Yes, BIOS reads the drive and XP apparently sees it during startup. At least the drive light comes on. It knows the drive is there, it just won't read the discs. It's been taken out and replaced. We removed it to try the drive in a friend's machine. Worked perfectly. Replaced it, making sure everything was well connected, wouldn't work. It wouldn't be an issue I'd even bother with if the folks I deal with would realize that CD's are just as effective.