DVD-ROM and CD-RW Drives not functioning

[Guest]

I have lost access to my DVD-ROM, CD-RW and Floppy Drives. I run Windows XP Home with auto updates. My drives fail to recognise disks, giving messages such as "Disk is not formatted or may be corrupt". The DVD-ROM drive will play audio CDs, and the CD-RW drive will read CD-RWs, but nothing else.

This seems to be a common problem in the newsgroups. I have tried many of the suggestions given, but nothing seems to work. I have restored my system to a period when I know the drives were working, but this does not help.

Can anyone help? Have I contracted a virus, or is this a known XP problem with an easy fix? Grateful for any suggestions, as all I can think of is to re-format and re-install Windows

 

[Guest]

Do not reformat or reinstall WindowsXP, that is not the problem. The problem is
with your peripherals. Click Start/My Computer/rightclick your CD-Rom drive/
Properties/Recording tab - click "Enable CD recording on this drive".
Click Apply and OK. Hope it works for you. Happy putering

 

[Guest]

Byte,

Thanks for the prompt response. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked!!! I'm sure there must be a simple answer to this somewhere in my settings, but I'm blowed if I can find it! Any other suggestions gratefully received.

GE

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have lost access to my DVD-ROM, CD-RW and Floppy Drives. I run Windows XP Home with auto updates. My drives fail to recognise disks, giving messages such as "Disk is not formatted or may be corrupt". The DVD-ROM drive will play audio CDs, and the CD-RW drive will read CD-RWs, but nothing else.

It is not quite the usual problem, but I would tidy up the registry
entries for the DVD/CD drives as a start. To tidy up, get a registry
patch file, cdgone.reg, from www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip, extract
it, r-click on it and merge it into the registry

Then go to Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager find each
of the drives, highlight and Action - Uninstall. OK out and reboot to
let Plug n Play find them again.

You will then need to reinstall any CD burning software

 

[Guest]

Alex,

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this didn't make any difference.

I have now found that my DVD drive will read a CD-ROM if the disk is in the drive when the system is booted. Also, it reads OK in safe mode. Any ideas???

GE

 

[Alex Nichol]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this didn't make any difference.

I have now found that my DVD drive will read a CD-ROM if the disk is in the drive when the system is booted. Also, it reads OK in safe mode. Any ideas?

Safe mode bypasses any drivers that are not the system's basic standard
ones. So it *sounds* as if you have some extra drivers floating around.
A DVD or CD should not need any.