: grey/middle/slave > black/end/Master) and reboot once without either drive connected.

Then shut down again and go back and connect the Master by itself and boot again. If XP detects it and loads the drivers then shutdown again and try the slave as well.

If this does not work please let us know exactly what happens as to each step.

If you are unfamiliar working inside computers you might want to read this on static damage:

ESD - What can I do to avoid damage

You might as well also unplug and replug that IDE cable into the motherboard to insure a good connection. Also another check if the above fails is to verify that the BIOS detects these drives.

Jephree,

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried them but, unfortuanately, no luck. I first disconnected the IDE cable from both drives and rebooted. Screen showed:
BIOS version A10
secondary drive 0 not found
secondary drive 1 not found
srike F1 key to continue
strike F2 to set up utility

I tried both with no luck

I also reattached one then the other; under hardware devices the drive shows in the list but it still shows a problem with the drive (yellow exclamation). I repeated the process with the second drive and got the same results. Any other suggestions? Can I reinstall anything from the original disks that came with the computer?
Thanks again

John

Dell has a troubleshooting Wizard here:


CD/DVD Optical Drive Problem (Drive Cannot Read, Write, Eject, Receives No Power, or Not Detected) [ Dell™ Desktops, Portables, and Precision Workstations ]

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...401E0A55172FF4

Sometimes Dell times out these links so you may have to follow this path:

http://support.dell.com/

Troubleshooting and FAQs

Type in Problem Search:


dvd drive not detected


http://support.dell.com/support/topi...=us&l=en&s=gen


http://support.dell.com/support/topi...tkZXRlY3RlZA==


Dell also list these firmware updates for the Dimension 4600:
http://support.dell.com/support/down...&os=WW1&osl=EN

Again if that link fails follow the path to Drivers and Downloads > Dimension 4600

OMG, I finally found someone who has the VERY same problem I do, SAME DRIVES, on my Dell Dimension 8400 tower. I took it to a local IT fixit place that didn't recognize the problem, but to be fair they weren't looking at that problem and accidentally fixed it by reinstalling the whole O/S. Thank you, I was getting SOOO frustrated and my husband thought the kids broke the drives by playing too many games. Boo on Dell and Samsung too.

I will try the Dell fixits and let you know if it worked.

I have a similar code 39 problem. My compaq laptop (vista basic) has suddenly lost its cd/dvd drive. It worked last week but when I got back from holiday today the drive vanished (computer just shows the main drive and the recovery drive) Tried to update the driver and get the message it uses the most up to date driver available this is despite the earlier code 39 message that the driver is missing! Spent the afternoon reloading the recovery discs and for an hour or so the drive was back and fully operational (it was used to successfully reload printer and broadband software so it worked!. But now a few hours later it has gone away again and I have exactly the same situation prior to loading the recovery discs! Please help!