DVD RW CD ROM stopped working - works only in Win XP Safe Mode

  • Thread starter Thread starter Graham Brooker
  • Start date Start date
G

Graham Brooker

I am trying to get my DVD/CD working again on my Dell Optiplex Win XP PC
(now out of warranty) on one of my PCs (I have a working one too for
comparison).

The DVD/CD drive suddenly stopped responding and cannot be used to install
software or browse photos although it can sometimes play ordinary audio cds
or import them into iTunes (although not very reliably). It says it works
properly in device manager and the correct driver is installed.

I replaced the drive with a new SONY/NEC one but this too does not work. If
you insert any disk and do a properties it says it contains 0 bytes with 0
bytes free and looks empty. When inserting a CD or DVD you get a waiting
mouse cursor on screen with a disk symbol so it does start to get recognised
but nothing useful happens once the waiting period is over.

I started windows in Safe Mode and the drive appears to work normally as it
can install software and shows everything as present and correct when
exploring or opening. I ran a full scan in AVG Internet Security in Safe
Mode but nothing was found other than a single cookie called double click
(quite innocent).

Since the hardware works in Safe Mode I assume there must be some software
problem blocking drive usage as you see an empty window open if you click on
it in My Computer.

Does anyone have any ideas - removing installed software seems a laborious
task so any more direct test suggestions would be appreciated. I can try
removing the last thing installed (not sure if this triggered the fault as
my friend is the one who uses it and I only get called in when there is
trouble).

Thanks

Graham
 
Right click on my computer, and choose manage. click on device manager and
find where your cd drive is listed. delete it and restart you computer.
Don't worry, when you computer restarts windows will find it and reinstall
it for you. If this still doesn't work, open my computer and right click on
the cd drive and choose properties. click on the recording tab and make sure
enable cd recording is checked and you can click on the auto play tab and
set that to your liking.

Peace \-/
|
 
Graham said:
I am trying to get my DVD/CD working again on my Dell Optiplex Win XP PC
(now out of warranty) on one of my PCs (I have a working one too for
comparison).

The DVD/CD drive suddenly stopped responding and cannot be used to install
software or browse photos although it can sometimes play ordinary audio cds
or import them into iTunes (although not very reliably). It says it works
properly in device manager and the correct driver is installed.

I replaced the drive with a new SONY/NEC one but this too does not work. If
you insert any disk and do a properties it says it contains 0 bytes with 0
bytes free and looks empty. When inserting a CD or DVD you get a waiting
mouse cursor on screen with a disk symbol so it does start to get recognised
but nothing useful happens once the waiting period is over.

I started windows in Safe Mode and the drive appears to work normally as it
can install software and shows everything as present and correct when
exploring or opening. I ran a full scan in AVG Internet Security in Safe
Mode but nothing was found other than a single cookie called double click
(quite innocent).

Since the hardware works in Safe Mode I assume there must be some software
problem blocking drive usage as you see an empty window open if you click on
it in My Computer.

Does anyone have any ideas - removing installed software seems a laborious
task so any more direct test suggestions would be appreciated. I can try
removing the last thing installed (not sure if this triggered the fault as
my friend is the one who uses it and I only get called in when there is
trouble).

Thanks

Graham
Click to expand...
Some copy protection in games can cause issues like this. The deleting
the drive in device manager and rebooting sometimes works but if not
Microsoft has a knowledge base article on this issue and will tell you
what registry entries to change/delete to fix it. You will need to
search for it yourself as I can't remember the exact search term you
need to use to find it.
 
John Adams said:
the drive in device manager and rebooting sometimes works but if not
Microsoft has a knowledge base article on this issue and will tell you
what registry entries to change/delete to fix it. You will need to search
for it yourself as I can't remember the exact search term you need to use
to find it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies so far.

I tried deleting the device driver for the DVD/CD drive and reinstalling it
by re-booting - no improvement.
I tried deleting the Primary IDE controller driver and re-booting - no
improvement (probably the wrong one).

I tried deleting the Secondary IDE controller driver and re-booting - then
both it and the DVD drivers reinstalled as they were detected as new
hardware. The DVD drive sprang to life and worked. The software I was
trying to install started to install under autorun and the DVD name was
displayed properly in My Computer rather than just DVD-RAM changing to
DVD-ROM as before. I thought it was fixed so I re-booted once again and
found the problem came back immediately as the DVD once again appears blank.

Rather than just start up in Safe Mode I selectively stopped all the
services and added them back in MSCONFIG. I found that by stopping the Plug
and Play service the DVD drive works properly but this seems like a cheat
and will probably cause problems with other USB devices I want to plug in
later.

I am searching the MS Knowledge Base but find nothing that I am convinced I
should try as I already have Win XP SP2 installed.

Can anyone make any further suggestions.

Graham
 
Graham Brooker said:
I am trying to get my DVD/CD working again on my Dell Optiplex Win XP PC
(now out of warranty) on one of my PCs (I have a working one too for
comparison).

The DVD/CD drive suddenly stopped responding and cannot be used to install
software or browse photos although it can sometimes play ordinary audio
cds or import them into iTunes (although not very reliably). It says it
works properly in device manager and the correct driver is installed.

I replaced the drive with a new SONY/NEC one but this too does not work.
If you insert any disk and do a properties it says it contains 0 bytes
with 0 bytes free and looks empty. When inserting a CD or DVD you get a
waiting mouse cursor on screen with a disk symbol so it does start to get
recognised but nothing useful happens once the waiting period is over.

I started windows in Safe Mode and the drive appears to work normally as
it can install software and shows everything as present and correct when
exploring or opening. I ran a full scan in AVG Internet Security in Safe
Mode but nothing was found other than a single cookie called double click
(quite innocent).

Since the hardware works in Safe Mode I assume there must be some software
problem blocking drive usage as you see an empty window open if you click
on it in My Computer.

Does anyone have any ideas - removing installed software seems a laborious
task so any more direct test suggestions would be appreciated. I can try
removing the last thing installed (not sure if this triggered the fault as
my friend is the one who uses it and I only get called in when there is
trouble).
Click to expand...

I am willing to bet that not only does the properties show 0 bytes used and
0 bytes available but that it shows the file system as 'RAW'. I can only
say that the interface with XP is somehow broken, this is most likely
something that gets loaded with an ordinary boot but not a safe mode boot
(as evidenced by the way it works in this mode). I cannot of course say
what it is that is getting in the way, but there are several utilities that
install themselves as a filter between the drive and windows XP itself.

An example is a utility such as DVD RegionFree which takes the encrypted
output from a DVD and decrypts it before passing it to windows. Thus
windows (or more practically, your chosen DVD player) thinks it is playing a
non encrypted disk with no region mask when in reality the disk is encrypted
and a different region that the one the drive is set up for. Such software
often provides many more changes to what XP sees. Without the utility,
windows has to get the drive to decrypt the disk, which it won't do if the
region mask doesn't match.

I can only suggest that you open 'Start', select 'Run...' and enter
'msconfig' in the dialogue box presented. Uncheck everything in the
'startup' tab, reboot (windows will complain that you have messed with the
configuration, but just dismiss it) and see if the problem disappears. If
it has then you just need to re-enable things until it breaks (in practice
re-enable half the list - it'll be quicker).
 
M.I.5¾ said:
I am willing to bet that not only does the properties show 0 bytes used
and 0 bytes available but that it shows the file system as 'RAW'. I can
only say that the interface with XP is somehow broken, this is most likely
something that gets loaded with an ordinary boot but not a safe mode boot
(as evidenced by the way it works in this mode). I cannot of course say
what it is that is getting in the way, but there are several utilities
that install themselves as a filter between the drive and windows XP
itself.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion. I am not exactly sure what was happening but
for a while I discovered stopping a ScanSoft Paperport utility from
installing at start-up seemed to help things. Unfortunately the Win XP
control panel could not remove it so it may have been corrupted, so I
stopped it from within regedit as it would not be used on that PC any more.
I then removed and old version of Roxio 5 DVD burner that came with the PC
and was not compatible with the newer DVD drive that was installed (no
updates available). I now seem to have a stable system with DVD working.

I thought I would report back as my goggling always stopped short of finding
how the final fix was done as folk loose interest when they have resolved
their problem.

Thanks

Graham
 
Graham Brooker said:
Thanks for your suggestion. I am not exactly sure what was happening but
for a while I discovered stopping a ScanSoft Paperport utility from
installing at start-up seemed to help things. Unfortunately the Win XP
control panel could not remove it so it may have been corrupted, so I
stopped it from within regedit as it would not be used on that PC any
more. I then removed and old version of Roxio 5 DVD burner that came with
the PC and was not compatible with the newer DVD drive that was installed
(no updates available). I now seem to have a stable system with DVD
working.

I thought I would report back as my goggling always stopped short of
finding how the final fix was done as folk loose interest when they have
resolved their problem.
Click to expand...

It is always good to hear if fixes work, because, most times, you are never
sure whether you have helped somone, achieved nothing or made things worse.
 
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