Hi Guys,

Have happily used ECDC 5 Platinum - reloading through 3 PCs over 7 years and never a problem...until now.

Following the installation of Nero 9 (coincidence?) for some reason a "No CD Recorders" message pops up when trying to burn CDs in Soundsteam so searched the forum for answers. Have tried just about all.
(BTW Nero works fine.)

Uninstalled ECDC, reinstalled Platinum plus two updates (Thanks Brendon), added cdr4 updates and blue screen of death appeared (Message stated due to cdr4 problem). Had to restart in safe mode and delete all progs using Roxizap.

Tried whole process again and blue screen of death appeared again. Started in safe mode and strangely when I opened ECDC in safe mode the recorders were there! Thought I had resolved so rebooted and blue screen of death again. Had to restart in safe and again delete all progs using Roxizap.

Read about removing upper & lower filters - did so, but both DVD/CD ROM drives disappeared from My Computer. Had to System Restore and return to pre ECDC installation.

Which brings me to now, five hours later. Is anyone able to see where I have gone wrong.

Ta...Marko


Dell Inc Dimension E521
AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual
Core Processor 4200+
2.20 Ghz
4 Gb RAM
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)

Hi Marko,

Nero has a program called InCD - at least I think 9 still has it. The earlier versions do.
ECDC has a program called Direct CD.

[1] Did you install these two programs ?
[2] Have you had ECDC 5 working properly in XP-SP3 ?

Regards,
Brendon

Hi Brendon

1. Direct CD - Yes, it is automatic with installation InCD - No

2. ECDC5 has been working happily with SP3.

Just another piece of info. At one stage following the 4th or 5th installation of all ECDC5 pieces, there was no blue screen of death. BUT, in Device Manager both DVD/CD devices had yellow exclamations against them. Uninstalled, added new harware etc to no avail. Just wouldn't be recognised. Ran Roxizap and they returned.

Hmmm...hope this gives a broader pic.

Cheers

Marko

Yes a broader pic, but you just blew my two chief suspects right out of the water

However . . . . . . something else is taking shape.

When you say "added CDR4 updates" I guess you're talking about the CDR4_7 updater [4.53.71 or 4.7] that Roxio released to appease the AVG antivirus people. Would that be right? More than one of them ?

I wonder if that is reacting badly with something else - perhaps something installed by Nero?
If the updated CRD4 is causing the problem that could fit with what you're seeing. A BSOD complaining about CRD4, persistent Yellow exclamations against the drives in Device Manager, and it comes right when you run Roxizap - since among other things, Roxizap removes all instances of CDR4 that it finds.

Now this isn't going to work as things are, and you're getting pretty experienced at reinstalling [ ]. So how about dry-cleaning things with Roxizap and then running the install of ECDC5 the recommended way, doing the 5.3.5.10 and 535V updates but NOT updating CDR4?
-could you try that to see if the newer CDR4 is the problem ?
-do you need the newer version of CDR4 ?

Please excuse me for not knowing the answer for this one straight off, but it's a new one to me.

Regards,
Brendon

Thanks Brendon

You are excused... I do appreciate your time.

Have tried loading with and without v 4.53.71 with same results....BSOD and/or yellow ! in device manager.

Can't seem to find v 4.7 anywhere. Are you able to provide an external link? (Roxio site a no go).

An even broader picture, interestingly, when I was in Windows Safe Mode prior to Roxizap, in desperation I loaded Soundstream and the CD recorder appeared when I selected a drive to record to....all ready to go!

Let me know what you think.

Regards

Marko

Hi Brendon

Sorry but have been delving deeper and now provide the following comprehensive info which may help or confuse the issue:

1. When original ECDC5 original program is loaded, no drives are recognised anywher but PC works OK.

2. When update and patch are loaded, on shutdown BSOD appears with message "RQL NOT LES OR EQUAL"
Technical Info STOP 0X0000000A (0X00000304,0X00000002,0X00000001,0X806E6A16)

3. On reboot BSOD appears again
Technical Info STOP 0X0000007E (0XC0000005,0XB9C8A2FB,0XBAD8BCD0,0XBAD8B9CC)

4. Reboot in Safe Mode and drives are identified in My Computer & ECDC5.

5. Roxizap clean, reboot and all OK (except no ECDC)

N.B. Also have Roxio Creator LE Dell Edition Build: 2.4.32a loaded and this now fails to identify any drives at all when attempting to copy.

Hope this gives you more chance of a fix...

Cheers

Marko

Gidday Marko,

Cor Blimey! If we weren't confused before, we are now !!

Firstly, when you're using a Dell OEM version, all bets are off. Dell are the people who specify what they do and don't want in their versions [saving pennies, you know ] and they do some pretty weird things. I have no idea what happens in a non-standard Basic version, so I can't help much with that.

Secondly, I've been off uninstalling, updating, uninstalling, and reinstalling at this end too. It's getting very late here and I'll fall off the perch shortly, but before I do here's what I found about the various CDR4 versions.

Installing ECDC5 and updating to 5.3.5.10 installs version 5.3.5.10 "CDR4_XP CDR Helper" copyrighted 2001-2003

Using the 4_7 updater I got some while ago gives you version 7.1.0.95 "CDR4 CD and DVD Burning Helper Driver" copyrighted 1994-2004.

Using the 4.53 updater - the current one available at http://www.roxio.com/enu/support/mserr/cdr4_7.html - gives you version 7.1.0.190 "CDR4 CD and DVD Burning Helper Driver" copyrighted 1994-2004.

It would look as though the 4_7 is an older one, and there's probably no point trying it although if you really want it I can email it to you [send me a private message with an email address].

Finally, if it isn't CDR4 causing the problem it must be something else which has broken your previously reliable system. The Stop errors don't help me [little experience with them] but I think it's a driver conflict. The fact it is resolved in safe mode tends to confirm that for me, since only a fraction of the list of drivers are loaded in safe mode. I am cocking a jaundiced eye at Nero since it's similar software and you've only just installed it.

That's about as far as I can get at the moment. It's 2:40am here and I need to crash. Tomorrow is fully booked, but I hope to be back at some stage to see what anybody's been able to suggest.

Cheers,
Brendon

Hi Brendon

Thanks again for your time. It is appreciated...hope the zzzz's worked well. Since our last chat:

1. Have uninstalled Nero 9 with Add/Remove Programs facility & cleaned with Windows Install Cleanup.
2. Roxizapped ECDC5 & rebooted - all ok.
3. Reloaded ECDC5 Platinum (NO UPDATES) & rebooted - BSOD [ RQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL]
4. Rebooted - BSOD [DRIVER UNLOADED WITHOUT CANCELLING etc] Message - [b]cdr4_xp.sys error
5. Rebooted - BSOD & advised to Run CHKDSK /F. Did so with some errors corrected.
6. Rebooted - Booted OK & loaded v5.3.5.10 Update & cdr4 update.
7. Rebooted - Booted OK but still no drives visible from My Computer etc.

Sorry...Nero doesn't appear to have been the culprit. Corrupt cdr4 driver appears to be the issue. Have trawled the net for possible tinkering ideas but nothing appears relevant to me.

Any further advice would be much appreciated. Am sort of dreading the possibilty of Windows reinstallation but....

Thanks, Marko

Hi Marko,

This is very frustrating without the machine on the bench in front of me. If it was, then I could hit it when needed!!

If it was in front of me, I'd be looking for drivers left behind by Nero. Everything you install seems to leave things behind in the \Windows\System 32\drivers folder. ECDC does, and that's why Patrick wrote Roxizap to clean out the odd bits left behind. I think Nero will have too.

Searching for them would probably involve ranking them in date order and looking for driver files on or after the day you installed Nero, combined with an internal file search looking for "ahead" or "nero" in either text or unicode. If you find a file you're suspicious of, just rename the file extension temporarily to stop it being loaded. You rename it back again afterwards.

I don't think a corrupt CDR4 is the issue. The source must be fine because nobody else has complained, and you yourself were running it nicely for years. Anyway, reinstallation solves file corruption. I would accept driver conflict, though it should have surfaced before now unless it's something that only arrived with Nero 9. [Who would install the latest Nero with a 6-year-old Roxio program ?]

Losing your drives in My Computer makes me think it's a filter issue, which should be a totally different thing but perhaps your filters were disturbed during installation or uninstallation. What shows in the lowerfilters key in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} ??

Regards,
Brendon

Thanks again Brendon. Accept that cdr4_xp is not the issue.

Have searched and found a number of erroneous Nero files which are now deleted.

Lower filters key: REG_MULTI_SZ CDR4_XP
Upper Filters key: REG_MULTI_SZ cdralw2k pwd_2k

Am currently following this procedure:

Select 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 .
Select UpperFilter in the right window and press the Delete key.
Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes .
Select LowerFilters in the right window and press the Delete key.
Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes .
Close the registry editor, restart the computer , and wait until Windows configures the necessary files.
After Windows is done configuring the new hardware, continue to the next Step; Uninstalling Disc Burning Software.
Step 4: Uninstalling disc burning software
Uninstall all disc burning software using Add/Remove Programs. It is important that your disc burning software is both uninstalled and reinstalled to properly reset the disc burning configuration with Windows.

Will let you know how it goes.

Many thanks again

Marko

Hi Brendon

Tried filter deleting procedures...My Computer sees drives and bonus has been no BSOD in a series of reboots but still No Recorders in ECDC5. Are there any software programs out there to ID filter conflict/corruption or is it a matter of manual trial & error?

My head is hurting...

Regards
Marko

Yep, I know exactly how that feels!!

I haven't seen a diagnostic program which will pick up this sort of stuff - I've always had to do it by inspection and if necessary trying it every which way.

Sometimes a big hammer helps

If you can stand by for a short while I'll install Easy CD Creator 5 in a fresh XP and tell you what my filters look like. Back soon.

Brendon

Okay,

Here are my filters with ECDC 5.3.5.10v in XP-SP2.

Click to view attachment

The lowerfilters have CDR4_xp, while upperfilters shows the two Direct CD filters, prw_2k and cdralw2k.
If you haven't installed DirectCD you shouldn't see those last two or the upperfilters key.

The CDR4 file is version 5.3.5.10, and it's 62,288 bytes.

Is this any help, Marko ?

Hi again Brendon,

Filters are the same...file versions & size the same.

Have now uninstalled Nero, Skype (loaded similar time to Nero), all Roxio products (Dell LE versions), removed filters, installed different versions of cdr4_xp and reloaded and played with this in a myriad of ways but all to no avail.

As soon as ECDC5 is reloaded, the drives disappear. Conflict with cdr4 still appears to be the issue but with what is the question...

After the many hours spent (yours & mine), time has come to put this to bed and move on. Am still able to use ECDC5 Label Maker section of the program so will be able to utilise the many saved label files produced over many years - this is a bonus...but no recording with ECDC.

Have reloaded Nero to record & all programs now sit comfortably side by side and all operate.

I thank you sincerely for all the time that you have spent in attempting to resolve the conflict. It has been appreciated. Just put this one down to experience! If you ever have a Eureka moment or experience a similar conflict, please let me know if there is a resolution.

Regards

Marko

Will do, Marko.

At my place, faced with that I'd be reinstalling Windows from scratch and moving carefully with the software reinstalls to see what happens, but in 'real life' a person has to make practical decisions and can't get too obsessive about these things

If I get anything I'll holler.

Regards,
Brendon