CD and DVD burner misbehaviour; a little help?

Salutations!

I'll tell you all right now, I'd be lost without MajorGeeks! Thanks for providing a resource for the not-so-savvy Computer enthusiast!

I’ve been sniffing around the forums and I’ve checked things according to the advice given, so, know that I at least tried to give it a shot before buggin’ anyone.

So, Here goes.

My System “sees” my DVDRW drives—both of them (Drive “D:” is a “DVD RAM” with Light Scribe, if that means diddly-squat).

When I put a disc in (any media—blank, movie, data, music, readable, it doesn’t matter), it gets the little ‘laserdisc’ symbol flickering next to my cursor, so it senses something in there. However, when I try to access the disc, it asks me to “Please insert a disc in drive D:.”

According to my system’s hardware profiles, they are both functioning properly… Except that…they really aren’t.

“Autorun” has been disabled so loading something doesn’t execute it right away (it’s a safeguard to keep unwanted games off my PC, as my mate likes games and doesn’t always think before loading one. There are other PCs for that nonsense.)

I’ve checked for upper and lower filters, and removed them (actually, I only had one filter; an Upper one) since I had no burning software at the time. After which, I came here to Major Geeks and got the Ashampoo Burning 6 Free software. [For the record, there still doesn’t appear to be a filter in there—upper or lower.]

(**I do wonder: Since disc drives are normally stacked one above the other, is the “Upper and Lower” filter a reference relative to the physical positioning of the device itself? Just curious.)

No dice; it still doesn’t recognize a disc in there, in that one could access its contents.

Went to Microsoft and ran their FixIt Tool for checking the drives, and achieved nothing; it says the drives aren’t able to read or write—as if I didn’t know that already.

Drive E will read CDs like the Joy of Cooking, run software. Play music (WM Player, but the point is, it “sees” and shows the files, a thankful thing, as my PC would be a paperweight if it wasn’t able to read and run Windows!) Also, it won’t open automatically when it’s empty, only when there’s a disc in it; I keep a paperclip handy.

Try to get a movie going and nothing. The Drive can identify the movie, but attempting to play the video will result in WM Player coming up with this alert:

“Windows Media Player is currently unable to play DVD video. Try decreasing the number of colors displayed on your monitor or decreasing the screen resolution. For additional solutions, click More Information to access the DVD Troubleshooter.”

Error ID = 0xC00D116A, Condition ID = 0x00000000
0xC00D116A: Cannot play DVD video (No more code, see update below.)

Apparently I don’t have DVD Decoding software. Any references? After getting “poisoned” by a free FLV player/Converter, I really don’t feel all that good about getting things from the Internet (except here at Major Geeks!).

Fixing screen resolution/colour settings and running the troubleshooter yield no productive results.

Contacted the shop that originally built the computer and of course, they only offered that I Google “upper level and lower level filters” as there could be issues in my registry that were eliminated when I uninstalled the software suite that ran burning my music and video before (Nero).

They also mentioned that the drives themselves could possibly need replacing, and that it’d cost $50.00 for them to look at my machine. :/

Now (02-20-2012) since I have run the Windows Repair Tool (By Tweaking.com), the Windows Media Player message is:

“Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings.”

No code follows this time, since Windows is definitely much more stable.

Drive E: and “burning”: “E:\ Is not accessible. Incorrect function.” That’s pretty much what it does. Went through the Properties option and on the “record” tab to fix that, so it can get Word Docs and music, pictures, video and programs, but gives me a warning that some parts aren’t transferable to disc. “The file ‘msgr11us.exe’ (Y!Messenger, for example’s sake) has extra information attached to it that might be lost if you continue copying. The contents of the file will not be affected. Do you want to copy the file anyway?”

That’s Half a-One! Can’t play movies and the drawer has to be opened manually when empty. I’m making progress!

Drive D—ironically, my newest drive!—“sees” the disc, but it doesn’t do much of anything else. You cannot look into it, activate music or programs, or watch movies, or…anything. But the drawer opens really smooth and the computer knows there’s a disk present—until you go to play or access what’s on the disc, Got this one when the PC was built…DVD RAM was a newly improved (since the late 90’s upgraded significantly, according to the tech). Don’t know about now.

It does offer the option to send items to it if I go through properties and enable recording (one or the other, not both…it has to be one drive to record, OR the other but not both? I mean, I kinda understand that one should be the “record” drive and the other should be the play drive, but if one is better or newer... Well, I s’pose I could simply enable one or the other.)

Perhaps what I could use is some good software to put these things to use? The only time they ran well was when I had Nero, but I really didn’t like the interface of that program. It seemed too ‘bloaty’ and naggy and slow.

My 3.5” Floppy Disk Drive—yes, I went there, I have one. When I went to University, we used to keep our homework on floppies, and it’s nice to have a DOS boot disk (admittedly, it’s been a while though!) Checking on it through System Info says it’s okay, as does Device Manager. Doesn’t read, or format and it’s never been used a great deal, but I would like for it to work. It’s also cheaper to give away a floppy when dealing with document copies than it is to keep replacing jump drives…

Additionally, one can stuff much Word and other text-only documents into those little things. I like ‘em, if only for their Geek-value and nerdy nostalgia—and the whole Word thing.

Attached is a Text file with my System’s Info on it.
Thanks so much for your time!

 

My, my, you're very through. Nice job of describing your problems.

I don't have direct experience with the problem, but looking around a little tells me that it's not an uncommon one, and one that afflicts Win7 and Vista as well as XP. Microsoft has several 'fix' possibilities at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060 They even mention Nero (and others) as being possibly causes of the problem.

I've also gathered that another fix for the problem is to install a "CD/DVD-burning utility" but I can't help with any suggestions for one. I bet MG has a few, though.

There is also a free Filter Utility at http://www.bustrace.com/products/devfilter.htm that might help in some way.

I have no suggestions for your floppy drive fix, but it seems that anytime anyone has a problem with drives or other attached devices the standard answers are "reinstall the drivers," "uninstall and reinstall the drivers" or "update the drivers." I'm sure one of these answers works in some cases, but I'm equally sure that many times they don't work. I think it's just become a standard, pat answer to a lot of problems such as yours. In most cases reinstalling drivers probably don't hurt anything, though.

Finally, malware certainly has the ability to make CD/DVD drives unusable, usually by changing registry settings. I bet your system is squeaky clean, but if you haven't run any deep scans with several programs for a while, it wouldn't hurt to do that. Then if anything is found and eliminated, by all means reinstall the devices' drivers

Your lack of "DVD Decoding software" could be the main problem, too, at least for the DVDs, but I can't recommend anything in particular. Someone on here should be able to, though.

 

Addendum to my first post..

You might take a look at Ashampoo Burning Studio. Seems a lot of people use it.

 

Hello! Thanks for reading my post, as well as commenting.

My, my, you're very through. Nice job of describing your problems.


Thanks. I try to provide as much as I can to shorten the number of exchanges. After all, it’s good to keep track so one doesn’t repeat unnecessary steps; it’s a communication thing.


I don't have direct experience with the problem, but looking around a little tells me that it's not an uncommon one, and one that afflicts Win7 and Vista as well as XP. Microsoft has several 'fix' possibilities at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060 They even mention Nero (and others) as being possibly causes of the problem.

Ah, there was useful info there, and as applied, it didn’t work, unfortunately. I’ve even double-checked the physical connections themselves. They’re souns as a pound.

I've also gathered that another fix for the problem is to install a "CD/DVD-burning utility" but I can't help with any suggestions for one. I bet MG has a few, though.

Indeed.

There is also a free Filter Utility at http://www.bustrace.com/products/devfilter.htm that might help in some way.


I am grateful, but I don’t know exactly how that can help me; my devices have neither upper nor lower filters of any kind, especially now, since I’ve uninstalled and let Windows re-install the drivers (if any—memory serves, Windows configures each unit as it sees fit). As if I have added the device new, and the system’s Device Manager says:

“This device is working properly.
If you are having problems with this device, click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter.”

I have no suggestions for your floppy drive fix, but it seems that anytime anyone has a problem with drives or other attached devices the standard answers are "reinstall the drivers," "uninstall and reinstall the drivers" or "update the drivers." In most cases reinstalling drivers probably don't hurt anything, though.

Windows has the necessary tools for contending with the drivers within its own system files; there’s no separate driver. Normally that’s among the list of checks I try to do before I approach a forum, though I may have neglected to mention it.

Finally, malware certainly has the ability to make CD/DVD drives unusable, usually by changing registry settings.

Certified Clean by Comodo Antivirus.

Your lack of "DVD Decoding software" could be the main problem, too, at least for the DVDs, but I can't recommend anything in particular. Someone on here should be able to, though.

I actually started sniffing around for—and happily found—the old version of Power DVD that came with this computer. The great news is, I can now see and play DVDs in the bottom drive, but that, while wonderful, hasn’t resolved the issues with the topmost drive. That’s the DVD drive that has the multi-layer and the lightscribe and the bell and whistle, lol…it was actually the better drive at the time, and burns DVDs with a vengeance, with little or no loss for even some of the poorest video quality. When it worked, it was a great unit, even though I used it only so often. When I go to copy information or, say old home movies that have been burned to disc, I’d like to not have to save copies on my computer and then burn them, but go from disc to disc.

You might take a look at Ashampoo Burning Studio. Seems a lot of people use it.

Got it and installed it to see if the drive would respond…unhappily, not even Ashampoo can rouse its attention. LOL.

But I thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

You've been ahead of me on most things; you're very thorough.

The only reasons I pointed you to the Filter Utility was in case it would show you anything that you didn't already know (is there such a thing as hidden filters?) and the driver info it gave, in case the latter was different from that obtained in device manager.

I hear you about Comodo, but a single program isn't going to catch everything. It sure wouldn't hurt to do scans with SuperAntiSpyware and the Malwarebytes program (download both from MG). They are pretty good at sleuthing out things an AV may have missed.

I'm just talking out loud here, so take it for what it's worth (probably not much) but if I had your problem I'd

1) uninstall the drivers for the DVD drives and floppy drive, reboot and see if the computer found new hardware and installed the correct drivers. If you don't want to be too adventurous do them one at a time and reboot each time.

2) if 1) told me nothing, I'd try to find new drivers for the drives from the manufacturers and install those. Failing that I'd reinstall the old drivers.

3) Failing 2) and if I had friends with computers I'd physically remove the drives from my computer and tote them to said friend's house where I would electrically hook them up to their computer, reboot and see if said computer would recognize them. I would definitely hook them up only one at a time (probably wouldn't be possible to do more than one at a time anyway).

4) If 3) worked I'd have to look more into my computer's setup to see where else the problem may be. If 3) didn't work I'd look at buying new DVD drives (which should come with new drivers) or buying a new computer! Enough would be enough!

You've probably already done 1) and 2) above would be my guess! And maybe 3) and 4), too, for all I know.

Since all three drives are not working, it seems it would have to be something common to them all if they all went out about the same time. I'd think it would be very peculiar to have the drives all of a sudden not be recognizable at about the same time unless malware was the culprit.

Just remember---the drives are inanimate objects and must therefore eventually respond to reason.

That's about all I can think of. I hope you can get it straightened out. If you do, let us know what happened, please.

Perhaps some really bright soul will come around on here and magically give you the answers to your drives' problems!

I think this is my 100th post....maybe that will give you some luck.

 

Good morning...

Just a quick observation here:

Do you have a bootable disk available? Doesn't matter what flavor: a Windows disk, Linux, antivirus rescue, etc...

If so, then insert the disk in one of the problem drives, reboot and access BIOS, set your boot order to 'CD First', and save...

If the machine will boot to the optical drive, then it's a pretty good bet that the drive is good...

 

Caliban has a good point and it reminded me of something I thought of the other day and neglected to mention, to wit: Is your BIOS indeed recognizing the DVD and floppy drives? Worth a look, at least.

 

best advise yet

forget what the operating system is doing and do as he advises if it won't boot from the cd/dvd drive it's time for a replacement

if your having difficulty ejecting a disk it's a sure sign the drive is not reading the TOC and gets stuck in a loop making ejecting the disk difficult at best

my moneys on the drive needs replacing

 

Oh--much to respond to here...lots of great ideas. Thanks to each and every one, too.

Here we go...

I'm hoping to take the drive itself out and see if there might be an issue with it (same with the floppy). Thing is, all it does is open and close as smooth as silk, lol

Plodr...loved the "cupholder"...it was great. Thank you!LOL...it works on the drive that already opens fine, though...do you have one that'll open my "E:" drive? It works about like this: Drive D: opens but isn't working properly. Drive E: works properly but only opens and closes normally if there's a disc in the drive; otherwise, I haveta use a paperclip to open it.

When I slip a disk in drive D:--any media type--I see the little disc symbol flash next to my cursor. That tells me that something recognizes there's a disc in there, and the computer is getting that message. However, when I try to access what's on that disc (start > my Computer > clickthat specific drive), it says "Please insert a disc in Drive D: .".

I go through Hardware and Device Manager and "delete" the drivers (honestly, all I have heard is that these disc drives don't have actual drivers, that Windows recognizes them and that's it), and when I reboot, the Computer tells me there's new Hardware and in a few seconds, it names the driver brand and model--and it says it's ready to use.

I can click on the empty drive E: and the computer opens a blank window/advances "forward" to an empty pane like when one clicks into a newly-created file.

With regard to using a bootable disc, that's a great idea...LOL, I need to look up how to re-enable autorun again, it's been so long. I disabled it because I've got a mate (and a young'un) that likes video-games and I don't care much for them, so I don't want them installed on this computer. They have their own computers for that.

Usually, I keep this PC (in addition to my laptop) running very smoothly, but you know how other things can distract you from your routine. This disc drive used to work like gang busters, but gradually, that declined and I simply resigned to the possibility of needing a new one; but due to some recent circumstances (this pc picked up a few trojans, it's been cleaned thoroughly, but the most damage was done from a driver for my Ethernet card that DriverMax suggested, which made the system perform badly.) Windows didn't even recognize things, so much that it wanted reactivation and just...man, downward spiral. Thanks to Major Geeks and some really great help in the malware forums, Microsoft ($60.00 call, y'all), and several days of work on my part, my desktop PC is running like new again--except this disk drive and my floppy-drive.

So I wanted to fix that. After all, the drive that actually works is a much older drive, and if this sort of thing should happen again (the trojans were my fault, from a free FLV player I had gotten, and the DriverMax fiasco was also my fault, dang it, so I've got no one to be mad at but meself), I'd like to have a contingency if that older drive should peter out.

Since the floppy isn't working, I wonder if it's just some "skipped code" or something that's goofing with my hardware or how the System perceives it. After all, it's a floppy drive...not a whole lot can go wrong with it. Like the disc drive, D:, the machine see it, says it's fine and (unlike drive D: ) it knows a disk is present, but it doesn't perform its intended function. Can't even format a disk. But if necessary, I can just snag a new one of these later, as it's a little more imperative I have a functioning DVD disc-drive.

It's been so darn long since I've had to boot from a floppy, I don't even think I have my bootable floppy disk anymore. A shame really.

However, the idea of looking into my BIOS seems like a good one. Intimidating, but good. (CosmicMa's idea's a good one as well, and I've been thinking of a newer model, possibly even a new ribbon-cable, even though the connections are all tight and everything looks brand new inside my tower--I do vacuum in there, keeps the dust from making things over heat.) I do wonder, though: if the system sees there's a disc (flashing symbol by my cursor) and it "re-installs" after a reboot with the drivers deleted, does that not demonstrate that BIOS sees something?

Thanks for all the input, too; as I've said, I'd be lost without teh awesomeness that is GEEK.

 

Oh--an added question: is there a way to save a backup of my "My Documents" folder as a .bkf type file on some DVDs? It keeps telling me that it's "not a proper path name" or some such.

 

Oh-key--Dokey!

Turned out the laser was bad, as I've gotten another and replaced it and it now works fine. Thank you to everyone who gave me such great ideas and offered to help in my circumstance!

Still wonder why the other one won't open normally unless there's a disc in it, but hey! They both work now, so I'm not gonna fuss. Now the only thing left for me to work on--hardware-wise--would be my floppy drive, and that's mainly for the geek-value of it. It's there, it's clean, I seldom use it, but since it's on the machine, I just want it to work as it should.

When I put in a disk to read it, it tells me "A:\ is not accessible. No ID Address mark was found on the floppy disk." and it gives me an "Okay" button to push. Right clicking makes the hourglass sit there and run for nearly a minute before the little pop menu appears. It doesn't format disks. "Windows was unable to complete the format."

It won't make a DOS disk either. Could just be past its prime. My diskettes are old, too--so they might be past their prime....but who knows how long that old media lasts...?

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, my audios are go. I've done the checks and the System sees it as "being there", recognizes the device, there's no problem, and it appears to be "functioning properly", right down to all the connections within the machine's tower being sound as a pound. Any thoughts?

Anyway, the DVD RW is working fine ('Coz it's a new one!), and all of you are terrific for giving me such great suggestions. Thanks again!

 

Hi, Bluestreak.

Glad to hear you fixed the problem with your one optical drive.

Re: the floppy drive problem, according to M'Soft the message "No ID Address mark was found on the floppy disk" is "normal" (only they would say that) for a floppy that has been quick-formatted rather than formatted normally, and that using the long format fixes the problem. I would add to that "maybe" and "sometimes." And as you say, the drive is old, and the floppies you have are old...hard to say.

One guy fixed the problem by reinstalling the drivers and he has a pretty good write-up of how he did it.

http://www.question-defense.com/201...-id-address-mark-was-found-on-the-floppy-disk

(The images on that page expand if you click on them.)

I'd give it one more try using that method and if that failed I'd be looking for a new floppy drive. I suppose it might be worth trying a brand-new floppy disk (if you can find them) before resorting to a new drive, though at this point a pack of new floppies might cost more than a new drive!

Good luck!

 

Good morning...

Usually not long, unless they've been stored in pristine surroundings...I say 'usually', because there are always exceptions, but it's been my experience through the years that floppies tend to deteriorate precisely when you need them to function correctly (the 'Reverse Floppy Law'?)...

Frankly, I'd make sure your USB ports work correctly (flash drives are the new, better floppy disks), and if having a non-functioning 'A' drive staring at you is bothersome, consider putting a blank in front of the drive. Unfortunately, some old motherboards won't function correctly if you completely remove the floppy drive, but you can always slide it back in its cage and hide it...