Drives keep disappearing...

91Bird305 · Nov 13, 2003, 11:02 AM

A client of mine is bringing in his computer. One of the other office people have worked on it (full-format and reinstall of XP Pro) and he says, after awhile his CD Disk Drives start to just "disappear" and he can't see them under my computer and they stop working. I am just curious on why this would happen. Would this be a BIOS problem? There are no viruses on the machine. Thanks

TonyMonTana · Nov 13, 2003, 11:17 AM

Have they installed any new copying software like Nero or roxio? if so then this can cause problems with some cd-roms and cd-writers.
Have you checked hardware devices to see if they are in there?
If they are in there but not showing up you will find it will say "drivers not installed for this device" if it does you need the driver disk that came with the pc and install the drivers again.

**MIG-31** · Nov 13, 2003, 11:52 AM

try a firmware update,if that don't work,it is possible sign its on it's way out.

or see if there is a bios update available for the mobo.

are all chipset drivers the latest.

TonyMonTana · Nov 13, 2003, 11:54 AM

Good point johny, check your mobo driver is uptodate.

91Bird305 · Nov 14, 2003, 10:04 AM

What exactly is the Mobo driver? I am guessing u mean the motherboard?

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 10:31 AM

Ok, I updated the BIOS, the chipsets and even replaced the IDEE Cable and I still have the problem. I am beginning to wonder if its a faulty motherboard or possibly bad CD-ROM and CD-ROM/RW because it only happens sometimes, not all the time. And when it does happen its always as soon as you log into windows and 2 boxs will pop up advising me that I have illegally ejected the CD-ROM and the CD-RW. When I hit close, I go to the device manager and they are completly gone from the list.

I unistalled my Roxio burner software thinking maybe that was causing it but it still does it.

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 10:47 AM

are you familiar with windows registry?
if so, open the Registry Editor and locate the following key...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Export the key and pls show me.

swimtech · Nov 19, 2003, 10:54 AM

Disconnect the power and IDE cables from the CD and CDRW and run the machine - is it ok then? If so, reconnect the CD drives one at a time until you isolated the defective drive. I had a similar problem on my home machine...

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 12:19 PM

Thats what the registry said at that string u requested.

I unistalled all of them: Nothing happened
I reinstalled the CD-RW but not the CD-ROM: CD-RW showed up fine, no problem'
I reinstalled the CD-ROM and unplugged the CD-RW: CD-ROM showed up fine, no problem
I reinstalled both of them and I didn't have a problem for the first few boot ups but then finally, on the 4th restart it poped up again and said I illegally unpluged the CD-ROM and CD-RW.

Its very weird how it only happens some of the time and not all of the time. This is a fairly new machine (Pentium 4)

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 12:27 PM

Okay there's a big bug in winXP.... re CDs and DVD drives missing...

all you have to do is....

Right-click on the "LowerFilters" and "UpperFilters" and select "Delete"
Close the registry editor and reboot.

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 12:36 PM

you can ask me anything if you're not sure.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 12:50 PM

Ok, I deleted Lowerfilters and Upperfilters under that registry string like u said and rebooted. Now what do u want me to do?

BTW: THis is Win 2000 Pro w/ Service Pack 4

**MIG-31** · Nov 19, 2003, 12:55 PM

have you had a quick check to see if there is any difference he may of meant that were the fix perhaps.

"What exactly is the Mobo driver? I am guessing u mean the motherboard?" correct thats what we call it for short.

as for the mobo drivers is referred as chipset drivers.

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:08 PM

Export all the registry keys ,,,, b4 doing this...

do this one also....
Locate.. HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
Under the "Services" if you see Cdr4_2K, Cdralw2k, Cdudf, UdfReadr
right-click on it and select "Delete". then reboot one more time..

(HKLM = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:12 PM

pls take a screen shot of this key... so i can make a replacement for you if it's missed..
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:16 PM

Ok, I exported all the reg keys before I deleted the 2nd string(s). They were all there so I deleted them and rebooted. Now what?

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:16 PM

after all mentioned registry keys removed, windows should load the corr drivers for all drives on next reboot.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by panging
pls take a screen shot of this key... so i can make a replacement for you if it's missed..
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es

Well I didn't see that post before I deleted the ones u listed for me to delete but I will take a screen shot for u of the currect list for u.

zerodamage · Nov 19, 2003, 01:25 PM

Ok.. lets do some of the basic stuff first. Clear your cmos. Either via the jumper or unplug the computer and remove the battery for abotu 15 mins (takes longer sometimes).

If that doens't work... try a different Drive. Your drive could be bad.

More information about your system could also help us out better.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:26 PM

Heres that screen shot, but it doesn't give u the whole list of the subfolders under it.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:37 PM

Some info about this machine:

Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 4

Motherboard
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1400 MHz (3.5 x 400)
Motherboard Name Intel Garibaldi D850GB (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 RIMM)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Tehama i850
System Memory 640 MB (RDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (08/20/01)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter RADEON VE (64 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI RV100 DDR
Monitor Default Monitor

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! Sound Card

Storage
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive IOMEGA ZIP 250
Disk Drive ST320413A (20 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Disk Drive USB NAND FLASH DISK USB Device
Optical Drive IDE-CD R/RW 8x4x32 (8x/4x/32x CD-RW)
Optical Drive MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-594 (48x CD-ROM)

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 19085 MB (16084 MB free)

Input
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse

Network
Network Adapter Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter(LNE100TX v4) (141.209.189.176)
Modem BCM V.90 56K Modem

Peripherals
Printer APOLLO P2500/2600 Series
Printer Fax
USB Device USB Mass Storage Device

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:41 PM

if i cant see it i cant recreate any of it for you..
but all needed registry keys hv already been recreated by windows.
if that's not help i supposed the probs is in windows somewhere..
i would reformat/reload windows...noone want to do that i know.

so dont do that at this time i'll see if i can find more info in win2k about this probs.
pls check with others about hardweres related.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:46 PM

I am reseting the CMOS as we speak.

I am sorry I couldn't everything displayed for u. Do u want me to send u the exported regedit file?

Actually, before hand, (like 2 weeks ago) it had a full format and reinstall of 2000 pro and it still did it.

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:46 PM

pls give me a pics of My Computer.. or just the infomation of its.. i like to see all drive letter configs of the system.

PangingJr · Nov 19, 2003, 01:55 PM

when you install the windows.. the Zip drive was inplace at that time ?

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 02:11 PM

Yes, the ZIP drive was in place.

Here is the screen shot u requested.

By the way, that G drive is a flash stick plugged in.

91Bird305 · Nov 19, 2003, 02:14 PM

And so far after some recent restarts, I haven't gotten the message yet.