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Author Topic: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you  (Read 2221 times)

essex2visuvesi

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A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« on: September 07, 2012, 10:32:01 am »

At home we have an old Windows Xp machine in the kids "Den" which is used for watching DVDs, light internet etc.

Now here is the problem.  When we put in a DVD windows shows the DVD but cannot see that there is a disc inserted.
A bit of history
When I first noticed this I assumed it had failed due to old age, I went out and got a new DVD drive... this did the same thing
I tested both new and old drives in another PC and they both work fine.
I tried a USB DVD drive I have and that does the same thing (Shows in explorer but you can't open it)
Checked in the Bios Setting and Drive is detected.
All very confusing
To add to the confusion if I insert a bootable CD/DVD in the drive (Windows XP install disc) it runs and starts the install process.

I have nosed around on the internet and tried the following:-
Uninstall DVD drive and reinstall via device manager
Microsoft DVD fix it
Registry hack for the upper and lower filter issue.

Anyone else have any other ideas?  I really dont fancy reinstalling the Operating system as there's a huge amount of games and saves on the hard drive, (and the loss of said saved games is unacceptable to the little people lol)
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Martin (Admin)

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essex2visuvesi

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2012, 11:16:39 am »

Thanks for the links Martin I'll give them a try but I don't hold out much hope.... The drive will not open at the command prompt, windows exploder or file mangler

I'll report back tonight
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malcolmfrary

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2012, 01:09:32 pm »

What kind of DVD is it failing to open?  Thinking in terms of something daft happening with regional settings.  Then theres always the old standby excuse of seeking manufacturers drivers for the particular drive.  Is it just one particular DVD or many?  Movie or data?
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2012, 03:53:31 pm »

Its not just DVDs its audio CDs as well.... in fact any disc

Funny thing is the same discs will work in the drive if I connect it to another PC

For example the XP install cd works on the computer if I boot from it via the bios

Remove the drive from the computer and connect it to another and it works fine and can be opened in windows
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malcolmfrary

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2012, 08:55:43 pm »

So it begins to look like something has messed itself up in the registry, or one of the bits that writes to the registry.  Is it possible to revert to a date before the problem was noticed?
Lacking any real formal expertise, I usually resort to asking goggle.  Quite often, somebody else has experienced the same problem - sometimes there is an answer down the thread, sometimes one of the answers works.

Another silly question. Does it appear in Admin tools/computer management/storage/disk management?
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2012, 10:26:53 pm »


Another silly question. Does it appear in Admin tools/computer management/storage/disk management?

Yep it does... that's why it was so perplexing.

Well in case any of you are interested we solved the problem quite simply in the end.

turned out to be a dodgy EIDE ribbon cable.... changed it for another and it is now working fine in XP.  It was very odd as the drive was working with the old cable when booting direct from the CD and also with the Windows 7 test partition we installed on it. but discarded as it ran too slowly.
The other odd thing was that the USB dvd drive did the same thing

I have been working It since the mid 80s and computers never cease to amaze me with their little issues
Well the kids are happy and so am I as it was really stating to bug me
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malcolmfrary

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2012, 09:38:53 am »

As a wise man once said to me when I was an apprentice "Get as technical as you like, but look for the broken wires first"
I would never have thought of that.
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2012, 10:30:18 am »

As a wise man once said to me when I was an apprentice "Get as technical as you like, but look for the broken wires first"
I would never have thought of that.

I know but what had me fumoxed was the fact that it would boot from the CD and start doing the XP install (obviously I stopped it before it got too far lol) so I discounted a wiring issue.  I have to thank my wife for the suggestion.... She said "well you've tried everything else what harm can it do?"
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mook

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Re: A problemn for the IT bods amongst you
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2012, 07:39:48 pm »

Well done on getting it sorted :-))
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