My CD drives aren't working

[DanTheManPR]

So I pop in my halo play disk, and nothing happens. I open it through the start menu, and it says it can't read the CD. I open up my computer, and I see that all my CD drives have disappeared. I rebooted the computer several times, looked at it in safe mode, ran anti-viruses etc., to no avail. Made sure the BIOS settings were right. Normally it just auto-detects that there are CD drives, but this time it says "unknown device" for both of them. I went through the add hardware wizard, and it says that the drivers are installed for both the drives, but that windows can't detect them. What’s going on?

[RHooks]

Looked inside to make sure cable isn't loose? Open up BIOS setup and see if they are listed along with hard drive. Assuming they are IDE drives.

[Tavo]

Open your case and wiggle the cables a bit. Make sure they are connected properly by pressing the connector against the CD cable entrance. If that doesn't work, try using different cables if you have any at hand.

[DanTheManPR]

I wiggled the cables, didn't work. The BIOS seems to be able to read them. I'm going to see if a boot disk lets me access them.

[DanTheManPR]

Scratch that - my floppy drive isn't working either! I tried a boot disk, but it kept giving me an I/O error. In windows, I tried to access several floppies, but it said the were all unformated. I tried formatting one, but it gave me an error message that said it couldn't format the floppy. Seems like a strange conicidence that the floppy wouldn't be working either... and it runs on a seperate cable.

[OldsterHolster]

Wow, that's really strange. I have no idea, but I would suspect the IDE drivers, or circuits, themselves, on the motherboard. Have you tried reinstalling the motherboard drivers? How about disconnecting all the drives except one to see if that one will work, by itself? I wish I could be more helpful. Be sure to keep us informed about what you discover. Edward.

[DanTheManPR]

I uninstalled the DVD drive (which is the master drive), and when I restarted windows, it immediately detected it and tried to install it. However, at the end of the install, it gives me an error:
Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

Still doesn't work, but at least now I know that the computer can see it. Any ideas? (its a Sony ddu1621, BTW. there were no drivers that I could find listed on the main site.)

[Mr. Natural]

Sounds like the drivers are not loading for the devices. Have you had a abnormal shutdown, brownout or power failure recently?
Try checking the event viewer in control panel/administrative tools for clues. (error reports)
Run a full chkdsk.

[DanTheManPR]

Have you had a abnormal shutdown
No abnormal shutdown, however I somtimes the computer doesn't boot

, brownout or power failure recently?
We have constant power faluires. Normaly, Our UPS handels that, but if you rememeber my post not too long, the battery on our UPS died, and in the few days in which were were without it, we had perhapse five or so power losses while the computer was running (as well as countless little spikes and sags in the current).

Try checking the event viewer in control panel/administrative tools for clues. (error reports)
What exactly would I be looking for?

[Mr. Natural]

Check the system and application logs. Look for any warnings with a "!" next to them. Double click to open and read.

[DanTheManPR]

I see alot of:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1524
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 4:38:04 PM
User: MAIN\Daniel
Computer: MAIN
Description:
Windows cannot unload your classes registry file - it is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded when it is no longer in use.



For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

[DanTheManPR]

I took out both the drives, and put in a spare CD-ROM drive I had laying around, and the problem persists. Although the drive does show up in the device manager list, it has the little exclamation point by it and it give the same error message that I got before on the DVD drive:

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

I checked the events log from this boot, and in the system log has the following error messages:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10005
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 6:38:04 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: MAIN
Description:
DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10005
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 6:38:13 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: MAIN
Description:
DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7001
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 6:39:11 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The System Event Notification service depends on the COM+ Event System service which failed to start because of the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.



The application log has:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: EventSystem
Event Category: (50)
Event ID: 4609
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 6:38:04 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The COM+ Event System detected a bad return code during its internal processing. HRESULT was 80070422 from line 44 of d:\nt_qxp\com\com1x\src\events\tier1\eventsystemob j.cpp. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services to report this error.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: VSS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8193
Date: 5/25/2004
Time: 6:38:04 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine CoCreateInstance. hr = 0x80040206.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 57 52 54 57 52 54 49 43 WRTWRTIC
0008: 32 31 31 33 00 00 00 00 2113....
0010: 57 52 54 57 52 54 49 43 WRTWRTIC
0018: 32 30 37 38 00 00 00 00 2078....



I'm going to try to find another IDE cable to try.

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

Yeouch. Some bad mojo there.

1. Have you tried system restore?
2. Have you tried to uninstall the device(s) from the device manager?

[DanTheManPR]

Good news: I got the floppy to work again :D:

I saw from that event log was complaining about the com+ events somethingoranother service. I saw that it was disabled in the services list, so I turned it back on a lo and behold, my floppy drive works again! I don't know why it was disabled (probably me :blush: ). Anyways, Blackviper says that it should be on manual. I better check to see what else I might have turned off...

I booted up from a startup disk and ran the win98 install CD, just to see that the CD drive does in fact work, and the cable isn't screwed up either (I switched cables, to no effect)

[DanTheManPR]

1. Have you tried system restore?
It is disabled
2. Have you tried to uninstall the device(s) from the device manager?
Yep, and that same error message comes back.

[DanTheManPR]

Dang it... now the computer wont boot. It gives me the error:
I/O card parity interrupt at 5000:B997

EDIT: I followed the advice of a guide at pcguide - I took out the modem that I don't use, as well as the floppy (I don't need it for now), and now it boots. I'm using the repair feature on the windows xp CD right now.

[DanTheManPR]

Its working now.