The CMOS, also known as the BIOS, contains information on the hardware that is connected to the PC and is located on the motherboard of the system. The CMOS - BIOS holds information such as the System Time & Date, System temperature and other vital System Information.

It is within the BIOS Settings that you need to establish if the system recognizes the CD Burner and what the model of the drive is. If the BIOS fails to recognize a device such as a CD Burner you should attempt to reset the BIOS, CMOS.

How to reset the BIOS

To reset the BIOS or CMOS disconnect the CMOS Battery from the motherboard and leave it off for aproxs 5-15 minutes. The CMOS Battery is just like a battery you would find inside a watch but bigger. You may need to use the motherboard manual to reset the BIOS and follow the safety guidelines, which is a must.

Once the CMOS Battery is removed for a partial time reconnect it and power on the System. When the PC first starts you will be prompted to configure the BIOS such as the System date and time etc as this information was wiped from the computer memory after the CMOS battery was removed.

After configuring the time and date of the BIOS - CMOS you should restart the computer and let Windows load normally, now the hardware should be reconised. If the hardware is not reconised after a BIOS - CMOS reset check inside the BIOS configuration that the hardware device port is enabled - for example if you have an IDE CD Burner you will nned to make sure the IDE port is enabled in the BIOS.

It is import that the BIOS is updated to the latest version, a download patch can be installed from the manufacture web site or the OEM of the PC. Please note that an install crash or failure can result in major loss of all data on the PC so you need to be careful when updating the BIOS or CMOS.

If the BIOS still has issues recognizing the CD Burner and the BIOS has been fully updated then its advisable to check the CD Burner hardware and Data Cable guides.