[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by VulcanRider: So you've got 2 problems here -- A) your DVD is slowly losing the ability to read disks (why do you think that's NORMAL?), and 2) your desktop shortcuts, which you want to point to E:, are back on D: ? AFA the first, have you cleaned your drive head lately? Checked your data & power cables for good connections? Sometimes they'll gradually work loose. As for the 2nd, that just sounds like your desktop shortcuts need to be updated to point to the E: drive again. For each shortcut, put the disk you want into E:, then point to the desktop shortcut and right-click, select Properties, and make sure the Target: points to the file on the E: drive. How they got switched in the 1st place? Maybe you've been listening to music by The Police? You've got a Ghost in the Machine...

Actually, the main problem I have is that - even when I physically put the game into the CD drive and try to start it that way, the PC STILL won't recognize that the CD is present. It will go through the Start-Up Movie and even bring up the Start Menu...but when I click on PLAY, it spins and looks for the CD again without finding it. As I said before, the Desktop Icons are just an annoyance that I could probably fix if I took the time (which I will have plenty of over the next few weeks).

As for the DVD drive, the CD's that it wouldn't read weren't exactly the "original" CD's from the manufacturer (if you know what I mean). Once I got the "official" versions, I had less trouble, but I still occasionally ran into a CD that it just wouldn't read for some reason.

I guess I'll try the WinXP update first. I always have a little box at the bottom of my screen informing me that there are several updates ready to be downloaded. Once again, I've got a lot of extra time now, so this would be the time to do that. After that, I can always try to Un-Install and Re-Install the games that aren't working. Newer games seem to work fine, it is just the older ones that haven't been played in awhile that are having problems. So maybe I will go back and just Re-Install them from Drive E.

Thanks for all the tips and keep'em coming. I'm looking for all the advice I can get.