DVD drive disappears, Windows 7
My DVD drive is behaving strangely - it usually appears in My Computer on start up and can be used, but then it vanishes and needs a reboot. It never lasts longer than a few minutes. Some information straight off:
1. The drive is a Samsung SH-B123L.
2. There is a yellow exclamation mark in the device manager, and the Properties tell me "This device cannot start (code 10)".
3. The drive shows up fine in the BIOS.
4. The drive door opens and closes as expected, even when not recognised by Windows.
Some possible solutions that I have tried but do not work:
1. Removing upperlimit and lowerlimit registry entries at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
2. Replacing the data cable - had no effect.
3. Updating the drive's firmware - the drive is not recognized for long enough to allow the update.
4. I have ignored the error too long now to be able to use system restore (only now do I need the drive to work again).
5. Before the drive disappears and I can still see it in device manager, I have tried uninstalling it and scanning for hardware, but it is not then found.
Though the temptation is to think the drive is dying, please note it is less than a year old and does seem to be fine when the machine is starting up, but there appears to be some conflict with Windows 7 that is screwing it up.
I'm out of ideas, so any suggestions beyond those above will be very gratefully received.
*EDIT I meant UpperFilters and LowerFilters, not upperlimit and lowerlimit.
1. The drive is a Samsung SH-B123L.
2. There is a yellow exclamation mark in the device manager, and the Properties tell me "This device cannot start (code 10)".
3. The drive shows up fine in the BIOS.
4. The drive door opens and closes as expected, even when not recognised by Windows.
Some possible solutions that I have tried but do not work:
1. Removing upperlimit and lowerlimit registry entries at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
2. Replacing the data cable - had no effect.
3. Updating the drive's firmware - the drive is not recognized for long enough to allow the update.
4. I have ignored the error too long now to be able to use system restore (only now do I need the drive to work again).
5. Before the drive disappears and I can still see it in device manager, I have tried uninstalling it and scanning for hardware, but it is not then found.
Though the temptation is to think the drive is dying, please note it is less than a year old and does seem to be fine when the machine is starting up, but there appears to be some conflict with Windows 7 that is screwing it up.
I'm out of ideas, so any suggestions beyond those above will be very gratefully received.
*EDIT I meant UpperFilters and LowerFilters, not upperlimit and lowerlimit.
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I did replace the cable as I said in the original post. I did not however put the new cable into a different socket on the motherboard. I will try that once I have tried the Ubuntu suggestion.
Don't know if you can try this: put your drive in another computer and try it there.
ASKER
No, I only have one computer.
Right, I ran Ubuntu off a USB drive, and it did not recognise the DVD drive so it must presumably be a hardware issue.
I then swapped the data cable to another socket on the motherboard and odd things happened. First, Windows told me it was installing drivers for the DVD drive, and after a little while it said it was successful, and a reboot was required. I rebooted, and tried to put a disc in...and the machine suddenly started running a process called 'nTuneCmd.exe', which apparently is something to do with Nvidia motherboard tweaking. Why that is running when I have an Asus motherboard I have absolutely no idea.
Ultimately the machine crashed at this point, so I restarted it - the DVD drive is still in the BIOS - and Windows now is back to where it was, not recognising the drive, not running anything strange, no DVD drive in the device manager etc. And I've checked to be sure and there's still no sign of UpperFilters and LowerFilters in the registry.
Any other ideas? Or does it sound like the drive is dying? It seems very unlikely it would have died after less than a year, but i suppose it does happen. I just don't get why it's fine in the BIOS but not anywhere else.
Right, I ran Ubuntu off a USB drive, and it did not recognise the DVD drive so it must presumably be a hardware issue.
I then swapped the data cable to another socket on the motherboard and odd things happened. First, Windows told me it was installing drivers for the DVD drive, and after a little while it said it was successful, and a reboot was required. I rebooted, and tried to put a disc in...and the machine suddenly started running a process called 'nTuneCmd.exe', which apparently is something to do with Nvidia motherboard tweaking. Why that is running when I have an Asus motherboard I have absolutely no idea.
Ultimately the machine crashed at this point, so I restarted it - the DVD drive is still in the BIOS - and Windows now is back to where it was, not recognising the drive, not running anything strange, no DVD drive in the device manager etc. And I've checked to be sure and there's still no sign of UpperFilters and LowerFilters in the registry.
Any other ideas? Or does it sound like the drive is dying? It seems very unlikely it would have died after less than a year, but i suppose it does happen. I just don't get why it's fine in the BIOS but not anywhere else.
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Finally the only solution was to buy a new drive, external to make my life easier. I guess it really was simply a knackered drive.
I've shared the points out equally, I hope that's alright for everyone.
I've shared the points out equally, I hope that's alright for everyone.
Thanks for your feedback and splitting the points :) Glad to hear you're in business again...
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