I have reviewed numerous posts in this forum about Installing/Uninstalling 7.5 during which time the DVD or CD burner is no longer detected. I am now very confused as there seem to be a number of different solutions to the same problem. Some posts recommend registry changes, others recommend utilities by MS and Roxio to uninstall Roxio and then reinstall, other solutions are out there as well. I want to fix this dang thing, but need some consensus on the way to go about doing it.

SYSTEM:
Dell Inspiron 6000 with an NEC 6500A DVD+-RW drive
Windows XP Pro
Roxio 7.5 (retail with patch added)

PROBLEM:
Initially had 7.5 installed perfectly for months. Upgraded to 8.0 after Christmas. Hated 8.0 for all its various problems (see that forum for entertainment), but the burner still worked. Reinstalled 7.5 with 8.0 still installed. Burner still worked. Unistalled 8.0 and burner no longer works. Unistalled 7.5 unsuccessfully. Used a Roxio utility (1.5) to zap the program. Still unsuccessfull, because I got a certificate error when trying to resinstall. Used a Microsoft install cleanup utility. Was able to reinstall and patch 7.5. Burner not detected. Able to burn using Windows XP. The only other burning software installed in iTunes which worked great until this mess. It also can't find the correct files to burn (can't remember the exact error message).

Obviously, my failed attempt with 8.0 led to my downfall. Get me back running here!

First, give this a try if you haven't already.
As for iTunes, I've read that it can cause problems like the one you're describing but the latest version had solved that problem.

I had this same problem only in V8.I was advised to try this:

http://patches.sonic.com/PX/pxengine1_08_34a.exe

It worked for me and has worked for others as well.

Yes, this worked for me going from 8 back to 7.5.

Thanks guys. Can you see my confusion, already 2 different options. I'll try the pxengine file first to see if that works. It seems like it fixes the problem rather than disable a conflicting program. My next step will be the rxfix if the first option doesn't work. I'll keep you posted.

Alright, I need more help. Neither option fixed the problem.

Before I started, I unistalled Drag to Disc, because that seems to be an issue repeatedly in these forums, and I never use it. First, I downloaded and ran the pxengine file. That didn't restore the DVD burner as an option for Roxio. Furthermore, I had to uninstall and reinstall the drive using Device Manager because Windows didn't detect the drive after that! Next, I ran the rxfix program. That didn't have any effect.

What do I do now? As I said before, I can still burn DVD and CD using Windows.

For laughs and giggles, in My Computer, right click the dvd drive in question, click on Properties and then the Recording tab. Uncheck the box 'Enable CD recording on this drive'. Click OK, then reboot and see what happens. You can always put this back if nothing changes.

I did that previously. When I first noticed this problem after uninstalling 8.0, that box wasn't checked and Windows XP wouldn't burn either. It has been checked since then.

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

I used a combination of advice on this board that worked perfectly in the end:

1. Uninstall EMC 7.5 and Sonic using Windows Control Panel
2. Run the roxizap program to make sure the uninstall is complete
3. Use Windows Install Clean Up to finish off all possible files from Roxio and Sonic
4. Reinstall EMC 7.5
I used custom install and did not install Napster or Drag-to-Disc.
After the install, Windows XP would NOT detect my DVD+-RW drive (it had an error in Device Manager and
Explorer would not find it).
5. Install the EMC retail patch if necessary (was for me)
Windows XP still will not detect the drive.
Do this first before the regedit step, otherwise, you will have to regedit twice.
6. Go to regedit and delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters as described by James Hardin in a prior post
After a reboot, Windows now detects the drive perfectly.
However, Roxio still will not detect the drive.
7. Run pxengine1_08_34a
Now Roxio detects the drive too!!!

That sequence gave full function!!!
Thanks for all your help. I'm sure everyone is a bit different, but this worked for me. Nothing less.

That's great news! Actually that's pretty close to the sequence that I had to use when I went from 8 to 7.5. Happy burning!

It's a shame you had to work for it but I'm glad you let us know the steps you took. Hope this helps others as well.

That's great that you posted back and gave all the specific steps to how you finally solved your problem. If everyone did that (after solving a problem) that would really help. I just have one question, and it's probably a redundant one now---But what was the reason that caused all the problem in the first place ?? There have been others on the forum that have their program working great and then I see where they have un-installed it for one reason or another. Maybe it's in some cases where their hardware has been changed and others I noticed where they wanted to go back to a previous version of EMC.

Frank....Not condeming anyone, just curious

I have no idea. The thing that really baffled me all along was that EMC 7.5 worked the first time I installed it last year. I didn't change anything on my laptop until I installed 8.0. Even 8.0 didn't screw anything up. After all my install, uninstalls, I guess something just got screwed up. Others seem to have had issues with 7.5 and 8.0 out of the box. I never had those problems.

Thanks for the information. I believe there are several others that frequent this forum that have both 7.5 and 8.x installed on their computers and are not having any problems, but every computer is definitely different. Glad you have yours back running O.K.

Frank...