DVD burner problem

Just found out recently that my DVD burner doesn't read or even recognize DVDs at all. However It can read data and music CDs. Device manager shows driver is ok, not ?, ! , or unknow hardware. I Uninstalled then reinstalled Nero, but no use. Is it dead ? Your help is appreciated. Thanks

Hello sumguy,

Which version of Nero are you using?
Are you having difficulty displaying and managing purchased DVDs or just those created by Nero?

Device manager shows driver is ok, not ?, ! , or unknow hardware.

The quoted part of your question suggests that some features of your DVD unit may not be correctly installed.
Separate and apart from Nero software, DVD drives ordinarily come with software to enable their DVD reading/displaying functionality. (for instance PowerDVD and others) Have you installed such DVD related software?

Is your DVD burner a new installation that has never worked properly?
Or did it work previously and how has stopped handling DVDs?

We may be able to offer some assistance, if you provide a bit more information about your situation.

Best Regards

hi, thank you for your reply. I am using nero express 6.6 It is not a new burner. It used to work before but havent used on it for long time. It came with PowerDVD. I went to the settings in PowerDVD and restored all default, but no gain. Stupid me, I went ahead and uninstalled PowerDVD, and thought I would reinstall it again. Unfortunately the burner didnt read the data disc anymore. Tried music CD and didnt work either.. so it is pretty much dead now/ I went ahead and uninstalled the driver from device manager. Rebooted machine and it recognized it right away and installed the same old driver. Tried to play anything on it, but it doesnt play anything at all right now.. is it toast ? Thanks for the help

Greetings Sumguy:

Lets see if we can pull the rabbit out of the hat.

First you need to verify if the Drive in question is enumerated in the BIOS. If it appears there, the odds are good that the drive is fine but Windows the OS has lost track of it.

Next go to the device manager of Windows and find out if the device is present and if present is it reporting as working properly. (That would be in the properties of the device). Note if there are any errors if not working properly according to Windows the OS.

Windows as a rule gives up control of CD/DVD's to third party software. If that software is removed Windows doesnt always take control back. In a way its like it was never told it should now take it back. Aint my job!


Two fixes I know of for the common reasons of drives not showing up or working properly requires some deletions and/or some registry editing.

One is to delete the secondary ide channel from Device manager, reboot and let Windows find the channel and drives again.

The other fix requires editing the Registry.

So before taking on any registry editing, I would suggest you make a back up using a tool called ERUNT. Here is a link to this tool plus a tutorial.

ERUNT TUTORIAL

I again caution that this is a registry edit and its still your computer and the risk is your own. Should a mistake be made, you will have the registry backup to put you back before the fix.

Please read through before doing.

Fix for missing DVD/CD drives.

Create a text file with NOTEPAD and copy and paste containing the following data exactly as below and SAVE AS FIXCD.REG to your desktop.

You should see 3 boxes on the bottom in NOTEPAD before you ok it to be saved.
1)Filename : fixcd.reg
2)Save as type: all files
3)Encoding: ANSI

If you do not change it from txt type to All files type, then the file will actually be fixcd.reg.txt, this won't accomplish
the desired result

Double click on the FixCD file you just created from off your desktop and say yes to the merge into registry question.

———————– Use text after this line, contents of FIXCD.REG ————————

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]
"UpperFilters"=-
"LowerFilters"=-

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdr4_2K]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdralw2k]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdudf]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UdfReadr]

—————————— Use text before this line ——————————–

Re-boot computer.

See if cd/dvd function works.

Regards

Kaz.

Thank you so much for your reply. Unfortunately my findings are all negative - BIOS has the DVD defined correctly - In Device Manager i deleted the floppy driver and restarted computer and problem is not solved - In BIOS i disabled the floppy, then restarted and problem not solved - I added the new registry and no gain either by no gain, i mean the burner didnt even recognize music or data CDs. it is so sad

Hey Sumguy, You are describing "floppy drive". But your problem is CD/DVD "Optical" Drive. hmmm. May want to backtrack and check again. Best Regards

kazzoo recommended 2 ways to fix the problem. The first one was to delete the 2ndry ide in device manager. I assumed this is the floppy disk driver.. and so i removed it from device manager, and even disabled it from BIOS, but had no gain. ok..i opened the box which is Dell, and found that the hard drive is Sata and the Burner is pluged in the Pri IDE.. so should i be looking for "primary IDE" in the device manager and uninstall it ? updates: in the device manager there were 2 primary IDE channels. Removed one and restarted computer, no gain. Removed the other , restarted computer no gain.. XP was able to detect them again and reinstalled their drivers.. Thanks

I went ahead and uninstalled the driver from device manager. Rebooted machine and it recognized it right away and installed the same old driver. Tried to play anything on it, but it doesnt play anything at all right now.. is it toast ?

Seems like you have followed the correct course of investigation.

You mention this DVD unit is "older" and has worked before.
You mention it is on the Primary IDE channel.

That's fine………. but

Have you "changed" the physical installation?
For instance:

If the DVD unit was previously installed in another machine, and you've installed it into this present machine…
1. It was probably installed as "slave" or "cable-select" in the previous machine.
2. It sounds like it is presently installed in the "master" position on the Primary IDE channel Ribbon.

That circumstance would require that you change the "Jumper Pin" settings on the DVD unit to set for "master".

If the above doesn't apply, please ignore.

But do keep us posted with your progress.

Doug

Hi Doug, Thank you for your continuous help. I found the jumper was set on cable select, so I changed it to master since the burnder is the only device on that cable. Rebooted but unfortunately yet no luck