[Abu Yahya]

I have a system running Windows 2000 Professional; I assembled the computer from fairly high-end components (back in 2002). Mostly it's been fairly easy to get good service from.

The CD-ROM drive does not usually recognize data CD's inserted into it. If I insert one it says, "please insert a disk into drive D." Installing drivers for new hardware is impossible.

I have installed a new CD-ROM drive; I've tried uninstalling the drive and letting Windows locate it; going into device manager and changing the drive letter from D to E; and now I understand the best way to fix the problem is to delete the IDE controllers.

Final note: all drives on the computer are IDE (as opposed to SATA). Additional note: I need to resolve this problem in order to access the internet, since it does not presently have a wireless network interface card (NIC).

[Abu Yahya]

This problem has been resolved.

The computer's motherboard was by firm called Soyo Electronics (now defunct). When the computer is booted up, one hits "delete" to enter the setup menu. In the main menu, I selected "optimal defaults" and resumed booting up. The CD-ROM drive worked fine after that.

Still, I am interested in other people who encountered this problem. A web search of the error term, "please insert a disk in drive" [D] came up with several hits with advice, but not a lot of evidence that anything worked.