NO DVD-RM found

Friends Gateway laptop - Vista was reinstalled on it - things running normally except the DVD RW Drive (E drive). The drive will open and close manually. I have tried DVDs and CDs but it will not recognize the drive and gives me the E:\Application not found.

I've removed the hardware from Device Manager and rebooted. I've updated the driver.Tried this but I don't have Upper or Lower filters http://www.kuhnline.com/index.php?id=76

Suggestions? Do I need to reinstall CD burning software after the reinstall (he didn;t have Roxio installed fwiw), and if so, which ones? Try to open the drive with disk in in Media Player Classic and it returns a "Cannot find DVD directory". Event viewer shows no errors reported.

Drive is seen in BIOS.

 

Lev,

I saw your post last night but waited in the hope that someone with more experience with Vista would reply. They haven't, so I'll give it a shot.

First a few questions. Why was Vista reinstalled, and what problems was the owner having that prompted the reinstall? May not be relevant, but nice to know. Was the reinstall done with a DVD or restore partition on the laptop? Did the DVD drive work immediately after the restore/reinstall?

Have you checked with Gateway to see if they have updated chipset drivers for this laptop, and were the chipset drivers installed after the Vista install?

You mentioned that the friend didn't have Roxio installed, but what about iTunes, or any other CD/DVD software? Does your friend keep external USB devices plugged into the laptop?


Please pardon all the questions, but these are some of the things that I ran across while searching for a solution to the problem.

Do you or friend have an external CD/DVD drive that could be hooked up to the laptop to see if it would work or be recognized? If it does, that would sort of clear the OS as the problem.

I ran across so many things that fixed this issue in Vista while researching, that it boggles my mind. Placing the computer in hibernation for a period and awakening fixed it for some people. The upper/lower filter registry edit fixed it for most, but one person found it to be floppy drive support in the BIOS.

So, hopefully some of this will help!

 

All good questions and happy to reply the best I can. Vista was reinstalled for no particular reason, other than one of his friend's played a "practical joke" shall we say. I do not know how the reinstall was done. The DVD drive has not worked since the reinstall, which leads me to believe as the burning software was removed it affected the drive.

No as I don't think this is the problem as it worked perfectly well before the reinstall.

He didn't have iTunes, but this practical joker friend had been secretly downloading movies illegally so there was various software on there (Needless to say MY friend is pretty mad about all this). No USB devices plugged in.[/quote]

I have a USB drive so will give this a whirl and let you know

Tried the upper lower filters deal - I don't have any on there. Can't see what good the hibernation deal would have. Even removed the battery for a while as this is Gateway's favorite solution for everything

Appreciate your suggestions - keep them rolling please!

 

Update: the USB external hard drive was recognized without problem by the laptop, and data on it can be accessed. The OS is sound.

I'm certain it is a software issue now..I just cannpot fathom what it is exactly. Going to move this thread to Software Forum.

 

Lev,

Sorry to be so late with a reply, but spent all of yesterday at an airport trying to sort out ticket issues with wife's flight to see relatives.

Halo's advice seems correct for an installation that was working and stopped, with no problems in Device Manager, but totally out of character for a complete reinstall of the OS ( Please pardon if I'm wrong, David ), which should have totally overwritten everything and provided an as new/shipped condition for the computer in question.

That was why I questioned the reinstall method used and my lack of experience with Vista. But a DVD ROM that was used to reinstall the OS ( assumption if using a DVD ) should still work afterwards, unless additional software was downloaded after the install/reinstall.

Did your friend install any software after the original reinstall?

 

Halo, I tried that twice now...no go. Any other suggestions?

@Novice - understand about airports. Had an epic journey myself yesterday.

Thanks for the ongoing support guys.

 

Loaded Infrarecorder on it - made no difference. Booted in Safe Mode - made no difference.

Thanks for your help Halo

 

Lev,

Just went back and reread the entire thread to make sure that I hadn't overlooked anything. You never mentioned whether the DVD ROM was visible in My Computer or not. The fact that you were able to update the driver for the DVD ROM bothers me a little in that most of the time Windows will refuse and tell you that the best and most current driver is installed.

Have to ask the obvious, although I'm sure that you've already done so. Has CCleaner been ran with the issues option? If not, this might give a clue as to what application (s) have been uninstalled with registry keys still present. and presenting a problem.

As it was said that your friend had a practical joker buddy, is it possible that the DVD ROM was set to only work when logged in as Administrator? Only asking because of my inexperience with Vista and not sure if it can be done, but to me would be the ultimate joke, if possible, and access was available.


Do any devices not on the computer show up under NON PNP Devices/Drivers? Only asking in that it sounds more like an in place repair was done on the OS instead of a full reinstall. A lot of current burning apps like to install virtual ROM devices and might be a problem?

With this, I will leave it to members with more Vista experience. Best Holiday Wishes to both you and Halo!

 

DVD ROM is visible in My Computer.

I did not update the driver - I tried and got the "You have the best already installed "message. Sorry - wasn't very clear there.

I have run CCleaner and with the issues option already

I am logged in as Administrator. I have my friend bringing the Vista CD over this evening, though it is probably just the Gateway deal, or the Anytime Upgrade CD - he wasn't clear.

No NON PNP devices that are not connected are showing as connected.

This is really bugging me now - I'm sure it is simple and I've tried everything I have ever read about this problem now.

 

It is the original DVD that came with the machine. FYI, a borrowed one would be illegal activity that MajorGeeks.com would not support

As stated in Post #1, the driver is the latest version.

The re-install, as stated in Post #1 was not done by me. However, all MSFT updates are up to date.

 

Yes and yes.

Yes - Event ID 11. Further digging around shows that the driver detected a controller error on \Device\CdRom0

FYI - the disk I have for his machine is Vista SP1.

 

So question - in System Information > Software Environment > System Drivers the CD/DVD File System Reader shows up as:

Started = No
Start Mode - Disabled
State = Stopped

Am I on to something here?

 

Possibly a permission problem.
If you are familiar and comfortable with Regedit then you could try the following (always make a backup before performing any registry modifications!):

 

Lev,

Last two things that I could think of, although I promised to stay out of the thread! What about Region coding for the DVD ROM, and will it allow the computer to boot from bootable CD/DVD's?

 

Thanks guys....answers to all your questions:

1. DVD region is set correctly. (Region 1)
2. I cannot boot from the Vista CD even though I have pointed it to do so here first. It tries, spins the disk and the drive light comes on, but nobody is home.
3. Yes there is a C partition and a D recovery partition. E is the CD/DVD ROM drive.
4. Checked to make sure drive was seated properly. It was. Could not find lose cables but it is tight for space in there and I'm not a hardware person at all, so possibly missed something not so obvious?
5. Deleted the controller, rebooted, no difference, but it does search for quite some time, spinning the disk and the disk drive light is on during this time. It just doesn't read it and finally gives the "Application not found" message or asks me to Insert a disk.
6. With permission settings everything was set correctly. However, did you mean the check box for "Replace all existing inheritable permissions on all descendants with inheritable permissions from this object"? If so, it would not allow me to do so and unchecked it. If you meant the "Include inheritable permissions from this object's parent" it was already checked anyway.

 

Yes I have...this was suggested back in Post #5

 

Good suggestion Halo thanks. Couple of questions:

As this laptop has had Vista re-installed, do I also do this for apps in Windows.old? Do they still affect the system? If not, then the machine really was clean as a whistle when I got it as the re-install had been done the day before, so not many apps to delete, but I will still go ahead and do the non-MSFT ones as you suggest.

 

@ Halo - yeah - I've been gleaming all sorts of files and photo folders off Windows.old and making back ups for them. If I could I would have done a clean install by now, but DVD ROM won't let me. Catch 22.

DVD Decrypter was not installed. Very little was, as I mentioned. I only removed those applications I had installed and one other media/drive related application and it has made no difference.

I used the Gateway online tech support and they gave me numerous links to different things to try. I gave them the link to this thread at MG's

So my choices are they send me a new DVD ROM drive or I send it in under warranty. I still don't believe this is hardware failure, and as it is under full warranty and I know the Gateway warranty service like the back of my hand, I am shipping it in.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to finding a solution for this problem. Greatly appreciated.

 

Hi. I just wanted to add in that I'm having (almost) the exact same problem as you, Lev. I've got a Vista laptop, only my DVD drive just suddenly -stopped- working. Gives the same error message, i followed all the suggestions given above and a few others besides, and i've still got no working DVD drive. I unfortunately haven't found a fix, just another example of the same issue. I thought I'd submit my experience to the thinktank, if it helps either you or I come to a resolution that DOESNT involve shipping things across the universe when we're sure they work.

 

I have (moderately) good news for you! A user on the tech IRC channel i hang out at offered the following idea, which helped:
(Note the HKCU is of course HKey_Current_User)


ShivalWolf: * Launch regedit
ShivalWolf: * Navigate to "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2"
ShivalWolf: * Export the complete registry key "Mountpoint2" to a regfile named "hkcu_mountpoint2.reg" e.g. In case something goes wrong, you can restore the current situation by double-clicking this file.
ShivalWolf: * Remove "MountPoint2" completely.
ShivalWolf: logout and login again


After i did this, i no longer get the "Application not Found" error. Unfortunately, now I'm just getting a "Please insert a disk" message no matter what's in there, but it's the first thing that anyone suggested that has resulted in any form of change. I'm testing all the other fixes again now that things are different, and if anything else comes up, I'll post it for you.

 

Appreciate your input....will give it whirl before I get shipping and let you know what rocks.

@Halo....roger that

 

Holy freaking awesome, I fixxed it!!!


I cant tell you if this will help your case any, but after all the other troubleshooting was done, i got fed up and took my computer completely apart. After dis-assembling my laptop, i discovered that the DVD drive wasn't seated -completely- properly. It was in well enough that the computer knew it was there, but it was just not totally snapped into place. So, before you mail yours off, try the 'remove MountPoints2' fix (which changed the error type) and then re-seating your drive. The worst that could happen is that it stays busted, eh?
Assuming you don't drop a bunch of computer parts along the way.


Best of luck!
Tsugie

 

Sneeky is good considering how this all came about. Thanks Halo. Although it was a reinstall, it was a custom reinstall, hence the creation of the windows.old folder. However, I have no clue of what was actually customized. Seems it might have been the DVD ROM.

So the first registry key suggestion - NoViewOnDrive is not present. However, NoDriveTypeAutoRun is. Type is REG_DWORD and Data value is 0x00000091 (145). Any comments Halo.....I'm lost!

In the second registry key you gave I do not have an "Explorer" folder. It stops at "Policies" with "Attachments", "NonEnum" and "System".

Looking through linky you gave to alternative install. Thank you

 

Flat install failed - doesn't see the Vista OS Disk.

Also now have a red cross through the volume icon in the bottom right taskbar. Hovering over it gives the message "No Audio Output Device is installed"

 

So it would be easier to have them send out a new DVD ROM than have to ship the whole laptop out is what I am thinking. Especially since they don't send a padded box and pay cost of shipping like they did about 5 months ago....new policy apparently.

Set up for new drive to be delivered

Thanks again Halo.

 

New DVD ROM arrived today. Installed it and CDs and DVDs work once again, so burned out ROM drive I guess. That's really sucky for a 2-month old laptop!

I've removed the Windows.old folder through disk cleanup so hard drive space is back to where I would expect it to be now.

Only issue I have not been able to resolve is the fact this Vista OS runs two folders for Program files:

1 called Program Files, and one called Program Files (x86) which is perfectly normal for a Vista 32 bit system. The problem is that I can uninstall application in the usual Control Panel> Add/Remove Programs way from the Program Files folder, but the Program Files (x86) applications do not show up to allow me to uninstall those not needed. I have tried through CCleaner and RevoUninstaller too and no go.

Suggestions please?

 

Update - tried the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 and even IT didn't see the Progams installed in the x86 folder!

Clean install?

 

Clean install performed and drivers re-installed. Windows.old removed.

Computer functioning normally once again

Thanks for the support and help from you all.

Lev