Question

Registry Settings for CD Burner

Asked by: mdcollier

I suppose I loaded some rogue program that messed with my registry settings, but now XP will not recognize my CD as a burner. I've uninstalled iTunes, reinstalled it, tried Registry Mechanic, uninstalled the device, replaced the device; nothing works. I've Google, tinkered, but no silver bullet. I don't even know where to start. I thought that one of these installation programs would straighten out the settings, but to no avail.

Any registry gurus listening?

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Asked On
2009-10-14 at 12:16:22ID24812535
Topics

Personal Computers

,

Windows XP Operating System

,

Hard Drives & Storage

Participating Experts
6
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: petaganayrPosted on 2009-10-14 at 14:33:11ID: 25575496

Use System Restore and go a few days back when your computer CD burner was working fine.

Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.

Good luck!

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-14 at 15:12:55ID: 25575748

This has been going on for much longer than a few days. I kept thinking that the installation of iTunes or a CD Burner program would fix it. Nope. I finally concluded the unit was bad. Nope. I'm at a loss.

 

by: MeretePosted on 2009-10-14 at 22:56:14ID: 25577639

If this is stillopen since the asker has resigned to the fact teh rom is bad.
However all burners require an authoring tool such as Nero or Roxio as 2 examples they will help the rom drive be recognised.
itunes alone will not
So install your bundled software with this rom burner that should fix it

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-10-14 at 23:34:32ID: 25577791

Some programs modify the upperfilters and lowerfilters in the registry, and when you uninstall them they do not restore those settings. That could be what happened in this case.

There is a FixIt tool for vista and also one for XP, from microsoft, in the KB article linked below... see if running the one for XP fixes you up.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

There are directions for manually hacking them out of the registry at the bottom of that article, but please see if the FixIt tool works, first.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 00:31:11ID: 25578096

As per above with reference to upper and lower filters for the optical drives ( CD / DVD drives ) also what error message do you get when trying to use iTunes to burn ?

I think there is another piece of software that you can re install that iTunes uses to burn cd's but if you post back with the error message we can go from there.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2009-10-15 at 01:39:33ID: 25578490

what burning program do you use?   uninstalling / reinstalling it can help

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 10:27:29ID: 25582689

Okay, I installed Nero and it works and so does CDBurnerXP. iTunes is still unhappy with my registry settings. I would attempt to fix this without guidance, but I think this is where I got off the rails to start this whole mess.

There are many references to this issue with iTunes, most of which suggest reinstalling, so I uninstalled, downloaded a fresh copy of the code, and installed. Same problem.

I really appreciate all the time and attention. This problem has been driving me nuts.

 

by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-15 at 10:34:15ID: 25582754

Hi mdcollier

Do you happen to know if your "CD" drive(s) is/are SATA or standard IDE?
IDE connections are the wide grey "ribbon" cables with the connectors being about 2 inches wide, whereas SATA connections use much smaller connectors and have narrow oval cables.  Of course, some IDE cables are round rather than flat, but the connectors are wide.  If you don't know, then if you supply the make and model number we can find out.

There have been some very good suggestions so far for you to work through.
Firstly I suggest that you stop using Registry Mechanic to try and fix this issue or you could mess up your system more.

Here's what I would do:

Copy the text in the Code snippet and paste into Notepad.
Do a File > Save As > and browse to your Desktop.
In the "File Name" field of the Save dialog, type the following file name INCLUDING the " " around the name:

"Show_Hidden_Devices_XP.cmd"

Close Notepad and double-click on the new batch file on your desktop.
Follow what it tells you to do on the screen.

In Device Manager you will now see some "greyed-out" devices.  These may be configured devices that just are not connected, or may be left-over "phantom" devices.

Expand the section "DVD / CD-Rom Drives".

Right-Click each of the drives showing in there, including the greyed out ones, and choose Uninstall.  Do this for ALL of them.

When done, close Device Manager (the "dos" window will close when you do that), and restart your computer.

When the computer has booted fully, open Device Manager again and ensure that it is showing the device(s) under the "DVD / CD-Rom Drives" section.
Right-Click on it/them and choose "Properties".
Under the "General" tab you should be seeing "This device is working properly" under the Status tab, and the "Device usage" field should be showing the drive as "enabled".
Under the "Driver" tab click on "Driver Details".
Click on each of the lines that show there and take note of the path to the driver file and also the details that show in the grey area below when each is clicked on.

CD devices do not require the separate installation of Drivers.  The operating system should provide them.  However, some software will add a driver file that may conflict.

Let us know these things and we can take it from there.

Here's the contents of the batch file to copy and paste into Notepad as described earlier:

 

@echo off
echo.
echo.
echo 	Configuring Device Manager to display phantom devices ...
echo.
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
echo.
echo 	When Device Manager opens, click on the 'View' menu
echo 	and click on 'Show Hidden Devices' to check it.
echo.
echo 	Press any key to open Device Manager...
echo.
pause > nul
devmgmt.msc
exit

                                              
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by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-15 at 10:35:59ID: 25582772

Hmmm.  I see you posted while I was typing.

I know absolutely nothing about iTunes, so that's where I have to excuse myself.

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 10:38:22ID: 25582803

Bill it is an IDE drive. I will immediately uninstall Registry Mechanic and then start working my way through your instructions.

THANK YOU!

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 11:00:10ID: 25583026

Okay, did all of that. iTunes is still not happy with the registry settings.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 11:08:02ID: 25583111

something to do with gear software as per this link ( near the bottom of the page )

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2308

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2372

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1567

Those should get you started

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 11:10:39ID: 25583142

sorry to make a third post but just to make sure you have quit itunes completely before removing and re installing gears software as per steps from the very fist link ( apple support knowledge base link that is ) that I posted, steps below

Solution 3

   1. Quit iTunes.
   2. Manually remove the GEAR driver software using the steps found here.
   3. Remove any stand alone GEAR software installers from the Programs and Features control panel, if present.
   4. Install the updated GEAR driver.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 11:11:25ID: 25583152

The only other option I can think of is to download the latest version of chipset / ide / sata drivers for your computer and ensure those are up to date.

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 11:40:48ID: 25583452

iTunes loves me again! What is gears and do I have to reinstall it?

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 11:43:07ID: 25583474

What did you do to fix it then ?

Gears is the software that itunes uses to do burning of cds / discs etc - i never really looked into it I just un installed and re installed as per the guide on one system I had problems with and it fixed it ( easier way is to un install and re download latest version of itunes as you already tried )

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 11:48:18ID: 25583520

I uninstalled Gears, but did not reinstall it.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 12:07:25ID: 25583665

According to that you should but not sure how it is burning otherwise unless its using nero or windows burning or something ( not sure )

 

by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-15 at 12:16:38ID: 25583761

As gecko has mentioned, these utilities or applications use some kind of CD-Burning "plugin", and often these conflict with each other.

Although not immediately pertinent to your current issues, you may find this other question interesting reading:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Q_24765799.html
It can be a real annoyance.  That question is only informational.  DON'T try any of the suggestions in it.

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 12:20:57ID: 25583802

Well, this is unexpected. Now my blank canvas gmail signatures isn't working? Did I get carried away deleting gears keys in the registry? I downloaded and installed Google Gears, but to no avail. How could this be related?

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 12:32:14ID: 31641276

Sticky problem. Walked me through it step by step. Outstanding assistance!

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 12:43:08ID: 25583996

you can set signatures in settings / preferences in gmail itself unless you have your own email client ?

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 12:44:59ID: 25584016

Not sure if I did mention the conflicting part or not but thanks for reading my mind *grins* :D

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 13:07:54ID: 25584299

The Blank Canvas is cool because it allow you to use HTML. Found a different program called WiseStamp I actually like better. Dunno why Blank Canvas stopped working, but whatever.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-15 at 14:02:58ID: 25584880

One thing gets fixed another breaks - not sure if its a windows thing or what but I always found it the way with computers.

Maybe thats just me lol

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 14:39:43ID: 25585193

And serendipity. I like TimeStamp much better than Blank Canvas. But I was at my wit's end with the CD issue. Thanks!!

 

by: mdcollierPosted on 2009-10-15 at 14:56:09ID: 25585324

Check that. It's called WiseStamp. Works with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL. Very nice.

 

by: gecko_au2003Posted on 2009-10-16 at 00:25:35ID: 25587523

I don't use email clients to be honest I just open a web browser and go to my gmail or gmx email account and can set signatures that way and I use OS X 10.6 ( Apples latest os ) which I saw on the BBC news some people having issues with data loss with regards to the guest account which I don't use but have updated to latest revision / patches.

MIght use that on a virtual machine just to see what its like though - thanks for the suggestion :D

Glad you got your problem sorted

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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