CD ROM/Burner Drive locked by unknown utility

[RossAtHome]

Please Help! I have Windows Me, my burner drive will not recognize cds, when i view in explorer it tells me to load a disk, when loaded it does not recognize, I ran Norton Antivirus and it will not scan this drive because it says that it is locked by another utility.

Thanks for any Ideas,
Beth

 

[fenix]

Hi Ross, is this a new install or did it just start happening after being functional ?

 

[RossAtHome]

It's not new but last week i had a problem with norton/win update/restore that i had to correct, and i dont know if this is related, the last time i used that drive was about a month ago.

Beth

 

[fenix]

It sounds like Norton is seeing your burner software as a virus and is locking it out. Try disabling Norton, (disconnect from web to be safe) and updating the drivers from within Device Manager, (doubleclick on the device, driver tab, update driver) Hopefully you have the orig installation disk if the burner was an add on after purchace.

 

[RossAtHome]

I already tried disabling norton, burner was preinstalled and it is not just my burner software because it wont recognize or play any cds, I keep getting an "insert disk" pop-up.

Thanks

 

[RossAtHome]

Sorry - forget to include in my last message-I tried updating drivers also.

Beth

 

[fenix]

Hi Beth,

Just to confirm, your cd player/burner does not read any data cd's as well? or is it just that it doesn't play audio cd's. Pop in an AOL coaster or similar and see if it can be read when you click on it. This may narrow down the TS process.

Im assuming that you rebooted after updating drivers, (which would also reload Norton because there are most likely entries in System Config Utility)To disable them in case you don't know how, Go into run, tpye msconfig click on start up and uncheck anything to do with Norton for the troubleshooting period. Try updating drivers again, and rebooting, maybe this sequence will do it. To check that nothing Norton is running, hit ctrl + alt + delete and make sure.


If not:
although this seems like a software prob,(don't understand when you said "it's not my software because it won't recognize or play cd's"- - -software is what makes the hardware work, no? ) maybe it's time to open the case and reseat both ends of the ide data cable and might as well reseat the power connector. Also, is this your only laser device ? Is it on a separate controller or sharing with the hard drive or other cdrom?

Unplug the computer and use ESD precautions, if you don't have a wrist strap, make sure you touch the metal frame before trying to disconnect the ide cable to neutralize any static buildup in your body. Sometimes the contacts get some oxidation on them and reseating will sometimes make a better connection. I know this seems coincidental with the Norton events, but it might be a cause.

 

[Garyeag]

Still having this problem?
Are you using Direct-CD by any chance?
I had this problem with NAV and it was software related.
I also get it with Norton Utilities which occassionally tells me ShockWave has locked a partition. When I close my CD software it continues OK.
Does your CD software start up with windows? If it does try disabling it via msconfig. Gary

 

[ceh4702]

My sister had a problem similar to this. she downloaded some program and all of her file associations changed. Then when she was burning a CD it would just hang and both drives would quit running. When we changed the file associations it worked again. Windows can be a pain with these file associations. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.