Microsoft Windows XP won’t detect SATA DVD drive

An older Pentium 4 computer recently had an IDE DVD burner that died. The quick replacement available was a SATA DVD burner. The BIOS recognized the drive, but Windows XP SP3 did not. It turned out to be a quick fix.

Go to Device Manager and uninstall the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

  • Right click on My Computer
  • Go to Properties
  • Go to the Hardware tab
  • Click on the Device Manager button
  • Click on the [+] sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers to expand.
  • Right click on the controller on your computer, in this case it is the Intel(R) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller.
  • Select Uninstall.
  • Repeat for any additional controllers, if necessary.
  • Go to File and select Exit to exit the Device Manager window.
  • Reboot.
devicemgr

After the computer rebooted, the controller automatically reinstalled, this time included the DVD burner.

mycomputer

The screenshots were taken after the fact from a virtual machine, however, accurately depict the situation.