First of all I'm not exactly a computer guy..... I'll try my best to summon up what happened.

Alright. I was playing Sims 2 on my computer when all of a sudden the computer restarted. Not a blue screen or anything, just right back to the BIOS and it started up. Then I tried to start up the Sims again by clicking on my computer.... but the D:/ and F:/ or G:/ or whatever drives weren't there anymore. I tried to load in different CDs and DVDs in either drive but nothing worked. Usually when I do so this dialog box opens up and asks me what I want to do with the data on the disc (burn CD, explore contents, etc.) but it no longer appears.

I opened up this one thingy that listed all the components of my computer. I checked to see if my CD/DVD drives existed, and they were there, but there was a yellow ballon with a ! inside of it next to both of the drives.

A computer-literate friend of my mom's said the chip inside my computer was fried or some crap. He said if I replaced both drives, then they would work fine again. I'm skeptical to say the least. Why would both drives get fried?

Windows XP, custom-built PC by a friend, 3 GHZ Pentium 4, nVidia FX5500, unbranded CD-R drive, and a Pioneer DVD-R drive. Am I missing anything? Please help!!!

 

loose cables inside. happens all the time.

 

yeah try shutting down, unplugging and replugging in the cables to the drives.....