XP not recognizing DVD drives

[aracadag]

A couple weeks ago, my CD drives stopped working.

My specs:
Dell 8400
P4 3.0ghz HT
1GB DDR2 RAM
ATI 128MB X800 GTO

My Drives:
NEC DVD+RW ND-2100AD
Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616E

I looked at my Device Manager and it says:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device.

I tried troubleshooting and I can't find the drivers for these devices.

Why would they suddenly stop working? The latest thing I've installed is Registry Mechanic, about a month ago. The last time I used either of my DVD drives, I ripped a music CD onto my computer.

Help please

Thanks
Aracadag

 

[roadrunner197069]

Try system restore or system repair.

 

[newflash]

From Microsoft

Step 1: Start Registry Editor
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor starts.
Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click UpperFilters.

Note An UpperFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the UpperFilters registry entry, you must click UpperFilters and not UpperFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the UpperFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The UpperFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.

Note Do not exit Registry Editor. You must have this program for the next step.
Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click LowerFilters.

Note An LowerFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the LowerFilters registry entry, you must click LowerFilters and not LowerFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the LowerFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The LowerFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.
8. Exit Registry Editor.
Step 4: Restart the computer
If a CD recording program no longer works after you restart the computer, you must reinstall the CD recording program.

 

[KR9141]

I had the same problem about 2 years ago and it nearly drove me crazy. The above solution from Microsoft did not solve the problem.

Here is what worked:
Unplug everything connected to the DVD-ROM. Then reboot and let Windows XP redetect and install
the drivers for your DVD R/W drive. Once you get that working you might want to go online and download
the latest drivers from the maker's website, or a service like DriverAgent.com . Once you get this working you can reconnect your DVD-ROM and again download the drivers.

Apparently, Windows XP cannot properly autodetect and activate a DVD-R/W and a DVD-ROM on the same
IDE cable. You might have to put them on separate IDE cables or buy a disc controller card to keep them separated. I'm not using my DVD-ROM drive, so I'm not sure you can get both of them working as master and slave drives on a single IDE cable.

KR

 

[ZOldDude]

If you have a program like DT or YASU and told it to hide the ROM...fix it.

If you tell the device manager to UNINSTALL,reboot and then tell it to REINSTALL and it still does not work then:
1)The ROM drive has died.
2)The OS is corrupted (do a repair install).
3)The MB is faulty (old) and near it's end of life.

Being a Dell (and P4) it was built years ago with the cheapest low end parts to start with.