CD not being detected in My Computer

Have you gone in to device manager to check the status of the optical drive?

Darn it…! Well, there is a yellow exclamation mark and under Properties it said: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39). Under the Driver's tab, the file "C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\PxHelp20.sys" seems to be missing. What should I do?

You can most likely skip the first part and go to the part where you remove the upper and lower filters.
What has happened is that one of Microsofts updates include a hardware filter so that devices that are not compatable with XP (and Vista) do not cause a stop error (blue screen).
In some cases the filters stop devices that it should not and they need to be removed.

Let's have you uninstall the DVD-Drive and then have you reboot and let windows reinstall the drivers for it. To do this, do the following:

• Go to START–>RUN and type devmgmt.msc
• In the new window that appears, click the + symbol next to CD/DVD-ROM Drives.
• Locate the drive in question and right-click it and choose UNINSTALL.
• Once it's finishing uninstalling, reboot your computer.

Once it's rebooted, try putting a DVD in it again and see if the same thing happens.

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If after rebooting you are still having problems, try the following:

Click Start then Run and type regedit…click "Ok"

In the left pane, expand (click +) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then SYSTEM, then CurrentControlSet, then Control, then Class, and click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Right click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and choose Export. Name this file "filters" and save it to your desktop. This file can be deleted when it is determined it is no longer needed.

In the right pane, if either UpperFilters or LowerFilters are present, right click on it and choose Delete…accept the deletion. Delete both if they are both present.

Close Registry Editor and reboot.

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If after doing that your drive still doesn't show up, please download CDGone from HERE. Once it's downloaded, extract the files to your desktop and open the READ ME FIRST.TXT file and follow the instructions there.

Post back with how things are going after doing the above.

You can most likely skip the first part and go to the part where you remove the upper and lower filters.

Let's have you uninstall the DVD-Drive and then have you reboot and let windows reinstall the drivers for it. To do this, do the following:

• Go to START–>RUN and type devmgmt.msc
• In the new window that appears, click the + symbol next to CD/DVD-ROM Drives.
• Locate the drive in question and right-click it and choose UNINSTALL.
• Once it's finishing uninstalling, reboot your computer.

Once it's rebooted, try putting a DVD in it again and see if the same thing happens.

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HFCG, so are you saying it's alright to perform the first step first? Just out of curiosity. I just wanted to make sure, so nothing messes up.
Thanks.

I'll try the first step first and see how it goes and report back.
Edit: There was still an error icon, so I'll try the second step.
The lower filter (data) is listed as "PxHelp20".
The Upper filter (data) is listed as "GEARAspiWDM".

So after I deleted the two keys and reboot, I can insert a CD to see if it works?

Yes, after you reboot. The driver will need to load and the filters will not be there to block the driver from loading

Your a great help HFCG. Thanks a lot. It was resolved with the second step. - But just one question: Is it normal for the "Lowerfilter" and "UpperFilter" not to appear after this in regedit?

It is normal for the filters not to show, as they are gone. When you exported them a back up was made so that they can be replaced if needed. They are not needed! I am happy that the issue is resolved

Microsofts updates include a hardware filter so that devices that are not compatable with XP (and Vista) do not cause a stop error (blue screen). In some cases the filters stop devices that it should not and they need to be removed.

Ah, so basically all this filter stuff was unnecessary. So Microsoft Updates included a filter that is incompatible with XP. So it was supposed to cause a BSOD, but it did not?

No, Some old HARDWARE is not compatable with XP and would cause a blue screen. So the filters block the drivers that would conflict with XP from loading. Some times the filters block all of the drivers from loading, even the good ones.

I understand, so removing these filters would load the drivers then. The main point of the filters is to prevent a BSOD. Thanks HFCG. : D