Magic Jack causing problems

[wistertom]

I am using XP Professional 2002 & am using a Magic Jack. The first thing that happened is that I could not use my WMP...ok, I can live with that. What has happened in the last few months is that it has comprimised my CD & DVD drives. They both have power, but neither works. Has anyone had this problem, or know of a fix? I got a Magic Jack to cut my monthly expenses & need to use it.
Thanks
Tom

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

got virus scan?

Did you get the Magic Jack and this started happening?
How do you know the CD Rom is not responding? Do they open/close?

A bit more info is needed to properly assess this 'un.

 

[wistertom]

Hello Silverhazesurfer....thanks for your response.
I use AVG free edition anti virus protection & have for a few years.....never has caused me any problems.
Everything started happening after getting the magic jack. The first & immediate thing was my windows media player would not play. I just used a different player. I tried plugging the magic jack in to a different USB port. At first, it solved the WMP problem, but not for long. My CD & DVD drives worked for months, & then one day they would not play anything or any disc that I put in either one of them. They both open & close. The DVD drive has disappeared from My Computer & the CD drive only shows up when the magic jack is plugged in, but non functional. If I unplug the magic jack, the CD drive disappears from My Computer. I spent over 2 hours with an upper tech support guy which can only be done through a live chat. I copied the entire session. I will paste in part of it here....it is quite long & I have not done another chat with them....I can't hold up that long....health problems. The final result is that the last thing he had me try did not work. I hope you, or someone, can help me out with this. There has to be a way to fix this. Here the main part of the chat: THANKS!!!!

tom scott: here is more info....the dvd drive has permanently disappeared from My Computer...when the Magic Jack is plugged in, the CD Drive appears. When the Magic Jack is unplugged, the CD Dive disappears
Felix: The two drives represent two locations inside the device which stores the software and other data needed to run the magicJack. Without either (or both) drives present in My Computer the magicJack software will likely not startup.
tom scott: the Magic Jack always starts, but I have lost both the CD & DVD drives
Felix: Okay
Felix: Please go to Control panel
Felix: Click on Administrative tools
tom scott: is there a fix?
Felix: Click on Computer management and click on Disk management
Felix: Look for 18 mb drive
Felix: Right click on the drive and check if it has a format option
tom scott: I don't see anything that says "18 mb drive
Felix: Are you now at Disk Management?
tom scott: yes
Felix: Do you see PHONE drive in there?
tom scott: Just C & Z (drives)
Felix: Please try to connect your magicjack to a different USB port
Felix: Check if the 18 mb or PHONE drive will appear
tom scott: ok....just a minute
Felix: okay
tom scott: now I see PHONE 18 MB FAT
Felix: Right click on that and click on format
Felix: set file system to fat and volume as Phone
Felix: Click Ok
Felix: and close that page
tom scott: I'm getting a message saying that the formatting did not complete successfully
tom scott: Now I can not name the volume as PHONE
Felix: Please right click on the drive and click on Change drive letter"
Felix: Change it to Y first
Felix: and format the drive again
tom scott: changed drive name to "Y", but still won't format using "PHONE" as volume
Felix: Click on quick format
tom scott: that did not work either....I hope I am not messing up this computer
Felix: Please unplug your magicjack and plug it back in after
Felix: Check if the dial pad will appear
tom scott: plug it back in after.....what?
Felix: Check if the dial pad will appear
tom scott: just a minute
tom scott: it is starting up
Felix: Okay
Felix: Check if its working now
tom scott: the phone works....should I try a disk in the cd drive?
Felix: Sure
tom scott: The CD Drive is showing up, but still does not play, but has power to it
Felix: Check your magicjack if its working
tom scott: it's working
Felix: So you mean your CD drive wont work if magicjack is plugged in and it will work if its not plugged in?
tom scott: the cd drive shows up in MY Computer ONLY when the Magic Jack is plugged in, but does not work
tom scott: if the Magic Jack is unplugged, the CD Drive does not show up in My Computer
tom scott: the DVD drive has completely vanished either way
Felix: I will be right with you.
tom scott: ok
Felix: I will be right with you.
tom scott: ok
Felix: We will check on the speed of your internet connection.
tom scott: 12 mb
Felix: http://speedtest.net/
Felix: Click on the yellow star or pyramid to check your upload and download speeds. Let me know the results.
tom scott: 10 mb at the moment
Felix: Give me the upload and download results.
tom scott: 8.8 down..... .62 up
Felix: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Felix: Thanks, the results were fine and quite high.
tom scott: retest...9.84 down, .61 up
Felix: May I know when did this issue start?
tom scott: months ago.....I just never have tried to figure it out until now. Originaly, after installing the Magic Jack, both the CD & DVD drives worked. Some time along the way, they both quit. The DVD drive vanished completely & the CD drive is as I described. It is like the Magic Jack has taken control of part of my computer as time has passed.
Felix: We have to reset your Device Manager drivers. Please perform the following steps. Are you ready?
Felix: Click START button then click RUN. Type "devmgmt.msc" and press Enter key on your keyboard. You may also click START then click CONTROL PANEL and double click DEVICE MANAGER.
tom scott: ok
Felix: Let me know once Device Manager is open.
tom scott: it's open
Felix: At Device Manager window, click + to the left of DISK DRIVES. (Do you see YMAX MagicJack USB Device or Tigerjet Harddisk USB Device?)
tom scott: I see Tigerjet Hard disk USB Device
Felix: Right click on Tigerjet Harddisk USB Device and select UNINSTALL.
tom scott: it is telling me I will have to restart my computer to remove it....now what?
Felix: Please do.
Felix: The changes that was just did won't take effect until the computer is being restarted. Let us reboot the computer but before restarting the computer, unplug the magicJack. Plug the magicJack when the computer is up and running again. To make it more effective, I will also refresh your account here in our end to have a good result (This will give you a new connection from our server). Chat us back immediately if the issue is still there.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

The guy is troubleshooting the Magic Jack, which appears to work fine. Am I correct?

There are tests you can perform outside of the MJ to determine function of your machine. One of your CD drives should allow you to boot the machine using a bootable CD. Do you have options for creating a disc on another machine?

You could try to boot the machine in Safe Mode. Restart your machine and tap F8 until you see the Windows Boot menu. Select Safe Mode and hit Enter. This loads a diagnostic mode of Windows that narrows the issue quite a bit. You should see your drives. You should be able to put a disc in and access that drive. Installation of software, no. But this should prove function. There are only two things that may prevent this test from being conclusive. One is a viral infection. Many infections can disable optical drives. In the past this was their main indication that a virus was present. Now with R/RW drives, they prefer to keep it so the virus can spread. The other being faulty hardware. I anticipate that the drive works fine.

Have you removed the drives from the machine previously? Disconnected them for any reason? If so, check your connections and ensure that the cables are connected properly and securely. Ribbon cables, red stripe toward the power. I think they are notched anyway so you can screw it up.

I would say that the two are definitely related. Now we just have to find the link between the two.

Also, how many devices are connected to this machine and what type of power supply do you have in it? If you have a bag full of HDs in the machine with a bad ass graphics card 298347923847GB of RAM etc with a 20W power supply, the system could be brought down by something as trivial as a USB stick. Doubtful this is your setup, but possible.