I just bought a verbatim 48-12-48 cd rw drive. I installed it and it is not the computer is not reading that we installed the drive. What do you think the problem is. I have been everywhere trying to get it to read it. Thanks for the help:confused:

OK I'm going to go through this like you're a 3 year old, don't take offence, it's easier if we cover everything in one hit.

Whip off the PC's cover and check the power and IDE cables are fimly attached. When you boot up the PC check the power light on the front of the burner lights up.

The IDE cable (the large flat grey one) has a coloured stripe down one side, this side must plug into pin 1 on the drive. The number 1 will be written on the back of the drive on the end of the row of pins that the IDE cable plugs into. If it is the wrong way around flip the cable over. Also check that the coloured stipe side connects to pin 1 on the motherboard. Check the IDE cable on your Harddrive to see what side PIN 1 is.

Now check the jumpers on the burner. The jumpers are a set of six metal pins on the back of the drive, 3 rows of 2 columns. Connecting on pair of pins is a small plastic coated metal bridge. There are 3 settings available - Master, Slave and Cable select. The installation guide that came with the burner will tell you which pair of pins is which.
If your burner is on it's own IDE cable it MUST be set to master. If there are two devices on the cable one must be master and the other slave. Don't use cable select as most motherboards do not support it.

OK so power cable is good, IDE cable in the right way and Jumpers correctly set.
Boot up the PC and watch the self check text, see if the PC recognises the burner. If yes then the problem is with Windows, if not and you're sure you've correctly installed the cables then the drive is dead.

If the drive light comes on but still no joy let us know, plus what operating system you are using.

The light on the drive turns on when I turn the computer on and when I put a cd in. The computer just does not read the drive. I have tryed to add new hardware and everything it just wont work. I heard something about a BOIS and to activate the drive. What does this mean and how do I do it. Thanks Ohh and you asked about what drive it is . It is Verbatim 48x16x48. Not sure what kind of verbatim. Sorry no clue about anything with computers.:confused:

Hi,

"Sorry no clue about anything with computers" tells me that you would be better off taking your PC down to the local PC shop and having them set it up for you. For a couple of $$ you'll save a lot of grief.

If you want to have a crack at it yourself my usual disclaimer applies. If you try this and for any reason you change the settings that cause the PC to a) not run at all b) behave eratically c) Jump off the desk and eat your dog; then so be it - don't blame me :)

The BIOS - Basic Input Output System controls all the basic settings and functions on the PC. If you don't understand it then don't change it.
When you boot up the PC some text will appear along the lines of 'press Del to enter setup' or 'press F1 to enter BIOS' depending on what Motherboard your PC has. When you see this text press the appropriate key a few times.
In the BIOS go to the Basic settings menu, scroll down to the IDE controllers (Channels). You need to know where you've connected the burner - Primary Master (probably not), Secondary Master, Primary Master, Secondary Slave. Find that setting, if it's set to 'Off' or "disabled' then toggle the setting to 'Auto'. Save settings and exit.

In the Device Manager check the CDROMs list to see if your burner is shown there. If it is then re-install your Burning Software.

HTH