# CD/DVD drivers missing or corrupt?



## dsabol (Dec 6, 2006)

On my fiance's computer, the DVD and CD drives suddenly don't work. The last thing he remembers doing (several months ago) was installing a copy of Easy CD Creator.

First the system specifics:
Windows XP Pro
Ver 2002, sp 2
pentium III, 128 MB ram

The reference to the CD-ROM in device mgr is "IDE-CD R/RW 8X4X32" but I don't know the mfr.
The reference to the DVD drive indicates that it is listed as a Pioneer in the device mgr ("PIONEER DVD ROM DVD-115"")

He told me the other day they were "gone". When I put a CD in the CD-ROM, it spins it and the drive lights up, but it doesn't launch anything. The drives aren't visible in the directories. I tried to use the system restore disk, but it didn't work. I accidentally rebooted the PC with the restore disk in the CD-ROM drive and it went to the screen asking if I wanted to boot from the system restore disk or the harddrive...does that mean it read it? I didn't try the restore disk at that point. I removed it and selected hard drive.

In the device mgr I uninstalled the device and used the install hardware wizard to reinstall it (I only tried this on the CD-ROM drive, so far). It acted like it just saw a new plug n play device and it "installed" the drivers. BUT when I go back to device mgr, the drive is back in the device list BUT still has the little exclamation point and it still says "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupt or missing".

That was interesting, so I searched the internet for the driver, using the same "name" it's listed with in the device mgr. I stumbled upon a program called Driver Guide Toolkit. SUPPOSEDLY it was supposed to be able to find my device and help me locate an appropriate driver. It couldn't find my device after I installed it. I guess because it's driver is supposedly missing? Who knows. The interesting thing about this is, when I loaded the program and tried to access it, I started getting Easy CD Creator configuration/install dialogs. Which, you'll remember, is the "last thing" that was done before this all happened. Of course, it put me in a dialog where it wanted me to put the CD in the drive.  
It also got stuck in a short loop where it tried to "install" or configure the Easy CD about 4-5 times before it gave up with the dialogs.

The current driver info on the CD-ROM is "Microsoft", driver date 7/1/2001, version: 5.1.2535.0.

This is the one that was installed when I reinstalled the device. I tried to search for this on Microsoft's site but when I searched for the version #, above, I found an article referencing a module in Word, instead....

What should my next step be?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Fix for missing DVD/CD drives.

Create a text file with NOTEPAD containing the following data exactly as below and name it FIXCD.REG
You should have 3 boxes on the bottom in NOTEPAD.
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 file 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 --------------------------------


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## melinaki (Apr 20, 2007)

hi
Does this answer apply to any such case?

I have windows vista. I installed DVD43, and right after, my dvd drive disappeared!
I get error saying driver is missing or corrupted.

Its a Mat****a DVD RAM UJ-850s
The driver (microsoft): 6.0.6000.16386
When I click to update driver, it tells me it is already up to date.

Help!
:-D


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I know that Vista has the filters, but I can't honestly say they're in the exact same place in the registry.

Here's a MS-KB article for Vista beta 2, which I'm certain is the same as the released version: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320553/


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## nahon (May 4, 2008)

JohnWill
I like to express my gratitude for supplying this perfect solution.
I had a similar WinXP problem as described in this forum entry and as a non member stumbled on the answer via web search. I applied the file as described , rebooted and got my two DVD CD drives back straight away. Brilliant.
I have now looged into your forum as a user. regards Nahon


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## jfreg (Jun 15, 2008)

Just writing to say thanks for the fix. I've been trying all afternoon to find a driver download to fix the exact same problem, with no luck. Creating the file in notepad did the trick. Just to clarify, for anyone who may have been slightly confused by the procedure, as I was:

Open Notepad

Copy and paste the text given above into Notepad

Click "save as" and save the file to your desktop, or "My Documents" making sure to name the file "fixcd.reg" to save it as "all files" instead of as text, and be sure it is saved as ANSI. All of those options are in the "Save As" dialog box

After the file is saved, find it and click on it. Your machine will automatically know what to do with it, and pop up a dialog box, asking if you want to add the file to the registry. Click yes, and your driver problem is solved.

Thanks again


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## HERBSCH (Jun 17, 2008)

Hello

I have the same problem as dsabol. My cd and dvd don't work. The last thing I remember was also attempting to install Roxio7 Easy Cd Creator. I completed the procedure given by jfreg, but when I get to the second paragraph of his post when I click on the file, the computer does not seem to know what top do because I get the message "THE FILE DOES NOT HAVE A PROGRAM ASSOCIATED WITH IT. CREATE AN ASSOCIATION IN THE FOLDER OPTIONS CONTROL PANAL" Can some one please tell me how to do this. I don't know much about computers so please give me simple steps. I have Windows XP home on a pentium 4 1.4

Thanks


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## jfreg (Jun 15, 2008)

I'm by no means any sort of expert, but the procedure given by JohnWill worked for me. The machine I fixed was also running XP, but I have no idea what caused the problem with the DVD driver. I would try the procedure again, and be careful to follow every step precisely.

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy the following:

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]

3. Paste text, above, into Notepad
4. Click, File, Save As, in Notepad
5. A dialog box will pop up, and there will be 3 smaller boxes within it, giving options for how to save the file
6. The first box labeled "File Name." Enter the name " fixcd.reg" but be sure to leave off the quotation marks I've included here
7. The next box is labeled "Save As Type". You will have two options for saving the file: as a TEXT file, or as "All Files." Click the little arrow at the right side of the box and select "All Files".
8. The third box is labeled "Encoding," and will likely show the word ANSI, which is what you want. If it doesn't show ANSI, click the arrow on the right to select ANSI from the drop down list.
9. Save the file. I saved it to "My Documents," but I'll bet it works regardless of where you save it.
10. Now, find the file and open it. When I did that, a dialog box popped up asking if I wanted to make a change to the registry. I clicked "Yes" and the little program automatically made a change to the registry, solving my driver problem immediately. The CD/DVD drive had not been showing up in the list of drives in "MY Computer," but it appeared and worked after I followed the procedure above.

Good luck. I hope these very detailed directions help.


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## HERBSCH (Jun 17, 2008)

Thanks for your reply

I tried it again and followed the steps you gave. When I go to open the file that I saved to "My Documents" I am still getting the message "The file does not have a program associted with it. Create an association in the Folder Options Control Panal". I don't know how to do this.


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## jfreg (Jun 15, 2008)

From what I gather, the text that JohnWill provided is a little program that should automatically make the necessary changes to the registry of your machine. The filename, "fixcd.reg," lets your machine know that there is a program saved in the file. That's why it is important that the file be saved as type "All Files," because if it were saved as a text file, the name, "fixcd.reg," would be followed by ".txt" and your machine wouldn't recognize that as a program, and wouldn't do anything with the program contained in the file.

From the error message, it sounds like your machine is recognizing that the file should contain a program, but it is not finding the program for some reason. I have no idea how to create an association if the Folder Options Control Panel, so all I can suggest is that you try it again. Maybe copy the text directly from JohnWill's post, be sure not to copy any unintended characters, and try saving the file to your desktop, or somewhere else this time. Be positive that everything is copied into Notepad exactly as JohnWill posted. Any slight change at all could keep the program from running. 

Sorry, that's the best I can offer.


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## HERBSCH (Jun 17, 2008)

I searched some more on the internet and found that this problem can be caused by trying to remove Roxio in my case version 6. I was trying to uninstall version 6 because I thought it was coruptted because I can no longer burn Data DVD's .It treats them as 4.7 G cd's. I still have this problem. I also wanted to install Roxio 7.5 and leave 6 installed until I was sure 7.5 worked. I wanted to install Roxio 7.5 because when I wanted to Install antivirus AVG 8 (I think that is the correct latest version 7.5 will no longer be supportted) , a message came up saying there would be problems if Roxio 6 was installed.
However back to the CD and DVD drivers being missing. I came across a fixed from Microsoft for this problem. For anyone else with this problem go to
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060
Download the "Guided Help" for this problem and when asked agree to let Microsoft fix the problem while you watch. This is one of may fixes that I came across on the internet and tried but the others did not work, so I was surprised that this worked but unfortunately I did not record all the steps in detail.
Hope this helps someone else.
Now I have to get Roxio to recognize the DVD as a Dvd


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## combsdon (Jan 4, 2001)

John,

I tried your advice as I too lost my CD drive, but it didn't work. Any other suggestions?

thanks,

don


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## rwjbuy (Jul 1, 2008)

A BIG thank you to JohnWill for this solution. It worked like a charm!

Thanks again!

rwjbuy


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## Super-D-38 (Apr 25, 2002)

Ah ha!! TSG you have saved my butt yet again. 
Many thousands of thanks JohnWill, :up:

Thank god for search too. 

Lost my drives after a crash, when trying to update my audio drivers. 
They are back, yay! 

This post/solution is so a candidate for a sticky.  Very useful. :up: :up:


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