Strange CDRW/DVD problems - A challenge for someone

[delbertwilkins]

Help

Here is a good one, has anybody got any ideas.

I have a P4 pc running WinXP pro, I have one CDRw installed.

Over the last few months I have noticed a strange thing happening when I use the cdrom.

I boot up my system, burn or read a single CDROM OK, but if I put in another CD the system does not recognise the new CD I have put in.
It does notice the tray going in as it does look at the device, the mouse pointer does the egg timer thing but fails to do anything else.

If I go to My Computer and try to explore the CD I just get asked to put the CD in so I take the cd out and put it back in again, nothing just the same situation.

However If I reboot the systems, guess what the CD is suddenly visible.

So I have put up with this for a while now. anyway a new CDRW/DVDRW has now replaced the other drive and the same thing is happening?

I have removed the IDE cable from the m/board and the CD and reinserted them. I have told the bios to remap the storage devices, I have forced the bios to reread the escd and nothing is helping. I have removed the different cdrom drivers but still the same problem.

HELP, any ideas would be really appreciated.

 

[cdogg]

Possibilities (try in this order):

1) CDRW drive not playing well in PIO Mode. Make sure the drive is set to use ATA mode 2 or higher in Device Manager. Try enabling DMA.
2) Bad IDE cable - replace it
3) Try the CDRW drive on another IDE controller

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[txfink]

Try pulling the cdrom from registry and let xp reinstall it. I've seen this fix some strange cd issues. Delete upper and lower filters from this registry key and then reboot - HkeyLocalMachine - System - CurrentControlSet - Control - Class - 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318

 

[jsauce]

I'd try txfink's fix on this. Windows XP has some wierd problem with cd drives sometimes. You may try deleting all the registry info on your cd devices. It will probably make some apps not see them properly but in the end Windows XP will stop doing some of its annoying things. And as us yet we dont know why it does it so there is no real easy fix for it. Sometimes the format reinstall helps though i dont recommend that just for this problem.

John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
Network Administrator

 

[delbertwilkins]

Thank you very much.

I will try your suggestions over the weekend.

I fully appreciate your support.

 

[delbertwilkins]

Hi

I have tried the "dma if availiabe thing" but it always selects PIO as the current transfer mode.

I set this and I still have exactly the same problem, read or write a disk once then it does not reconise any more disks until a reboot has been done.

This is realy anoying.

Do you have any other ideas before I try the registry hack suggested above.

As always any help is very much appreciated.

as a side note - there is someone at my work who has exactly this same problem but running Windows 2000?

 

[cdogg]

From above:
[blue]2) Bad IDE cable - replace it
3) Try the CDRW drive on another IDE controller[/blue]

Also, it's possible that you need to install the latsst drivers for your motherboard chipset and controller. Go out to your mobo manufacturer's website and look for any available updates.



~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[mma1123]

does the bios recognize the drives you specified?has it always done this ? have you installed any burning software? some burning software can cause windows lose some drivers and become glitchy.

 

[cdogg]

mma1123,
I understand your reasoning, however delbertwilkins has already stated that rebooting the PC fixes the problem temporarily until another CD is inserted. That kind of problem most likely has nothing to do with the BIOS or burning software. All he is trying to do is read data from a CD using Windows Explorer. That definitely rules out a software problem.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[mma1123]

I had the same thing happen to me only it was my primary HD I thought maybe it might have a bad power connection , so I switched to the connection my slave had . I no longer use that connection because then my slave HD started doing the samething on that connection .