Ok I did not mess with the the msconfig in safe mode. Two reasons:
1 the my computer looked exactly as it does in regular boot. (The red ? and local drive is now gone and we are back to two cdrom drives.)
2 there was no run in safe mode. I could not locate readily a way to get into the msconfig.
I agree, no point in running msconfig if it looks like that in Safe Mode.
Just for your info though, press the WinKey + r to bring up the Run dialog (Safe or regular mode).
I'm stumped. I'm going to ask one of our other techs to stop in and see what he can find. I'm sure I missed something obvious.
Don't give up, we'll figure this out.
While waiting for some of the other folks to chime in here, I was reviewing your last StartupList and found this service running:
[C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe (21)]
According to ProcessLibrary.com: this process was authored by Creative Labs, and is usually installed alongside Soundblaster card drivers or some Creative Labs applications. It assists Windows manage the CD-ROM on Windows 9x and Me systems, however it has no use on faster CD-ROM drives.
Also this:
[C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe (34)]
This is used by HP Packet Writing software, which basically treats a CDRW disc as a large floppy drive. Some people use it, most don't. I always disable the Roxio equivalent called Drag to Disc. Please disable it as follows and see if it makes any difference in the duplicate drive letters.
1. Open the Start menu, select Run.
2. Type msconfig in the Open box and click OK to launch the System Configuration Utility.
3. On the Startup tab, search for the tfswctrl.exe or tfswctrl process and then clear its checkbox
4. Click Apply and Close to save your settings and exit the dialog box.
5. Choose Restart when asked to reboot your PC.
If this doesn't make any difference you can go back and enable it again if you use it.
Note: Do the same for CTsvcCDA.exe that I mentioned first.
Ok after disabling the first item you wanted done – no change.
I could not locate the other second (but first listed) one. The only items remotely close in the start up list were:
CTSVolFE.exe and
CTDetect.exe.
Can you attach another StartupList please? I want to make sure the temp areas were truly cleared. I just noticed these in your last list:
NUL=C:\DOCUME~1\KATHRY~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\VIES301F
[PendingFileRenameOperations]
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\hjgruirnnxwhciyl.tmp -> NULL
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\hjgruipesmqvfvsf.tmp -> NULL
They look a lot like a possible malware infection, so I'd like to see another list please.
click start -> run -> type cmd and press ENTER.
At the command prompt, type the following two commands: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc
When device manager open, click "View" -> "Show Hidden Devices."
Now, expand the CD/DVD drives section and delete everything from within that section. If you are prompted about having to restart, do not allow it to restart until you have removed all devices listed there. Then, restart your computer. See if the second drive letter still persists.
I have read through this entire thread a couple of times and I have forgotten if this procedure has already been followed or not. Please try it.
Here is the results so far:
In the device manager, with hidden items in view, I still have only the sony drive showing. Since I already uninstalled that once I chose not to do that again at this time.
I am attaching several files.
First the requested startlist, second the mountvol and finally I am also attaching a HJT log. Although I was previously cleared in the malware forum, and I run malwarebytes regularly with clean results, you never know, right?
So happy hunting gentlemen…….
Two out of three accomplished.
Post #5
There were no cd/dvd or any drive listed in disk management. See attached.
Post #6
There was no change in the way the drives are listed in my computer. See attached.
Post #7
I could not get a text document or anything to happen with that entry. I even change the information between the % signs =to my name (as that is the user profile the account is under). Still nothing. Attached is also of screen shot of this. Did I not do this properly?
The attached for post #6 is on this post not enough room on the other one.
Also VendettaX states my problem with the device manager and such the same as me except in my case it is a Sony dvd/cd RW drive:
"2) I can not believe that I left out the entire other half of my problem in my original post - Disk Management is empty. I'm not sure when that happened; most likely when this all happened in the first place. I do know that it used to work. I have checked the common problems - I have the required services running (Logical Disk Mgmt, Logical Disk Mgmt Admin, and one more that I can't recall at the moment). I've tried various combinations of common fixes to get Disk Management to populate without success. I am the only user on this machine with full Admin rights. I'm not getting an error when selecting the Disk Management screen; it says "Connecting to Logical Disk Management service" at the bottom, then this disappears, and it simply displays nothing.
Device Manager, on the other hand, works perfectly. Yesterday I modified the registry to view *all* devices, in addition to the View>Hidden Devices that you can select. In my Device Manager, I do not have duplicate disk drives, or duplicate CD/DVD drives, or anything other than the two physical hard drives and the one physical DVD drive present in those two sections. Oddly enough, the DVD ATAPI shows up as its true self, not as a CD-ROM, in the device manager. Then again, since it still at least reads DVD-ROMs, I guess that makes sense. There are no driver conflicts or "warnings" anywhere in the list, save for an audio driver that I manually placed and never got around to fixing. I've also tried removing the "Generic Volume" entries (grayed out and otherwise) in the Storage Volumes section and this did not resolve the issue. I've uninstalled the DVD drive from DM several times to let XP rediscover it, and this also didn't appear to change things."
Please look on your desktop Mickey… It has a file called "MountedDevices.txt." I can see it in your screenshot. That was the file created in #7.. You performed the command correctly the first time and that file was placed on your desktop. I need that file attached to the forum. Not copy and pasted, but attached.
This drive management issue is a significant clue although I haven't figured out what it is yet. I believe we are very close to resolving this issue now.
To assist me further, please attach an export of your SYSTEM and APPLICATION logs. Here's how:
How to capture an event log and upload it to the forum:
First, open Event Viewer by clicking Start -> Run -> type eventvwr.msc and press ENTER.
In the Event Viewer please right click the requested event log (i.e. Application, system, etc…) and click Save Log File As.
Please save the logfile to your desktop and give it a recognizable name.
Do this for each log that has been requested.
When you are finished saving the necessary logs, close Event Viewer.
On your desktop find the saved log files. Hold the CTRL key and click to select each event log.
When all event logs are selected, right-click one of them, click Send to -> Compressed Zip Folder.
A new .ZIP file will have been created on your desktop. Please attach that file to this forum in your next reply.
Thank you very much for your persistence.
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