I'm in "DAO Hell" -- Please Help

[Guest]

I recently installed an ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 9800 Video Card which I believe
installed something called "DAO". A failed driver update corrupted the DAO
(Data Access Objects?) so that it cannot be uninstalled from Add/Remove
Programs. This led to a secondary problem in Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 so
that I can no longer burn CD/DVD discs. It appears "DAO" also stands for
"Disc at Once" which is the method I use to burn discs (?!). Anyway, any
attempt to use Roxio causes the Windows Installer to launch and complain that
it cannot locate the DAO.msi file from its previous locale. The Installer
will NOT stop until Task Manger is used to "End Task".

So menacing did all this become, I removed the All-in-Wonder card and traded
it away. I also had to physically remove my DVD burner and install it into
my secondary PC so that I could resume CD/DVD writing, replacing it with a
CDRW.

Nonetheless, I still cannot burn a simple CD or anything else on my primary
PC due to the corrupt installation of "DAO".

Can someone PLEASE tell me how on earth one removes, reinstalls, or whatever
must be done to return my system to quiescense before I go madd!

Thanking any kind soul in advance.

V

 

[Sharon F]

I recently installed an ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 9800 Video Card which I believe
installed something called "DAO". A failed driver update corrupted the DAO
(Data Access Objects?) so that it cannot be uninstalled from Add/Remove
Programs. This led to a secondary problem in Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 so
that I can no longer burn CD/DVD discs. It appears "DAO" also stands for
"Disc at Once" which is the method I use to burn discs (?!). Anyway, any
attempt to use Roxio causes the Windows Installer to launch and complain that
it cannot locate the DAO.msi file from its previous locale. The Installer
will NOT stop until Task Manger is used to "End Task".

So menacing did all this become, I removed the All-in-Wonder card and traded
it away. I also had to physically remove my DVD burner and install it into
my secondary PC so that I could resume CD/DVD writing, replacing it with a
CDRW.

Nonetheless, I still cannot burn a simple CD or anything else on my primary
PC due to the corrupt installation of "DAO".

Can someone PLEASE tell me how on earth one removes, reinstalls, or whatever
must be done to return my system to quiescense before I go madd!

Thanking any kind soul in advance.

V

While the DAO code is Microsoft's it is distributed by ATI as a part of
their driver software/package. It can be safely removed. In fact, the steps
in the new ATI driver instructions say to remove it before installing the
newer ATI driver packages. Since you're stuck uninstalling it...

I would recommend contacting ATI for assistance. I see a cleaner type of
program in their "utility" section of Drivers and Downloads that says it
will remove *all* ATI software. However, I don't know if that includes
removing the DAO module or not.

It's possible that your Roxio problem is related but my gut feeling is that
it is a separate issue. "DAO" as ATI uses it, isn't even remotely related
to "Disk At Once." I don't use Roxio products so have no suggestions
there.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I am also aware of the ATI uninstall
utility (it was used first, and the myriad other instructions followed to the
letter). DAO isn't budging from Add/Remove Programs. The ATI literature
revealed that the PVCR function in their Multimedia Software used DAO when
creating the personal "library" of TV shows (or whatever else) are recorded
to the hard drive.

It is given that the DAO installation is corrupt because it won't uninstall.
I have two side-by-side PC's comprising my workstation, with nearly
identical software installations. DAO isn't listed at all on the second
system, though it burns CD's in Roxio with no problem; DAO wasn't listed on
my main system either until after the ATI card and software went in. Since
the ATI card is gone now, DAO would be "out of sight, out of mind" but for
the stubborn and persistent Windows Installer launching "DAO" and asking for
the missing installer "temp" file. No other program I know of invokes this.
I have removed, reinstalled the original and later versions of Roxio (with
same result)...

I had read in some posting somewhere on "DAO problems" that disc burning
programs could be affected and it somehow related DAO to "Disc at Once". I
know that sounds absurd and do not pretend to see how on earth it could be
so. Even if we dismiss that notion entirely, the only way to respond to this
mess is to somehow REMOVE entirely or remove/reinstall DAO correctly. Based
on its absence from my secondary system, I believe the former would be best.

BUT, HOW ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DOES ONE REMOVE IT??

Frustrated.

 

[Sharon F]

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I am also aware of the ATI uninstall
utility (it was used first, and the myriad other instructions followed to the
letter). DAO isn't budging from Add/Remove Programs. The ATI literature
revealed that the PVCR function in their Multimedia Software used DAO when
creating the personal "library" of TV shows (or whatever else) are recorded
to the hard drive.

It is given that the DAO installation is corrupt because it won't uninstall.
I have two side-by-side PC's comprising my workstation, with nearly
identical software installations. DAO isn't listed at all on the second
system, though it burns CD's in Roxio with no problem; DAO wasn't listed on
my main system either until after the ATI card and software went in. Since
the ATI card is gone now, DAO would be "out of sight, out of mind" but for
the stubborn and persistent Windows Installer launching "DAO" and asking for
the missing installer "temp" file. No other program I know of invokes this.
I have removed, reinstalled the original and later versions of Roxio (with
same result)...

I had read in some posting somewhere on "DAO problems" that disc burning
programs could be affected and it somehow related DAO to "Disc at Once". I
know that sounds absurd and do not pretend to see how on earth it could be
so. Even if we dismiss that notion entirely, the only way to respond to this
mess is to somehow REMOVE entirely or remove/reinstall DAO correctly. Based
on its absence from my secondary system, I believe the former would be best.

BUT, HOW ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DOES ONE REMOVE IT??

Frustrated.

Vinnie, the old control center/multimedia center used the DAO module. The
new one either doesn't use it or ATI just includes it instead of listing it
as a separate module. I'm thinking it doesn't use it anymore and that
they've switched to .NET framework to manage this instead (I could be
wrong). They're pretty specific about what version, too, and even have a
link to the download at their site.

Anyhow... If you don't have an image backup to restore the system and try
removing DAO again... you're pretty much stuck with trying to remove it
manually. ATI tech support could give you details about folders, files and
registry entries that need to be weeded out. You could try it on your own
but be warned - it's risky.

For Roxio: The letters in the acronym are the only correlation between that
software and what you're trying to remove. I really would approach this as
a separate problem. A repair install of that software would probably be
helpful. If it was my system, that's what I would try but I would wait
until the DAO mess was cleaned up before doing that.

 

[Bill Drake]

Hi, Vince. This is a known compatibility problem between ATI's
DAO Product and Roxio Easy Media Creator 8.

The problem occurs with versions of DAO that accompany the
MultiMedia Center 9.08 or earlier.

Note: The DAO in MultiMedia Center 9.08 stands for "Data Access
Objects", which is actually a set of Microsoft DLLs. The
DAO package has absolutely *nothing* to do with Roxio's
Disk-at-Once system.


Things to try:

1. Temporarily remove the Roxio package in order to get rid of the
recycling-install problem. You can reinstall the Roxio package
once the DAO package is cleaned up.

1. Download the UCI package that comes with MMC 9.08. Reinstall
this over top of your existing UCI installation to restore the
appropriate
Registry entries for your currently mis-uninstalled DAO package.

2. Once you have a valid UCI-package install (which installs three
different pieces, DAO, Titan-TV and Windows Media Encoder 9),
Reboot *twice* to confirm you have normalized the Registry.

3. Now uninstall *only* the DAO package. If this properly uninstalls,
you should finally have an "Add/Remove Programs" list that no
longer contains the DAO package.

4. If the DAO package will not remove using the procedure in
Item 3, try removing all the ATI software using ATI's full-pull
software removal tool (Catalyst Uninstaller). Download this
from ATI's website. Do NOT use an old version of the
uninstaller tool -- it gets updated precisely to handle new
install-mechanisms that older catalyst uninstaller tools don't
know how to deal with.

5. Once you have confirmed that "Add/Remove Programs" no longer
shows the DAO package, you can then successfully install Roxio
and it will properly integrate itself with Windows without any DAO
drama.

6. If you cannot get the DAO package to properly disappear using
the procedures above, then you have Registry Corruption which
is preventing the install/uninstall processes from deleting the DAO
package properly.

You *may* be able to fix this by running a program called "Driver
Cleaner", which is specifically tailored to completely remove all
traces of Video Drivers and associated software. The latest
version of Driver Cleaner is:

"Driver Cleaner Professional Edition 1.4". This can be found at:

DriverHeaven website: www.driverheaven.net


7. If Driver Cleaner cannot fix your problem, then the last resort is
a full-pull reinstall of WXP itself, with *careful* attention during
the reinstall to ensuring you don't get infected with spyware
during the install process -- before Windows is patched to the
point where it can properly resist the scum out there simply
waiting for you to connect online.

Note: This is one of the reasons I consider the Hardware
Firewall in a Hardware Router as a mandatory item
for anyone with high-speed internet access. Without
a router, you can get infected in seconds-to-minutes
of getting online -- long before you can get enough
of the Windows Updates downloaded and installed to
allow you to connect safely. This catch-22 can only
be prevented by having a Hardware Firewall in place
(as part of the Router) which protects you until such
time as you have enough of the Windows Updates in
place to keep you from getting infected.


Hope this helps.


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill

 

[Guest]

Sharon: I agree with you completely as to where DAO came from in the first
place, and that no currently installed programs even need it.

The DAO problem relates to Roxio only in that it (Roxio) is one of my most
frequently used programs (and, yes, its repair, reinstall and clean install
of a wholly new version have all been tried -- to no avail) Due to the
immediate and persistant launching of the Windows Installer (demanding the
missing temp file "DAO.msi") the system is rendered useless until a reboot.

Certainly, it must be purely coincidental that "Disc-at-Once" and "Data
Access Object" have the same acronym. But I must wonder WHY the Microsoft
Installer (latest version) wants to exhibit this assinine behavior only when
attempting to run an otherwise fairly benign, widely used disc burning
program which you yourself agree has nothing to do with DAO as we understand
it (?!).

I just want my life back; that's all. In my realm, nobody had ever heard of
"DAO" until the All-in-Wonder mishap. Do you have the URL to any specific
instructions by ATI, Microsoft (or elsewhere) for the manual removal of DAO?
If so, please so advise; I am not afraid to edit the registry as I would
create a
GHOST image of the System (C partition first.

Thanks again for your responses.

Vince

 

[Sharon F]

Sharon: I agree with you completely as to where DAO came from in the first
place, and that no currently installed programs even need it.

The DAO problem relates to Roxio only in that it (Roxio) is one of my most
frequently used programs (and, yes, its repair, reinstall and clean install
of a wholly new version have all been tried -- to no avail) Due to the
immediate and persistant launching of the Windows Installer (demanding the
missing temp file "DAO.msi") the system is rendered useless until a reboot.

Certainly, it must be purely coincidental that "Disc-at-Once" and "Data
Access Object" have the same acronym. But I must wonder WHY the Microsoft
Installer (latest version) wants to exhibit this assinine behavior only when
attempting to run an otherwise fairly benign, widely used disc burning
program which you yourself agree has nothing to do with DAO as we understand
it (?!).

I just want my life back; that's all. In my realm, nobody had ever heard of
"DAO" until the All-in-Wonder mishap. Do you have the URL to any specific
instructions by ATI, Microsoft (or elsewhere) for the manual removal of DAO?
If so, please so advise; I am not afraid to edit the registry as I would
create a
GHOST image of the System (C partition first.

Thanks again for your responses.

Vince

Hi, Vince!
I looked at the ATI site for the manual directions to remove DAO. I swear I
saw them only a few weeks ago when updating my ATI driver/software. But
when I went to search for the same info for you, I was not able to find
that document again. You might try searching the ATI site as you might have
better luck than I.

When I searched the MS site for DAO, I only found documentation for
developers. Most were guidelines for implementing DAO in one way or
another. Did not see removal directions.

Also, I see that Bill Drake posted that there is a well known issue between
Roxio and ATI's implentation of DAO. You may want to check the online
Symantec tech support section (or their subsite at www.roxio.com) for
information on this too. If it is a well known issue, they may have
documented some fix it steps.

 

[Guest]

When you said the Windows Installer went beserk, try clicking REPAIR to the
DAO thingy in Add/Remove Programs. If it doesnt work roll back the drivers.
If THAT doesnt work, restore your system. If that doesnt work, just delete
from safe mode.

 

[DL]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/mdac/downloads/default.aspx
Downloads, including a checking utility