C:\ somehow associated with a CDROM? Help!

I had problems with a disk installed software, so I tried to copy the contents to the hard drive to make a new cd. It also errored. Now, when in My Computer, if I double click on the C:\ drive, it asks to be directed to the autorun file from the cd?! If I right click, it also has the option to read the ReadMe from the cd. How did this happen? What can I do about it? It hasnt messed anything up, but its an annoyance to have to right click and select open or explore just to access my C: drive. If I double click, it says the autorun .exe cant be found, and then wont open to the contents. Any ideas?

 

Welcome to the forum Cyalume.

Try rebooting into safe mode then rebooting back to normal mode. Some of these strange glitches are 'cured' by this process although I'm not really sure how or why.

If that doesn't help, post back and include the version of XP you are using (home vs pro and the SP).

 

Hi, welcome to the BBS.

I am smiling because I could see myself being in the same situation before I learnt the "wonderful ways of Windows" . Obviously, your C: drive now thinks it is a CD, so apart from taking it to a psychiatrist, what I would do is to use Windows Explorer to list the files and folders that are on the CD. They would have been copied directly to C:\ drive and there should be a file Autorun.inf that will correspond to the same file on the CD. Send that file to the Recycle Bin, but also find all the other corresponding files and folders and send them as well. After that, if My Computer -> C:\ drive works OK, and after testing, delete the files from the recycle bin.

Check the CD for marks or scratches. I have a program, Clone CD, that will reread the data many times trying to read data from under scratches and "repair" it. I have used it recently on a disk that I thought was never going to work...the burnt disk that it made works fine . Clone CD has evaluation programs or there may be a free "CD recovery" program at one of the software listing sites (cnet, tucows or majorgeeks).

If you need to clean the CD, use a diluted, mild detergent and wipe from the center to the perimeter (not around the disk).

Matt