CD/DVD/BD Drives & Controller

Greetings All, Was doing the household PC trickle-down reconfigures this weekend, setting up my old computer for the wife, taking hers and reconfiguring for one of the kids, etc. I was uninstalling programs/installing other programs, deleting old setup files and defragging to get each computer configured for its new appropriate user. Once this was complete, I did hard drive defrags and disk cleanups. The 2 machines in question here are a Dell Dimension E510 with XP and a Dell Vostro 410 with XP. Had both of these machines really cleaned up and screaming (compared to how they were running previously) when I went to install a program on the Dimension using the DVD drive (my kids NHL game). Couldn't get the DVD drive to respond and couldn't find it in Windows Explorer. Went into the hardware manager and saw that both the drive and apparently its controller had the yellow question mark and some error about not being able to be controlled or configured due to a problem in the registry. Since I couldn't just pop in the driver CD from Dell/Windows, I got on the Vostro machine to try and copy the driver CD over to a thumbdrive to get it copied back over to the Dimension when I noted that on the Vostro machine, both the CD drive (Optaric AD-7200S) and the Blu-ray (Pioneer BDR-205) were also yellow-question marked with the same errors. The controller didn't have this like on the Dimension though. Could not for the life of me get either of these machines drives to take any type of driver update or anything. I ended up doing a system restore on both machines to earlier in the day (prior to me uninstalling a lot of the programs) and was able to get both machines drives to work again. Now my problem is that all those programs that I had uninstalled earlier and then defrag'd were now back. All attempts to uninstall them again (all except for a couple that is) will not uninstall again because files are missing, etc. So, I'm assuming that my registry is a frigging mess now and am anticipating having major problems moving forward as the wife and kids use their "new" machines. So, I guess my questions are: 1. Are there any freeware applications out there that will clean up my registry and get rid of all those programs that I had uninstalled previously (or other ideas as to how to proceed)? 2. Anyone have any ideas as to why both machines CD/DVD/BD drives and one controller would bonk out on me like that ? After researching a bit, I'm assuming that I must have deleted or uninstalled something that I shouldn't have that was required for the drives to work (although that doesn't answer why I couldn't just reload drivers), OR I had read where installing ITunes sometimes can cause CD/DVD/BD drives to stop working. I couldn't find any more detailed info on this on the web or on the Apple site, so what I read might be irrelevant. But, the Vostro machine's drives did stop working AFTER installing ITunes and after I restored (to a point prior to ITunes), the drives are working again. I can post a DXDiag for both of these machines if it could help and wouldn't contain any info that might be detrimental to my security, looking for advice on that… Thanks for reading my post and am hoping to hear from someone soon! Regards, Bob

OTL.txt (top) and Extras.txt below concerning the post above… These captures are for the Dell Dimension E510 Computer. I will also do the same for the VOSTRO computer and have those ready to post if required.
Thanks, Bob

EDiTED by Doug: purpose to roll-up the OTL.txt and Extras.txt into an attached file

📎OTL_txt_Plus_Extras_txt_.txt

Hi Bob, You have a nightmare scenario in the works of this project. I'm not saying that it couldn't possibly get untangled manually, but nightmare could be a good descriptor. We don't know what application software you "uninstalled" nor even how. (presumable from Control Panel - Add/Remove) Software doesn't always uninstall competently, leaving orphans and remnants for which the Registry item entries have now become invalid as: "File missing" Then you rolled back to a prior Restore Point. Restore Point is significantly involved with replacing a prior instance of your Registry. Since you've uninstalled some of the applications, and then rolled back to a prior Restore Point, some items may not exist in their entirety and therefore fail to function properly. To clear up some of the problem related to the applications you still wish to have uninstalled, you can freshly install a new instance of the application, and then repeat the Control Panel - Add/Remove procedure to get them cleanly removed again. __________ But you may still face some difficulty and complications. Have you considered completely starting over with fresh install of XP and fresh install of the application programs? Best Regards, Doug p.s. Do you actually own a 1968 Shelby GT 500? I've never even driven one, except maybe in my dreams.

Doug, Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my question. As it stands right now, the computers that I had the issue on seem to be operating just fine, although I'm hesitant to install iTunes on them again. I may try it and cross my fingers as my wife and kids won't be happy unless it is there. I'll set a restore point first before trying though. As far as the other programs that I had uninstalled prior to the System Restore, they were all mostly add-ons (Torch, Ask Toolbar, Google Toolbar, couponing stuff). Nothing that I will want to install again to just uninstall, especially if the computer seems to be functioning fine at this point… I've laid down the law though that no programs will be installed by anyone but me in this house from now on… Hopefully that will prevent a re-occurance. As far as the Shelby goes, yeah, I just happened to be really lucky for once back in 1999 when I was in S. California. The first 3 cars that I had ever owned were either 1967 or 1968 Mustang Fastbacks with 289 engines and auto trans. So, naturally, my dream car was the Shelby, just never thought I would be able to find one, let alone afford it. My dream came true when I found my "Other Woman". First pic was when I brought her home, the 2nd is much more recent and after a lot of money… Bob

Bob, Gorgeous! You are a fortunate man! As to the machines and "laying down the law"… Have you considered setting the user-accounts as: Limited User Account ? And add a password protected administrator account for your own maintenance?

Doug, Thanks… I do feel very fortunate to have found my "Other Woman"… I do make lots of friends when I take her out… Yes, I have thought of implementing the user account and actually did do that one one of the machines in question. I think I'll go ahead and do it to all the machines, thanks for reminding me… Bob

Doug, One last question for you concerning the setting up of the User Accounts… Once I do that and have everyone except myself as a limited user, do I have to go into that account and specifically tell it what this user can do or can't do, or are there defaults that will accomplish what I'm looking for? Thanks, Bob

Doug, Just noted you were from CA… I was in S. CA from 1997 thru 2004 in Simi Valley, I found the Other Woman in Granada Hills… I'm going to assume you are up in the Bay area? My sister-in-law is in Mountain View and my aunt is in Redwood City… Bob

If I am understanding you correctly, your intention for creating Limited User Accounts for the family users who will predominantly be using the machine(s) and a password protected Administrative account restricted for use by you alone, is to improve security and gain control over application installations. Limited User Accounts can only "see" files belonging to the one account, plus "shared" files. Windows requires you to have administrator access in order to modify or delete files, if doing so might affect other people who use the computer. This should not be a problem, because Limited User Accounts "generally" only have access to documents and files created by that particular user, from within the Limited User Account. After setting up the limited user accounts, all should work just fine from your standard user account for all ordinary computer useage activities.. There are, however, a few occasions where you may need to run programs with administrator rights. You don't have to log into your admin account for that. But Windows should put an obstacle in the path, preventing most program installations, in the form of required administrative privilege which should include administrator password. If you're running a program installer, chances are that the program installer will automatically ask Windows to elevate its rights to an administrator level. This will cause Windows to issue a User Account Control dialog box. If you have set a password for your admin account, you will have to enter your password before Windows will give the installer administrator rights. Should you ever need to run a program as administrator, and Windows does not automatically issue the User Account Control dialog box, right click that program's executable file (or even its shortcut icon). In the context menu that pops up, click the "Run as administrator" menu item. The UAC dialog box will pop up and you will need to enter the admin password (assuming you set one) before continuing. If I were you, I would anticipate an initial "spike" in frequency of requests for special attention from your family of users. There is no guarantee that the family members will "like" having access only via limited user accounts. But once they have sorted through most of their ordinary activities and gotten your help to create their preferred configurations, it is possible that tranquility and relative silence will return to the home. Note: There are "some" third-party" application programs which have historically required an Administrator Account environment in order to function properly. (For instance, several versions of INTUIT - QuickBooks, Quicken, Turbo-Tax, and some Games, may not run all of their features or at all, unless running from administrator account.) Generally, restricting ordinary daily routine computing to Limited User Account modality is a very good idea. There can be some glitches. It might take some time gettign everybody used to it. Best Regards

Thanks Doug, I've already implemented on all machines in the household. If I get any gripes, I'll just tell them Too Bad, wouldn't have to take these measures if they wouldn't keep crapping up their machines… Have a fantastic holiday season, thanks so much for your help… Bob

And the Best to You and Yours, for a wonderful Holiday season!