Optical Drive problem

Hey guys,
I am having a problem with a computer running Windows XP SP2 (Home)
The problem is that the optical drives will not show up in "My computer" in a normal boot of windows. The drives at first showed in Device Manager with an exclamation point citing error 37 (Windows is unable to load drivers for this device) which I was able to fix by deleting the lower and upper filter entrys in the registry. The drives now show up fine in Device Manager but still nothing in My Computer. I have verified that the drives are working by running diagnostics with a PC Doctor boot disc and by restarting into Safe Mode in which they test just fine, reading any cd or dvd that I throw at them. I'm baffled. I have also scanned for malware, run several registry scans, ran sfc /scannow, pretty much everything that I can think of besides doing a operating system repair or reinstallation (Which we are trying to avoid due to large amounts of programs installed).

Any ideas? Any thanks is always appreciated!

Thanks much,
Randy O.:major

 

Another poster here is having the same problem, How would you go about doing a repair without your drives? ed

 

What burning software are you using? I'm assuming that at least one of the optical drives is a burner of some sort. The fact that both work in safe mode tends to point to a driver issue, as safe mode boots with only the minimal drivers necessary to run the OS.

Are both optical drives on the same IDE channel?

If you are using burning software, I would recommend uninstalling it and running whatever cleaning tool the manufacturer offers, if any, and then a registry cleaner. Then go into Device Manager and delete/uninstall the optical drives and reboot the computer.

One question that I forgot to ask is if either of the optical drivers are new additions to the machine. If so were the jumpers checked for proper configuration ( master/slave, cable select ).

Hope this helps!

 

Not a bad idea about the burning software.
Tunered- I would be able to do a repair because as I mentioned, the drives work but just not in the normal boot of windows. I will try your suggestion about the burning software and get back to you guys. Thank you for the ideas

Randy

 

Have you tried simply updating the drivers in "Device Manager"? This has been problematic for me at times, so I have used some good web sites where you can find free drivers to download...I'm not sure if Geeks has them or not, so I won't list them here. Also is it your "My Computer" window that isn't listing your drives? Did you try View & then Refresh after rebooting? Just a suggestion. Good luck!

Shanrene

 

When you say drives, I assume you have 2. How are they connected to the motherboard, and have you checked that the jumpers are set correctly ? The reason I ask is that I've come across computers (running XP) that had problems recognising optical drives, and their position on the IDE cable, and the jumper settings can affect whether they work properly or not.

 

To Shanrene - Drivers are in fine. The drives are recognized with no errors and show up fine in Device Manager.

To Taruin - Yes, there are two. Both drives are connected to IDE channel 2 with a master/slave jumper position (repectively). I have tried switching the IDE cable, tried putting both jumpers to cable select position and tried switching the drives to the channel 1 IDE.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Removing the burning program had no effect on the drives showing up. Also yes they are not showing up in My Computer or Explorer. They do however show in BIOS, device manager as well as in Mycomputer and Explorer in Safe Mode. I don't think I mentioned, but I have also tried creating a test account from the administrators account in Safe mode which yeilded the same results. This problem is really wierd. Keep the ideas coming.

 

Go to start, run, regedit.

Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE

Find your cdrom device.

Highlight and export it.

File, export.

Delete the subkey:

For example, mine is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE\CdRomHP_DVD_Writer_740b______________________FF24____\5&d073337&0&1.0.0


Delete it. If it wont work, you need to edit permissions for the subfolder.

Give everyone group full permissions.

Then delete it.

Reboot.

Retest.

 

Thanks adrenalyne - Will this work with XP Home? I will try it within the next two days and let you know. Much appreciated!

 

Yep, it will work with 2k/XP/Vista.