One Solution to DVD Drive Problem

[Hsherman]

Have been seeing a lot of problems on this newsgroup with Vista not
recognizing DVD drives. For what its worth, here is how I fixed mine.

I had both an LG DVD writer and and a LG removable USB flash drive. On Beta
2
and RC-1, everything was fine. However, after upgrading RC-1 to Home
Premium and installing updates, only the USB flash drive showed as
installed. The DVD writer was
missing and of course not operable. Since both were LG, I wondered if there
was a driver conflict and I removed the flash drive Problem solved!! The
DVD writer re-emerged and works fine. I suspect one of the 13 Vista updates
installed after my upgrade may have had something to do with this...or it
may just be peculiar to my system. But for those with a flash drive
installed and having problems with their DVD drive, it can't hurt to try
removing the flash drive to see if it helps....especially if the drives are
the same make.

 

[Don]

Have been seeing a lot of problems on this newsgroup with Vista not
recognizing DVD drives. For what its worth, here is how I fixed mine.

I had both an LG DVD writer and and a LG removable USB flash drive. On
Beta 2
and RC-1, everything was fine. However, after upgrading RC-1 to Home
Premium and installing updates, only the USB flash drive showed as
installed. The DVD writer was
missing and of course not operable. Since both were LG, I wondered if
there was a driver conflict and I removed the flash drive Problem
solved!! The DVD writer re-emerged and works fine. I suspect one of
the 13 Vista updates installed after my upgrade may have had something
to do with this...or it may just be peculiar to my system. But for
those with a flash drive installed and having problems with their DVD
drive, it can't hurt to try removing the flash drive to see if it
helps....especially if the drives are the same make.

Interesting. Does that flash drive have the U3 software installed?
I ask because my flash drive with U3 shows up in Vista as a CD device,
of all things, and I'm wondering if that's where the conflict lies.
(The flash drive didn't disable my DVD burner, however.)

 

[Guest]

Don,

Here is the explanation for the SanDisk showing up as a CD device:

As a work-around to the lack of Auto-Play for Flash drives, the U3 software
must create two drive letters (one which presents itself as a CD to allow
Windows' auto-play to start the launcher, and another for storing user data).
Although this is the only way in which to implement the auto-start
functionality required, it could be considered a kludge, and some argue that
the extra drive letter created can be an annoyance.

I found that explanation on the Internet. My SanDisk did the same thing, so
I used the special uninstaller to remove all the U3 software. I didn't use
the U3 stuff, so I got rid of it. You need the special removal tool
available at the SanDisk website, otherwise you can't uninstall the U3.