Windows Vista Vista confused about DVD drive

When I try to access a DVD or CD with most applications, Vista keeps incorrectly asking me if I want to format a blank disk. Explorer sees the drive correctly and allows me to view or play whatever is on it, but most third-party applications do not. Specifically, I have encountered the problem with Power Desk file manager, Womble video editor, and VideoRedo. This happens with any disk, regardless of type or contents. If I copy the disk contents to a hard drive using Explorer, everything works normally, but I can’t directly read the disk with anything other than Explorer. This is the sort of thing that can be worked around, but slowly drives one crazy. Does anyone know how to fix this? I am running 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2.

 

Thanks for the reply but I don't see why this would help. The drive has no problem reading any disk as long as I only use Explorer. It also plays DVDs and Cds without problem. It is only when I try to use an application other than Explorer to read a file from the drive that I get the 'format blank disk' response. This seems like some kind of software glitch or setting problem rather than the lens being dirty.

 

Which programs do you use to play these disks with? Can you safely burn music and video files of any type?

In addition, how old is your optical drive? I've had a few Liteon models that acted strangely at times, and they had to be replaced. Updating the firmware *may* help (if an update is available), but I'm just drawing straws here.

You can use a program called Speccy to find out the model number of your drive.

 

I normally use Winamp for audio files, Media Player Classic Home Theatre or VLC for video stuff. I never have any problem playing a disk of any kind. I also don't have problems when reading any disk with Explorer. However, I mainly use Power Desk as my file manager, and that does have the problem. Whenever I try to read any disk with it, I get the 'format blank disk' message and I cannot access the disk. This I can live with because I just use Explorer when I want to look at a disk. The real problem is with my video editing software. I mainly use Womble and Video Redo and both have the same issue. Instead of reading the drive, they give me the 'blank disk' message. Initially I thought this might be related to my use of Power Desk in place of Explorer, so I made sure to not set Power Desk as an Explorer replacement, but I still get the problem. If I want to load a file from a disk with any video editor, I first have to copy it with Explorer and then read it from the hard drive. This is the behavior I would like to fix.

According to Device Manager my drive is a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D. I will let you know if Speccy tells me anything more.

 

Sorry I forgot one thing. Burning music and video disks is no problem at all.

 

From what I can tell, your drive is fairly old (I saw your model number pop up in a forum from 2004). Maybe your drive isn't 10 years old, but is there any way to add a second CD / DVD drive to your setup? Maybe you could get a working drive from a friend and see if you have the same problems.

I used to use Power Desk, myself, some years back. It came bundled with System Suite Five, and it made itself the default program for Windows Explorer.

 

That is a good suggestion. It is certainly doable and there is space for a second one. I need to decide whether it is worth the trouble to me. The current situation is annoying, but it can be worked around. I guess I was hoping this was just another Vista quirk and there would be some kind of simple registry hack or setting change that would fix it.

The version of Power Desk that I use does have an option to replace Explorer but it can be deactivated, which I have done. Instead, I just run it as an application which works fine for most things. I thought this might solve the problem but unfortunately it didn't.

 

You could try this but first BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY. Start\Run\regedit\H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-008002BE10318}. In the right pane delete UpperFilters and LowerFilters. Reboot your system.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try it but it didn't make any difference.

 

Any chance to try another working drive?

 

Not at this stage. I would have to obtain one and installing it would be more hassle than I really want to go to because of the way my computer is set up. The current drive seems to work fine in all respects except the issue that I have described. It reads and writes without problem and I can access it in file mode as long as I only use Explorer. I just get this stupid 'format blank disk' screen when I try to directly read it with my file manager or video editors. For anything else it seems to work correctly. I was hoping for a software fix of some kind but if that is not achievable I can live with the current situation.

 

Sounds like you have one of those micro tower designs that uses a laptop CD / DVD drive?

 

A brand spanking new DVD burner is less than $20, and that includes shipping.

 

Wow, that's as cheap as I've them seen them in a while. It rates 4 eggs too.

 

I have several machines for different tasks. They are all old tower desktops. The one with the problem is an Acer and it does have a second empty bay for a ROM drive. I don't mind the cost but to get at the Acer I would also have to remove my Internet computer which means unplugging and replugging a lot of cables. Then the Acer has to be opened up, the drive installed and jumpers changed and I have some doubts that a different drive would behave any differently anyway. It just seems like a lot of trouble to test something that might not make any difference. That is why I am reluctant. It would be nice to have the problem solved but for the moment at least it seems less bother to just put up with it. While researching this I did find others with similar issues, though no real solutions. I keep hoping someone will turn up with a magic software fix.

 

By far the simplest fix is to use System Restore to roll back Windows to a point in time when everything worked. If that doesn't help, try restoring an earlier system image or backup.

No suitable restore point, backup, or image available? Kick yourself -- you missed the easy solution, and you're left with digging through Windows' many settings.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I have had this situation since I acquired the computer and there is nothing to roll back to. I had problems when I originally tried to upgrade the service pack so I carried out a clean re-install from the factory image on the drive. At the time everything seemed to work ok but I have always had the DVD drive issue. I just assumed this was yet another Vista quirk since I had done a factory install and service pack upgrade. Or maybe it does have something to do with my drive, though I'm still inclined to suspect Vista. I thought if I posted about it here I might get a response from someone who had experienced something similar.

 

Same problem when running from a Live CD/USB?

A Live CD/DVD or USB flash drive contains a complete bootable computer operating system (OS). When you boot a computer from it, the OS loads into, and then runs from memory instead of a hard drive. This allows you to run an OS without installing it or making any changes to a computer's current configuration.

To create one, download an ISO file containing the OS you want to use, (such as Ubuntu, Slax or Zorin), then use something like ISO Recorder to burn it to a CD/DVD or USB key.

Now boot your computer from this disc/key and your computer will be running that OS instead of the one on its hard drive.

When you're done, simply reboot your PC from the hard drive.​

If the problem persists even when running a different OS, then the issue is probably hardware related.

 

Zorin and ISO Recorder links are not working, Doc.