G
Guest
Both my Samsung CD-RW and my Sony DVD Drive worked perfectly for a while after I first installed Win XP S/P 1. Then suddenly both mysteriously developed the following quirk
If I boot up normally, with no media present in the drives, they refuse to read the data on any CD (music or data). XP does see the drives, as they are recognised as a CD-RW and DVD drive respectively. However, the moment I put a CD in either one, the designation in Explorer changes to "CD Drive" instead of CD-RW or DVD Drive. They would now refuse to read data on the CD's and they refuse auto play also. When I click on either one in explorer, they do not spin up at all, and no data is displayed. If Nero is opened, the CD-RW sees the CD as empty, and it requests whether or not the user wishes to save data to it. (Both are set to auto play in My Computer and the designation in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom) is set to (1)
If, I boot up to safe mode however, both would read any CD. Obviously music CD's then do not play, as the correct sound card driver has not been loaded
If I place CD's in the drives first, and then boot up, both read data on the CD's as normal. They also continue as normal when I swap CD's, no problem
Obviously this is a very perplexing and frustrating problem, and I found it very difficult to isolate either the cause of this problem or the fix. Although there are scores of users with related problems who posted on this forum over the last few weeks alone, none of the proposed solutions that I came across worked in my case. I found many identical responses to this problem from Rich Barry. He actually seems to be physically connected to his PC, just monotonously pasting the same answer over and over. I did uninstall the drivers and allowed XP to detect the drives again after rebooting as he suggests, but it makes no difference. Rich would leave us all much richer if he would rather refrain from posting this solution
So I took a day off from work and decided to format partition 1 and reinstall Windoze and all my software systematically for the FOURTH time in an attempt to try and isolate the cause of this problem
After formatting and reinstalling XP, I rebooted and tested both drives. They both worked perfectly. I then started installing all the required drivers one by one, after each installation rebooting and testing the drives. Everything still fine. Then I installed Nero Burn 6.0 before any other software, because I reasoned that it might possibly interfere with Windoze. However, still no problem. Then I installed all other software, after each installation rebooting and testing (took me all day!) Still no problem. Then I installed a UFDS utility that is used to split my 128 Mb USB 2, SAHARA flash drive into a private and public partition. Again I tested, still no problem
Then I found the cause! I disconnected the flash drive and booted up. THE PROBLEM REAPPEARED. I've now tested this several times. If I connect the flash drive BEFORE I reboot, both the CD-RW and DVD drives read the inserted media fine. If I boot up without connecting the flash drive first, they do not read the media at all after a CD is inserted
NOTE 1:
If I insert CD's in the drives before booting up, but not the flash drive, the drives also read the CD's fine
NOTE 2:
I have two flash drives - an older 16MB USB 1 drive and a 128 MB USB 2 drive. If I connect the USB 1 drive before booting up, the problem is still in evidence. It is only when I connect the USB 2 drive before booting up that the CD's work properly
Now I believe I am a step closer to the problems of probably most people with related CD problems on this forum. However, I still do not have the final fix, just a 16th century getting around the problem solution. Most probably this has to do with the way in which XP allocates drive letters to the different drives, I don't know, but since I am just an average user, not an expert, it would take me some more time off from work to figure this out
I would now really appreciate it if Microsoft would apply their minds to this problem and come up with a solution. I've read a reply on this forum from presumably a Microsoft engineer (so assumed because he responds very regularly, and seemingly with authority, to queries on this forum) wherein he came across quite patronizing and sarcastic in his response to a frustrated user. I my opinion he (they) (Microsoft) should maybe maintain a lower profile on this matter, and rather be sympathetic towards people who did pay (in my opinion) an exorbitant price for an operating system that is not working properly. (This problem does not occur in Win 98 as far as I'm aware)
If someone could please propose a solution to this matter, other than suggesting that I should uninstall the drivers and allow XP to detect the drives again after rebooting, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.
Nico Smith
If I boot up normally, with no media present in the drives, they refuse to read the data on any CD (music or data). XP does see the drives, as they are recognised as a CD-RW and DVD drive respectively. However, the moment I put a CD in either one, the designation in Explorer changes to "CD Drive" instead of CD-RW or DVD Drive. They would now refuse to read data on the CD's and they refuse auto play also. When I click on either one in explorer, they do not spin up at all, and no data is displayed. If Nero is opened, the CD-RW sees the CD as empty, and it requests whether or not the user wishes to save data to it. (Both are set to auto play in My Computer and the designation in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom) is set to (1)
If, I boot up to safe mode however, both would read any CD. Obviously music CD's then do not play, as the correct sound card driver has not been loaded
If I place CD's in the drives first, and then boot up, both read data on the CD's as normal. They also continue as normal when I swap CD's, no problem
Obviously this is a very perplexing and frustrating problem, and I found it very difficult to isolate either the cause of this problem or the fix. Although there are scores of users with related problems who posted on this forum over the last few weeks alone, none of the proposed solutions that I came across worked in my case. I found many identical responses to this problem from Rich Barry. He actually seems to be physically connected to his PC, just monotonously pasting the same answer over and over. I did uninstall the drivers and allowed XP to detect the drives again after rebooting as he suggests, but it makes no difference. Rich would leave us all much richer if he would rather refrain from posting this solution
So I took a day off from work and decided to format partition 1 and reinstall Windoze and all my software systematically for the FOURTH time in an attempt to try and isolate the cause of this problem
After formatting and reinstalling XP, I rebooted and tested both drives. They both worked perfectly. I then started installing all the required drivers one by one, after each installation rebooting and testing the drives. Everything still fine. Then I installed Nero Burn 6.0 before any other software, because I reasoned that it might possibly interfere with Windoze. However, still no problem. Then I installed all other software, after each installation rebooting and testing (took me all day!) Still no problem. Then I installed a UFDS utility that is used to split my 128 Mb USB 2, SAHARA flash drive into a private and public partition. Again I tested, still no problem
Then I found the cause! I disconnected the flash drive and booted up. THE PROBLEM REAPPEARED. I've now tested this several times. If I connect the flash drive BEFORE I reboot, both the CD-RW and DVD drives read the inserted media fine. If I boot up without connecting the flash drive first, they do not read the media at all after a CD is inserted
NOTE 1:
If I insert CD's in the drives before booting up, but not the flash drive, the drives also read the CD's fine
NOTE 2:
I have two flash drives - an older 16MB USB 1 drive and a 128 MB USB 2 drive. If I connect the USB 1 drive before booting up, the problem is still in evidence. It is only when I connect the USB 2 drive before booting up that the CD's work properly
Now I believe I am a step closer to the problems of probably most people with related CD problems on this forum. However, I still do not have the final fix, just a 16th century getting around the problem solution. Most probably this has to do with the way in which XP allocates drive letters to the different drives, I don't know, but since I am just an average user, not an expert, it would take me some more time off from work to figure this out
I would now really appreciate it if Microsoft would apply their minds to this problem and come up with a solution. I've read a reply on this forum from presumably a Microsoft engineer (so assumed because he responds very regularly, and seemingly with authority, to queries on this forum) wherein he came across quite patronizing and sarcastic in his response to a frustrated user. I my opinion he (they) (Microsoft) should maybe maintain a lower profile on this matter, and rather be sympathetic towards people who did pay (in my opinion) an exorbitant price for an operating system that is not working properly. (This problem does not occur in Win 98 as far as I'm aware)
If someone could please propose a solution to this matter, other than suggesting that I should uninstall the drivers and allow XP to detect the drives again after rebooting, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.
Nico Smith