DVD burns but can't read in normal mode

[Guest]

I have a strange problem: I have two DVD drives on my XP system, one is a
replacement for an older drive. Now the new drive is recognized correctly in
system manager, it is reported as working, and does so perfectly when I use
Nero to burn. But: although explorer reports the drive letter (and also an
inserted disc title!) - when I try to open the drive in explorer I get this
error message (translated): "D:\ is referring to a location that is not
available. It could be a disc drive on this computer or a network drive.
Check that the disc is correctly connected and that the computer is connected
to Internet or the network. Then try again. If the place cant be found it
might be because the information has moved to another place."
This means I can not read any discs from this drive - except in safe mode,
where everything works fine.
I have tried re-installing several times, upgrading firmware, searching
everywhere on the internet - but no solution. No errors in system log on
startup.
A guess might be that the old drive was not uninstalled correctly. In the
management console's "library" I found a reference to the old drive with a
x-mark in front. I deleted that entry, but the new drive won't show up and
the problem persists.
All suggestions are appreciated!

System: Compaq Presario 8130 EA
Win XP sp2
New DVD: Benq DC DW1670
Second DVD: Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-104

 

[Guest]

Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider On the
Edit menu, click Permissions . Click the registry key for the user that is
currently logged on and ensure that Read and Full Control are both set to
Allow . Click the Advanced button, ensure that the user that is currently
logged on is selected, that Full Control is listed in the Permissions column,
and that This Key and Subkeys is listed in the Apply to column. Click to
select the Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown
here that apply to child objects check box. Click Apply , and then click Yes
when you receive a prompt to continue. Click OK , and then click OK again

 

[Ronaldo]

Check the registry to see if the drive registers as a reader with a 3 or a
writer with a 2 in the Drives type registry value.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD
Burning\Drives\Volume{f86209b2-cca4-11da-8722-806d6172696f}DWORD=DriveType =
value 2

And check if the drive appears in the Mounted Devices key with the
DosDevices\D: value in the following registry key. You can change any drive
letter according to alphabetical order and the order of installation, except
for the Letter to the System drive, that one is not to be touched for any
reason.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\\DosDevices\D:
MountedDevices
HKLM\SYSTEM
Description
The MountedDevices subkey stores the database of mounted devices for the
NTFS file system. This database associates persistent volume names with
unique internal indentifiers for volumes. The internal identifiers often
include the disk signatures of the volumes. This pairing enables NTFS to
maintain the identity and persistent name of a volume, even when its
variable device name changes.

NTFS uses this subkey to support mounted drives on all types of volumes,
including removable drives and CD-ROM drives.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...0e5a-4026-a7b9-5328c37b583f1033.mspx?mfr=true

Also check that the BIOS recognizes the drive correctly, if not, select
force recognition and exit.

Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

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[Guest]

Ronaldo, many thanks for suggestions. Unfortunately, the problem is still
there, but obviously there something wrong in the registry - the drive does
not show up at all in the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD
Burning\Drives. But, it *is* correctly recognized in the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices as the D:\ drive. And, when in Safe
Mode, the drive shows up in Explorer and is fully accessible!
I have tried to manually add a new key in the ...\Explorer\CD
Burning\Drives folder, but it vanishes as soon as the computer is restarted.

 

[Guest]

Mark, many thanks for your suggestion. I have tried your solution but it did
not make any difference.

 

[Guest]

Interesting. Running only in Safe Mode implies that it is some driver
conflict. I don't know if you would be interested in such a chase, but
temporarily disabling devices one at a time might be one way to detect the
driver at fault.

 

[Ronaldo]

The registry keys under drives are created by the presence of optical
drives, if the key you created, was deleted it's probably because the system
does not detect the drive, or because the key you created was not correctly
named, the name including the numbers you gave it, could be different from
the name in the "MountedDevices" key. So what you should probably do is
logon in safe mode, go to the registry "Drives" key, the DVD's "volume" key
should be present and correctly titled and with the correct "Drive Types"
data value (2), so back it up (right click, export), to merge it in normal
mode while watching the key, (press F5 if necessary to update the view).
With any luck the key should stay, if not, the question would be, what makes
the system recognize the drive in safe mode and not in normal mode? It's
probably not the BIOS, connections? (probably not), the system?.. (Maybe)...
the driver? The drivers are the only thing I can think of that would be
disabled in safe mode, so maybe there's a driver conflict going on. have you
tried it with another driver? have you installed the driver provided by the
maker?

One more possibility; viruses and spyware can infect system files including
drivers and such pests can be disabled in safe mode, so there's the
possibility the driver used in normal mode could be infected, or maybe the
infection code is disabled in safe mode. I would suggest you scan the
system to make sure. Scan in normal mode and safe mode as well.

Use Adaware, Spybot, CWShredder, HijackThis, The Cleaner and use an updated
antivirus.

Anti-Spyware downloads.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Download The Cleaner
http://www.moosoft.com

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