Have you been able to get to Device Manager and see if the DVD & CDRW are present. If both went at the same time it would seem that its quite possibly an IDE cable. Take your cover off and check the IDE cable from the MB to both CD's.
Quite possible that it may have come loose and all you hnave to do is reseat it again.

BillyBob

what happened when you did scanreg /restore?
I would try to use a boot disk to get into safe mode first....if you can get there you may be ok....check in bios to see if your cd etc is recognised there......make sure your cable connections are secure swap the ide cable inside the box they are identical to see if it is a faulty cable...does the system post can you do a scandisk in dos? you have many options before formattting

Skrenze,

Thank you for using the DellTalk forum.

The problem could be mechanical, or caused by software.
Try the following troubleshooting steps, to determine which.
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What Steps Should I Take to Troubleshoot My CD or DVD Drive If It Stops Working?

Check the Media
Try another CD in the drive. The media you are trying to use could be bad. Make sure that the label is on the top of the disk when inserted as well. If the drive tray will not eject, skip down to checking the hardware since this could be an indication of a bad drive or power cable.
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Check for a Virus
Another important item to check for is a virus. Most of the common boot sector viruses that are out there will cause the CD or DVD to "disappear." If your system has Windows® 95 or 98 installed, to check for a possible virus, perform the following steps:

Right-click the My Computer icon.
Click Properties.
Click the Performance tab.
Does the Performance area display that you are using MS-DOS® compatibility mode? Does Performance display that something has modified the boot sector? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then it is likely you have a virus.
If you might have a virus, download anti-virus software and get rid of the virus.

Execute the CHKDSK command from MS-DOS:
To boot to MS-DOS mode, perform one of the following:
Method 1
Restart your computer.
While your computer restarts, press down and hold the [Ctrl] key until the Windows Startup menu appears.
Choose "Command Prompt Only" from the Startup menu.
Press the Enter key.

To execute the CHKDSK command, perform the following steps:
At the C:\ prompt type: CD\Windows\Command and press ENTER.
The C:\Windows\Command directory appears.
Type CHKDSK and press Enter.
You should now get a memory count:
Look for the entry Total Bytes Memory this should read, 655,360
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Reseat (disconnect and then reconnect) the data ribbon (a flat, wide cable with red stripe along one side) from the IDE controller on the motherboard and from the backs of the drive. Reseat the Power cable going to the drive as well.
You may need to refer to the following web page, for diagrams on how to
add/remove cables and devices.
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/dkub/rr.htm

If you have added hardware recently to the system, try removing it as a test. If you can use the drive after returning the system to it’s prior configuration, consult the documentation for the device that you are adding to make sure that it is configured correctly.

If the CD or DVD is an IDE or SCSI drive, it should appear listed on the screen when the system is booting shortly after the hard drive is detected. If it does not, you may need to open the system (if you have a Desktop computer) and reseat the cables. Try disconnecting and reconnecting both the power and data cables to check for a loose connection. Check the pins and connectors on the cables, drive and system board. Reseat both ends of the data cable.
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Reset the BIOS settings, and Clear NVRAM.

Enter the system setup program as follows:

Turn on (or restart) your system.
When the blue Dell™ logo appears, press (Del).
If you wait too long and the operating system begins to load into memory, let the system complete the load operation, then shut down the system and try again.

To clear NVRAM for all devices and restart the system, perform the following steps:
Enter the system setup program.
Press the right-arrow key to move to the Advanced menu.
Press the down-arrow key to highlight Reset Configuration Data. Then press the plus (+) key to change the setting to Yes (refer to Advanced Screen Menu Options table). Press (F10) to exit the program and restart the system.

Resetting the defaults in the "System Setup Program"
Enter the "System Setup Program"
Once inside, press the (F9) key, the say (YES) to:
"Restore default configuration now?"
When the defaults have been restored, press (F10), and say
(Yes to "Save changes and exit now.)?"
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Additionally, for Windows 95 or 98, you may try deleting the controller to force Windows to redetect the hardware. To remove the IDE Controller:

Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
Double-click the System icon.
Click on the Device Manager tab.
Check for any red X’s or yellow !’s.
If you see any of these, write down the device name for future reference or additional troubleshooting, click on the device and click Remove for each one. Allow the system to reboot to test these changes. If you reboot, repeat steps 1 to 3 to return to the Device Manager and proceed with step 5.
If you do not see any red X’s or yellow !’s, proceed with step 5.
Double-click on the Hard Disk Controllers.
Click on the controller to select them.
Click on Remove.
Allow the system to reboot and redetect the controllers.

Check for the Windows Registry, NOIDE error.
Click on Start, Run and type in: Regedit
Then click OK
You will get a Registry Editor window.
Click on Edit, Find
Type in: NOIDE
Click Find Next
If the search finds any icons with NOIDE, delete those icons.
Then close all windows, and reboot the system.
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Run the Dell Diagnostics:

1.Go to the following web page:
http://support.us.dell.com/us/en/DHS-BSD_reg.asp?segid=5DS
2.Type in your service tag number, in the "Service Tag" field.
Then click the "GO" button.
3.Click on "Downloads for your Dell"
Under the "Downloads" section of the page.
4.On the Upper Right hand side of the screen,
"Search Keywords or File Names,"
Type in the following file name: D1066100.exe
Then click the "Go" button.
5.Click on the Link that is brought up, and download the
"Floppy" version of the file.

This file contains a compressed (or zipped) set of files. Download the file to a folder on your hard drive, and then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of 1-5 files. Follow the instructions to create a set of floppy diskettes, and then use the diskettes to complete the installation.

To start the diagnostic tests boot the computer with the diagnostic disk in the appropriate drive.
The files will automatically load into the system.
The system will prompt for one several choices, depending on the extent and specificity of the tests to be run. For example, the choices will include:
Depending on the Diagnostic version,
some of these choices may not be available.
You should try running the Run All Test if any errors are encountered
when try to use this choice, then use the 16-bit Diagnostics.
If any errors are encountered when the Diagnostics program is running,
then it is an actual hardware failure.
Run All Tests will run an entire, comprehensive test on the computer system.
Run Quick Tests will run all tests on the entire system, without running as an exhaustive test on the hard drive as the Run All Tests selection will.
Run Specific Tests allows for the testing of specific components in the system; this choice is used if there is good reason to suspect a specific component may be the cause of the failure.
Within Run Specific Tests are several specific tests which individually test RAM, System Set (the chipset on the motherboard), Video, Keyboard, Mouse, Drives, Ports (serial and parallel), SCSI Devices, and Network Interfaces.
Exit to MS-DOS will exit the diagnostics to a command prompt.

NOTE: For most situations, you should Run Quick Tests.
***************************************************************
You must have the Dell Resource CD or Windows CD, in the CDROM or DVD drive.
If you have a CDRW-Drive you must also have a blank formatted CDRW disk in that drive.
Disconnect all devices from the back of the system other then the, mouse,
keyboard, and monitor.
If you have a USB keyboard or mouse, you must switch to a PS2 keyboard or mouse. USB devices are not recognized by diagnostics.
***************************************************************
What is the results of the Diagnostics test???

just wanted everyone to know that when i booted up the next am(i was so frustrated that i decidedto tackle it in the morning) that both of my missing drives were there!i ran a virus check and nothing came up, i opened the case up and all wires/cables were snug, allreferences in device manager and system performance were normal! go figure! so...... i'm keeping my eye on my drives closely and if it happens again maybe i'll have a better idea!
thanks again!(all of your suggestions were much better than the one i got from dell after holding forever! you guessed it! you gotta
reformat!
skrenze
SKRENZE wrote:
-
- upon bootup today i find that i'm missing both my
- dvd/rom drive and my cdrw! i tried go back and then
- scanreg/restore without success!i'm dead in the
- water! i installed i.e. 6.0 a few days ago which has
- been working well, and now blam!anyway i suspect i
- have to possibly re-format? since i don't have a
- cd/rom how do i get the windows 98 cd to respond? i
- have the boot disk that came with my computer
- xpst600. do i just re-install windows or do i wipe
- everything and start over?i did the system file
- checker and nothing is showing up as being
- corrupted.if i have to wipe everything how can i
- back up anything as i don't have a burner now? if i
- just install windows again 98se how do i reinstall
- my drives? are they on the resource cd? lots of
- questions i know.have never had a problem in 2
- yrs.until today.
-
- thanks
-
-
- skrenze
-
-
-

Great!!! Always makes you feel like you're gonna have a good day when something like that happens.

BillyBob