DVD & CD drives dissappeared

[Secret Squirrel]

My CD and DVD drives suddenly disappeared. The only recent changes to my
system were the recent XP security update and connecting a Blackberry via
USB cable before I installed the software. It was the attempt to install the
software that revealed the missing drives.

They are still listed in the device manager with yellow ! next to them. I
removed them and rebooted and they were reloaded with the same ! next to
them.

 

[JS]

You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive:
or you get an error code 31
See: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314060

CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316529

XP does not recognize a DVD-RW disc
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818733/en-us

Also:
Right click on the My Computer Icon on your desktop
and select Manage and select: Device Manager
(Or: Go to Start, then select 'Run' and in the Open field enter: devmgmt.msc
then click on the OK button)

After the Device Manager window opens, click the "+" to expand the
DVD/CD-Rom drives option.
Next, right-click on the CD/DVD Drive(s) you are having problems with
and select: Uninstall.
You may be prompted to reboot your computer, do not reboot!
Instead shutdown the PC and remove the cable to the CD/DVD
drive or drives. Now with the drives disconnected, boot the PC.
Check that the CD/DVD devices are no longer listed in
Device Manager. Now power down the PC, reconnect your
CD/DVD drivers. Windows should discover the devices and
reinstall the drivers.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

 

[Bill in Co.]

Or he could just consider uninstalling that security update, rebooting, and
then using System Restore to restore to the previous restore point before
installing that update.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Bill

You are kidding of course. Why on earth would somebody do that. All that you described will NOT delete his Upper and Lower filters which are now showing up in the registry.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill

You are kidding of course. Why on earth would somebody do that.

Uninstall a security update? What's the big deal. (nevermind, let's not
argue over that one; "East is East and West is West, and ne'er the twain
shall meet" - Mark Twain).

All that you
described will NOT delete his Upper and Lower filters which are now
showing
up in the registry.

What "Upper and Lower Filters"?? Unless I misread this, he installed a MS
"security update", and things went to hell. So a simple solution is to
uninstall the update and roll back to a previous System Restore point.
(Admitedly, if you have an issue with losing the security update, that's
your own perspective, but it sure isn't mine. I don't take those in (I'm
on dialup, and I also learned my lessons long ago on a few occasions in
doing that, but that's another story).

And if he rolls back to a previous restore point, the newly added registry
references you are referring to should be non-existent.

Unless I've missed something. If so, please tell me where.
Bill

 

[Theslaz]

Getting rid of the "Upper" and "Lower" Filters is the easiest way to get
your drives back. I did it a month ago. Took all of 5 minutes!

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I went to the Microsoft website after I posted this and followed their
instructions of removing the upper and lower registry entries (your first
link). All is good now. Thanks for your reply.

 

[JS]

You're welcome.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

I went to the Microsoft website after I posted this and followed their
instructions of removing the upper and lower registry entries (your first
link). All is good now. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Bill in Co.]

I still don't know what these "upper" and "lower" filters are that you are
talking about.

 

[John John (MVP)]

The UpperFilters & LowerFilters are in the registry, read the articles
that JS provided in his post.

John

 

[Bill in Co.]

OK. Thanks for that, John. I read that article, but it didn't explain
what those filters are, just how to fix it in the registry. But what I
found more interesting was this warning in there:

"Note Before you use this method, uninstall all CD or DVD writing or
recording programs. Deleting the corrupted registry entries might cause
problems with any other CD or DVD writing or recording programs that are
installed on your computer. Uninstalling these programs before you start
will help you avoid any problems that removing the registry entries might
cause. You can reinstall these programs after the problem is resolved."

WOW. At that rate, I think it would have been easier to do what I
suggested (by uninstalling the MS update and then System Restoring to the
prior backup), (assuming he had a bunch of CD and DVD applications already
installed and customized. I have several such apps, and having to
reinstall all of them would have been a royal PIA.

Bill