Help Please! I have an external DVD drive that is not recognized by my PC!

[Sean_1974]

I have tried to download a driver to install the HP USB External DVD RW drive I have and the HP support site does not have the driver software and my PC is not recognizing the drive. Is the drive not plug and play? Where can I download a driver. How can I fix this. My PC is modular and there is no tower. It is an HP Envy23 so I NEED this external drive to function.

Thank you so much!

-Sean

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

USB drivers are built into Windows 10. Try your USB external DVD drive on another PC to make sure that it works.

What is the model number for the HP external USB drive?

Did you look under Device Manager to see if the external USB DVD drive is recognized? See the below image.

If no joy after a PC power cycle with the USB plugged in then review the following information at this site.

[banhien]

@Sean_1974

I would like to add, it is dynamic (or we nomally say Plug-n-Play). The following image shows Device Manager on my loan machine which does not have ODD (Optical Disc Drive).

I opened Device Manager w/o my external ODD (I've got the left side) and pluged the external ODD in (first time because I don't use CD or DVD on loan machine), within 5 seconds, the external ODD turned up as shown on the right side.

      

Regards.

[Sean_1974]

Thank you for the advice...no it is not showing in the device manager after power cycling.

There doesn't appear to be a model number?? On the back of the Ext Drive it says "HP USB External DVDRW Drive"

It lists an HP P/N: 743334-001 and Spare Part Number 747080-001 and Serial Number CNH4493499.

I have confirmed on another machine that the drive is operational.

Thank you.

[Sean_1974]

I should add for context that the machine I verified the Drive as working in is an old laptop running XP os.

As soon as I plugged it in the new hardware notification popped up and I was able to use the drive.

I am at a loss... Please advise.

Thank you again!

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Boot into the BIOS and see if the device is being discovered.

[Sean_1974]

Big Dave... Thank you so much! For whatever reason after going into bios and looking at the devices, it showed up and when I logged in I was able to see and use the external drive. No idea what happened or why but I guess it is irrelevant since I can now use the DVDRW optical drive. I appreciate your help!

-Sean