X31 Ultrabay not recognized anymore

[mainardi]

So, I installed some software -- sorry, don't remember the culprit -- and all of a sudden after a restart my computer no longer recognizes my Ultrabay in my docking station. Any ideas on how to get it back to seeing my DVD drive in the Ultrabay?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Does your system still recognize that it's connected to a dock? In other words, assuming that you are running Windows, does clicking on the Start button reveal that you are docked (Undock Computer is listed)? If so, then is the green LED next to the Ultrabay eject lever lit? If it isn't, then pulling the drive out and re-installing it should make Windows see it again. Generally when this happens, the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray was accidentally clicked and Windows was told to remove it from the system.

Another way that you can lose the optical drive is by the Device Manager being told to disable the device. To access it, you can either right-click the "My Computer" icon, select Properties, click the Hardware tab, then click the Device Manager button. Or, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, then click the Hardware tab, etc.

If the optical drive has been disabled, there will be a red "X" on the name below the DVD/CD-ROM drives line. Right-click the name of the drive and select Enable.

[mainardi]

Thanks... I'm glad to be here. On to my problem...

My hardware profile shows "Docked Profile (Current)"

The Ultrabay light is ON

In the Device Manager, there is no listing for a DVD/CD-ROM drive (that it's missing is what's driving me nuts)

I have other Ultrabay devices -- ZIP drive, floppy, battery -- and none of them are recognized

I bought another docking station (thinking mine was the problem), but the same thing happens). It seems like there should be a driver for the Ultrabay, but I can't find one online.

Hopefully, this is a good start towards solving this annoying problem.

[rkawakami]

The only thing I can find that is related to an Ultrabay driver is this:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4K4PWW

It's for Windows 2000 and earlier. As far as I know, you don't need anything special if you are running Windows XP or later (but I could be wrong). Since we are talking about the OS, exactly what are you running? Is it an IBM-branded install or a retail Windows install? You can tell by launching the System Properties window and if there's a large IBM logo in the lower left corner, then that's an IBM-provided image. If not, then you have a retail (or non-IBM) copy of Windows.

The only other explanation is that something has happened to your docking port. Undock the system and inspect the connector to see if there's any visible damage.

[mainardi]

Retail XP. I'll see if the download works.

[topmahof]

with the computer on, take out the drive and put it back in. see if windows recognizes it as new hardware. or at startup go into the boot order and see if the drive is listed in the boot order. if it is, do you have a bootable disc that you can see if you can boot to it? can you do a system restore to before the software was installed? just a few ideas.