PC doesn't recognize new hardware

As I don't have Roxio software installed, I went to fix 2. I followed the instructions until part 4h. There were no "UpperFilters" or "LowerFilters" available for me to delete. Thinking back, when this computer was company property, it was on a network with a network printer connection. So far, I've only been able to install a printer. Originally, the machine had no sound card so I bought on and was unable to install that - I've got powered speakers plugged into the headphone jack. So, could it be that the machine just isn't able to recognize any new hardware?
A bit more info on the scanner - it's an HP for which I got the drivers from the internet. When I tried to install it, it wouldn't recognize the scanner but if I opened the scanning program, when I clicked on "Scan" the scanner would scan, but I would only get a black rectangle in the preview window.
Unfortunately, the IT person has left the company and we're served by a central location off site so I can't get any assistance there.

Any further assistance would be great.
Thanks,
Steve

I was thinking the same thing as glb613. As an example, I own a NEC 3520A DVD+/-RW drive, and its minimum requirements are a PIII 450MHz.

The guy at the store was confident that a CD burner would work on a P2 machine, but a DVD burner wouldn't. As these are OEM components, they came with no documentation, but I have faith in the seller - it's a small computer store - no TVs, stereos. etc.

Let's find out for sure. You have made many posts and still haven't told us the model numbers of the CD/DVD drives.

You need to KNOW. Until you provided the make and model number, everyone is just guessing.

I recently replaced a failed CD drive with a CD burner in an old computer. I had a hard time finding one that was compatible. I really think most of your problems are directly related to having a very old comptuer.

For both the DVD-Rom (Sony #DDU1615) and the CD burner (Sony #CRX230EE) the min requirements are: P2, 400 MHz, 64 MB RAM. I know I've got a P2, and 130,616 KB RAM, but I can't find the speed -its not listed on the system properties general tab. What it says under the computer section is exactly:
x86 Family 6 Model 5 Stepping
2
AT/AT COMPATIBLE
130,616 KB RAM

Where can I look to find the speed?

Try downloading and running Belarc Advisor.
http://www.download.com/Belarc-Advisor/3000-2094_4-10406799.html?tag=lst-0-1

Thanks for the link.

So, now I know that my machine meets the minimum requirements. Is there any other info from the Belarc audit that will help us?

I'd take care of the issues mentioned by R. Proffitt in the post "Why I let this post 'stew'."

On the CD rom that I removed from the computer, the jumper was set on "CS". I didn't think to set the jumpers on the new drives - any suggestions? Am I answering the question?
As for the ribbon cable - the CD rom was the only device on the cable but I think I may have plugged the DVD player into the terminal block that was originally plugged into the CD rom, and the CD burner in plugged in on the cable further away from the main board where the other end of the cable is plugged in.

Your post about jumpers is a big clue. The jumper settings is not something you can hope works. Use google.com and get those settings proper, then change the IDE cable, enable the second IDE port in the BIOS and then consider that old machines can have IDE port failures that will not show up in Windows but manifest itself as missing drives.

So far, I see a few items to work before you get a new motherboard.

Bob