All Of A Sudden Drives Are Not Seen (Yet Are By Windows)

[PaulJames]

I really hope someone can help. I was a writing a music CD in Creator Classic (6) and it crashed (there wa snothing else running and this computer is not on the internet). I tried to run it again and found that it now can't see the drive, neither now can Audiocentral, which was recently working fine, and neither can drag-to-disc. Device manager reports no problems.

 

I've obviously tried rebooting and running setup repair and even uninstalling and installing afresh again - no effect

 

windows media player however can, and can write too. I'd prefer not to go back to using it so if anyone could help that would be so greatly appreciated.

 

regards

paul

[Brendon]

Hi Paul,

 

That's a puzzle, since Creator and Direct CD use different methods to read the optical drive. Perhaps your registry filters have been broken?

 

Would you please run REGEDIT, and search for "lowerfilters" [without the quotes] You should get a response from the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and it should look something like this:

 

 

If you look at mine, you see Cdr4_xp in the lower class filter spot, and Cdralw2k and pwd_2k in upperfilters. These are the filters that Creator Classic 6 and Direct CD use. Are they present in that registry key in your machine?

 

Regards,

Brendon

[PaulJames]

Hi Brendon

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to put that up. well the lowerfilters is as yours but the higherfilters only reads "pwd_2k". Meanwhile windows Media player continues to read and write without problem.

 

Also - don't know if this is relevant - when installing roxio it keep asking me to reboot over and over again after reinstalling again recently; well it did when I clicked OK to do so, but when I click cancel and then rebooted myself it didn't appear when it came back up ??

 

regards and thanks

paul

[Brendon]

Morning Paul,

 

Yes, it is a break in the filter system. Windows uses that registry key to see your optical drive(s) and it will automatically rebuild it if it's disturbed. Roxio installs its own filters in there as well. Something has broken, and you're one driver short in there.

 

If I had your machine on my bench I'd uninstall the Roxio suite, make Windows rebuild its filter key, and then reinstall the Roxio suite.

I'd recommend you do that, because it gives you the best chance of getting the system going properly again. Please read through these instructions and ask any questions you might have before you start to do them. It's a bit complex, but I'm trying to be thorough.

 

[1] Uninstall Easy CD and DVD Creator through your Control Panel

[2] Go to Windows Device Manager, find your optical drive as in the picture, right-click on it and Uninstall it

[3] Restart Windows, and let Windows reinstall the optical drive in Device Manager.

[4] Shut down any running background programs you can, especially anti-virus. [disconnect from the 'net to be safe]

[5] Install Easy CD & DVD Creator from your disc, or from the files ion your disc copied to the hard drive, if that's easier. It might restart several times to install the drivers - let it.

[6] Back in the day, after installing the program, the Roxio website would offer you a devicetable updater. That doesn't happen now, but I saved a copy and it wouldn't hurt to download that from here and apply it now. I had to rename it to upload it here, so download it; rename it to devicetable.exe, and run it.

Devicetable.txt

[7] Apply any updates you have, especially the last drive updater, DU20041203.exe. These update the burning engine and the list of drives the program can see.

In case you don't have that updater, here it is renamed to *.txt. Download it and rename it to DU20041203.exe for use

du20041203.txt

[8] Restart Windows yet again to finish and read the updated parts, and if everything worked the Roxio suite should operate once more.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[PaulJames]

Hi Bredon

 

thanks so much for your efforts to help me, really, I deeply appreciate it. I hope you don't think you've waisted your time but I've decided not to play about Roxio any more. it all looks quite risky and as my windows programs will do all I want it to (that Roxio does for me), I don't want to cause any problems that take that away from me (only be quite a novice). the idea of loosing that functionality is a nightmare imagining. So I'll retire roxio I think, but again, I thank you so much for taking the time to help me, I'm sure I will for you if one day you need it.

 

regards and best wishes

paul

[Brendon]

Thanks for the feedback, Paul.

 

It really isn't as difficult as it looks, but I agree that it does look daunting. If you're not confident about performing a procedure then you're right not to start it.

 

In the meantime I wish you well in your endeavors, and the information is there in case any other person needs it.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

Hi, Brendon. I have the same problem that you were discussing with Paul. I checked my registry, and the data field for both filters was blank. So I edited them to show the values you showed. That didn't help. So then I went through the other procedures you described. One thing didn't work, though. I downloaded devicetable.txt, and renamed it as you said, but when I tried to run it I got the error message that "devicetable.exe is not a valid application". Anyway after all the unloading and re-loading, and editing the registry, I still have the problem of CD/DVD Creator not seeing my CD drive. Any further suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

Don

[Brendon]

Hello Don,

 

Firstly, that devicetable.txt download had become corrupted. I don't know how/when that happened, but I apologize. I've uploaded a new file to that message above, so please download it again.

 

Secondly, editing the registry to include those filter values will only work when the source files are in the correct places. I realize it's a pain, but the only way to get the filters back into the registry and working properly is to uninstall your Roxio program and then reinstall it. The filters are inserted during the installation process, by the installer.

 

I hope the process I outlined above will work properly now the right devicetable is attached to that post.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

Brendon, Christmas got in the way, and I've not worked on the problem again until now.

I went through all the steps you outlined, and I still have the problem of CD/DVD Creator not seeing my CD drive. My upper filter reads pwd_2k, and I have 2 lower filters. One of them is blank in the data field, and the other one reads PxHelp20 Cdr4_xp. I downloaded Devicetable.txt again, and renamed it like you said, but when I try to run it I still get the error mesage "devicetable.exe is not a valid application".

Regards,

Don

[Brendon]

Happy New Year, Don,

 

I don't know what you've been up to in that registry entry, but it's definitely in a sad state.

 

[1] It should NOT have two lower filters entries, even if one is blank.

 

[2] It should NOT have any PX Engine entries - they aren't used by this software. Have you been playing round with a PX installer? [Tsk!]

 

I checked Devicetable.txt in post #4 above, and it's still good. Have you been trying to run it in a Command [cmd] window? That will produce the 'not a valid application' error. You need to navigate to it and run it in Windows.

 

I suggest you do this lot:

-run the processes outlined in Post #4 above, but add an additional piece at 2a. There run REGEDIT and delete all upperfilters and lowerfilters entries from that registry key headed DVD/CDROM Drives shown in post #2. Then carry on through the instructions.

-at instruction 6, be sure to run the devicetable.exe in Windows. It might flash a cmd window quickly on the screen, but won't leave any messages for you.

 

I hope that will fix things for you. I have run out of other ideas to try.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

Brendon, I think that PX Engine stuff must have been the result of my flailing around trying to troubleshoot my problem before I found this site. I also discovered that devicetable.exe won't run in Windows Explorer (that's where I downloaded it to), but once I pasted it onto my desktop, it ran OK.

I went through the modified procedure, and CD/DVD Creator still doesn't see my drive. One thing, though, maybe I messed up when I deleted the filters in regedit. I interpreted your instructions to mean delete the filters from the "name" column, which I did. Now, after reinstalling Creator there are no filters showing in the register. Here's a view of it.

 

 

Also, I wasn't sure what you meant by the item "headed DVD/CDROM Drives" in your instructions in Post 10. Should I add the filters back into the register with the proper Type and Data entries?

Thanks for you patience,

Don

 

 

 

[picture attached]

[Brendon]

Hi Don,

 

I attached your picture in the post for you, and I see what you mean. Yes, 'the item "headed DVD/CDROM Drives"' was just to help identify the registry key, and you've got the right one.

 

I'm going to go make me another fresh Windows drive and do things with the Roxio software to try get to the bottom of this. It might take me some time because it's just after 10am New Year's Day here, and we have daughter and grandchildren aged 5yrs, 3yrs, and 3mths staying at the moment. However I will be back when I have something useful to report.

 

One thing, I'm using XP but I don't recall you saying what Operating System you're using. Can you tell me that, please?

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

I'm also using XP. BTW, I discovered that I had Roxio CD/DVD Creator 9 installed. I had tried it in the past,and didn't like it, so I quit using it, and forgot it was on there. I've now un-installed it, and run the procedures again, but my problem still exists. I should also note that I have the same problem on my notebook (Win XP) also. The register on that one shows the Lower Filter as it should be, but the Upper Filter shows only pwd_2k. All this after running the procedures you gave me on that computer. I didn't delete the filters on that one though.

Tell your daughter and grandkids Happy New Year for me, and give them an extra hug.

Don

[Brendon]

Okay, I'm back. It's just on 15:00 local time. Thanks for the info about your XP.

 

Right, I installed XP-SP3 on a new partition and had a look at the registry key before it saw a sign of our pudgy fingers. Here it is. No upper/lowerfilter entries.

 

 

I then installed Easy CD & DVD Creator 6. At the end of the install I got the attached note from the Roxio Assistant. This is the one which downloads and executes the devicetable file. I clicked OK but didn't see a visible reaction. [which is quite okay].

 

 

Following the install both Creator and Drag-to-Disc both recognised my drive,

 

 

and the registry key appeared like this:

 

 

I used the Control Panel add/remove to uninstall the suite and lo, the registry key returned to its virgin state with no filter entries at all.

I reinstalled Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, and everything returned to the installed condition. I was prompted for the devicetable download the second time, too, and everything worked well.

 

 

 

Okay, I think we can say I've established what should happen, but it doesn't say what has happened on your machine. If you've got pwd2k in your upperfilter, your Drag2Disc might be seeing the drive, but who knows? I think you have a veritable fruit salad of Roxio software in there with pieces of nine and six interspersed, and that might be what's preventing a proper install of Six now.

 

At this point I would be trying to thoroughly clean out the Roxio programs from your system to give the installer a chance to do its work. All my notes on Clean uninstalling version 6 were destroyed by an IP Board modification, so all I can suggest now is to download a copy of the Freeware Revo Uninstaller from the 'Net http://www.revounins...e_download.html and run that in 'Moderate' mode to remove as much of the Roxio software as you can.

-Then try reinstalling it, accepting the download the Roxio Assistant offers, and see if it completes properly. If it does, the suite should see your burner(s) and you should have a happy New Year. .

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

Brendon, thanks for putting in all this time trying to help me. I really appreciate it. I downloaded and ran Revo uninstaller, and it did find some leftovers. Then I went through all the procedures again while checking regedit at each stage, and the results were pretty much the same as your exercise with one exception. I never got the screen wanting me to download drivers (Devicetable?). Each time I reinstall Creator I run all the updates. Here's a list of those.

After all this, my regedit shows the Lower filter as it should, but the Upper filter reads only pwd_2k.

 

Don

[Brendon]

Don,

 

You say you were monitoring the registry as you went, and the results were pretty much the same but "After all this" your Upperfilters was missing Cdralw2k. Does this mean that Cdralw2k did appear after installation but went missing after the updates? If so, which update killed it?

 

If it never made it into that registry key at all, I'm quite nonplussed as to what's happening. It always appears when I do it.

 

Does cdralw2k.sys exist in your C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder? If it is there, you could perhaps try changing the registry upperfilters key to look like my one. I don't know if that will work, but it's about all I can suggest at the moment.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[metoo]

Brendon, sorry about delay in responding. I had major computer problems that eventually required that I re-load my OS. It took so long that I got disgusted and just walked away from the whole thing for a while. I'm up and running again now. ---- Now to respond.

No, I never did get Cdralw2k to show up in the registry Upper Filter. I checked, and I do have it in my System 32\Drivers folder. I edited the registry to add it in the proper place, but it didn't fix the problem. For what it's worth, it stayed there through re-boot and all In fact, it's still there. I wonder if it's significant that during all this cleaning and reinstalling and re-booting, I never got the screen wanting me to download drivers as you said you did. Also, do you think there is any significance in which order in the procedure that I load the updates? I mean, what I've been doing is loading the updates, device table, and du20041203.exe after I re-install Easy CD, but before I re-boot.

Don