Problems with dvd drives

I have suddenly strated having problems with my dvd drives. I have 2 drives in my system, a DVDRW IDE1008 and a Lite-on DVDRW SHW-160P6S.

I have been using them regularly to burn dvds and cds. I regularly burn cds that are set up to autorun. As soon as I burn the cd, I reinsert it to make sure it works properly.

About 2 weeks ago, I burned a cd and it would not autorun. I thought it was a simple error so I threw it away and tried again. Same result. After the forth (using 3 different burning programs), I put the cd in my laptop and it worked fine.

After trying to troubleshoot the problem, suddenly explorer could not even read the cd. I put a manufactured cd in and it could not read it either (in either drive).

I have tried numerous fixes found on various posts from many different sites including some registry tweaks, removing the drives in device manager and rebooting, unplugging the cable and reconnecting, updating the firmware, running Microsoft's Autofix.exe and 314030.exe. Right now the drive will read the files (although the label does not show up in explorer) and it will burn a cd (but only on the older IDE1008 drive).

When I put the cd in, the drive light lights up and the drive starts to run but the autorun does not work.

Does anyone have an idea what I can do next?

 

After cleaning your opticals .....
Prior to this problem, did you install any programs?
Some DVD burning programs disable "Autorun" features (Security issue(s).
Try the following ...
Click on My Computer
High light optical drive 1 - Right Click
High light Properties - Left click
Click on Auto Run Tab
Click on "Down Arrow" and select Music CD
See ACTION Header - Enable "Select an Action to Perform "
From the list, "Click" on media player of choice which includes the phrase "Play CD audio or Play audio CD "
Click on Apply. OK away from screen. Insert a CD which auto runs on your Laptop.
Some times Windows / auto runs likes to be difficult. You may have to repeat the above operation a number of times, possible throw a reboot in between.
Once working, repeat the process for Optical 2.

Anther possible fix ... Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
Download XP Tweak UI and install.
Once installed, load XP Tweak UI.
From "Left Column" Click/expand "My Computer ".
Below "Auto Play ", click on "Types ".
From dialog view, Enable/Tick the following phrase ..
Enable Auto Play for CD and DVD Drives.
Click on "Apply" ... "OK" away from screen. Close Tweak UI.
Try CD / Autorun disk.

 

I have XP Tweak ui installed and it is set to autoplay. I tried the other suggestion (even though the cd is a data cd and not music). It still does not work.

When I insert the cd, the box comes up and indicates that the cd is blank and asks me what to do. If I close that box and open explorer, the label for the cd does not show up (next to the icon) but is does show that there is data on the cd. I click on the drive and it shows the files are there and I can open the files. It just will not use the autorun. The same cd autoruns properly in my laptop.

As to installing other software, around the time that this started (can't say for sure if it started just before or just after, I installed Office 2007 (a pretty crappy program IMHO). I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the burning software (nero, roxio and pinacle instant cd/dvd). I have removed the drives in device manager and rebooted, run virus scans (both online ones and with my installed antivirus), registry cleaners and a couple of Microsoft fixes but it still doesn't work.

 

From my previous experience and reading, running more than one burning program can be a "recipe for disaster ". I only ever try to run one burning program. You can try reading about ASPI Layer drivers, but "it" might be hard to reset. Windows XP has it's own burning system, so there might be four different programs fighting to control the drives.

You might not be able to "straighten them out" without reformatting, I have found it necessary in the past.

If the burning programs have corrupted the optical drive system you might be fighting a losing battle.

Matt

 

You mite try the registry edit, B careful in here tho. Mine is below to turn "OFF" autorun. You would remove the last line if present in yours.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@= "@SYSoesNotExist "

Also winxp defaults to pio mode in deviceman under IDE channel properties, set to DMA if available..........hope this works