Hello PC Guide Experts,

Man, Is my brain hurting after all I have been through!

Okay, here goes, My problem first started when I read on a website that, if I go to adaptec and download the latest ASPI update files, that it would make my CD/RW run better and help with buffer underrun and something about helping file layers, etc.,etc.

Well, I downloaded the latest updates and then after I did that it came with an executable called ASPI checker, I used the checker and it said that all files were installed properly and ready for operation!

After that I went to "Desktop, then My Computer and to my surprise my D drive letter, which is normally my CD/RW was completely missing, I had no way of accessing it! I then tried rebooting my pc and when I went back to My Computer it was still gone!

Well then I tried pressing the Open/Close button on the front of the drive and it did not respond. After that I right clicked on My Computer and clicked the properties tab and clicked the device manager tab and inside dev mngr it no longer has a listing for my CD/RW!

After that I read on the web that there are several, several different versions of ASPI file updates that you can download so I thought I had the wrong one and then I downloaded at least two others, but still my CD/RW was missing?

Oh and by the way I have an ACER 10x4x32 CD/RW(model 1032A I think) It has an IDE interface.
Well, as I researched my problems, I read on another site that, usually drives like mine that are IDE compatible, usually need no software for installation because the pc will automatically detect it on startup and HERES THE KILLER PART, It said that if you download any ASPI updates with that kind of CD/RW your pc will lose its ability to communicate with the CD/RW!!!


Well then a guy on a message board told me to try going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Class and deleting the upper and lower filters.That didnt help so I changed it back like it was. I read tons of different advice and tried many of them all to no avail.

My wife found something about altering Config.SYS and AUTOEXEC.Bat and she did that and it still didnt help.

The way my PC is configured from my local pc builder store is, I have my C drive(hard disc) as the primary master, nothing as the primary slave, CD/RW as the secondary master and DVD rom 10x as my secondary slave. Also I have your average floppy drive.

Well, when the pc first boots up it shows the hard disc as the Primary Master, Primary Slave/NONE, Secondary Master/NONE, Secondary slave DVD rom. It used to show my CD/RW as the Secondary Master!

I have even tried reinstalling windows 98se to no avail. My Computer store guy did not give me the original CD that windows98se comes on, instead he left a copy of it on my hard drive. When I try to reinstall it I have to do it from there.

When I try reinstall I get a Fatal Exception OE has occurred at 0028:C02BB3D8 in VXD IFSMGR(04) +00012AEC.

Here is a small list of some of the other errors I keep getting frequently, I just cant remember exactly when and where each message has happened;

1.CDR101: Not ready reading drive E
2.No Valid CD-ROM device drivers selected, Device driver not found IDECD000
3.Volume in drive A has no label, Volume serial number is 2c24-9201, Directory of A:\ File not found

Lastly, after downloading the ASPI updates I noticed that it placed them in C drive in a folder called Adaptec. I wasnt sure if I already had that folder before I downloaded those updates, so I even tried deleting that whole folder and extracting my original windows files from cabs and putting them in their proper places, but that did not help either. Oh yeah and also 1 of about every five times I boot the PC it will recognize the CD/RW as the Secondary slave(like it is supposed to) and during one of those times my wife put a cd in the drive and it stayed in there for 5 or 6 more reboots before we could finally eject it and when we did it was MELTED!(slightly) Also when feeling of the outside of the CD/RW it feels very hot!


Sorry for the loooong explanation,

Thank you,

One more thing I forgot about, I found a floppy disc in my floppy storage case that said "CD-ReWriter DEVICE DRIVER" V2.14 Run Setup from DOS command line to install. What? I thought these kind of drives didnt need software to be detected? Well, anyhow, I tried to install it and it gave me 2 choices, Hit enter for Auto install or C for advanced install. Well. I tried Auto install and it now shows D-drive in My computer, but doesnt show up in Device manager! I then tried advanced install, but did not know what to do!


Thanx,

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This is not sounding good. The hot drive is particularly worrisome. I am concerned that after all you have done, you may have a lot more of a problem than can be easily sorted out.

If I were in this situation, I would seriously consider either buying a new copy of Windoze and installing it or I would contact the computer store that sold me the system and insist that they provide Windoze since that whole Windoze on the hard drive is such a lousy deal (this would depend on the store and the type of agreements made in buying the system). You could try wiping the majority of the drive and then try a reinstall, but I suspect your install files are corrupted.

I would also start looking for a new CDRW. There are lots of good deals on really fast drives these days. I have seen the Cendyne on sale about every other week for $20 after rebates and it is a highly rated drive. There are any number of other good deals out there too. You will probably need to reinstall Windoze before it will work however....

Noone has mentioned the following and it may be worth a try or at least won't hurt (much): :o

A: Disconnect your CD-RW. Uninstall any and all 'Adaptec' software (Good luck, it ain't easy sometimes). There may be more than one as with NERO the 'IN-CD' (for CD-RW's) and 'NERO burning Rom' (for CD-R's) are seperate. Reboot. Power down.

B: Reinstall the burner and boot again. If Windows sees it (with Atapi drivers) and it will play a CD (data or music) of any type you're in. Reinstall the original software for the burner and hopefully it will work.

C: Put up with an occasional coaster. It's what Acrapdeck does best...

If none of this works, well it's time to get a new CD burner. The Cendyne comes with NERO :)

Ted,

Well, I tried your advice but it still does not recognize the drive.

How bout my windows 98 startup disc(floppy)? Would that help any?

Can you try the drive in another computer?

Have you checked the ribbon cables connecting the drive to the motherboard?

Can you try another drive on your pc.

As I see it, the software should have no effect on the drive melting a CD. This would appear to be drive failure and should be covered by the warranty on the drive.

Hey Classic,

I may have a friend that would let me try my drive in his pc, not sure. Yes I have checked the cables to insure a snug fit. Well I just happen to have another CD/RW that I could try on my PC, but the only problem is, I just bought it and I am afraid that if the ASPI files I downloaded somehow caused my current CD/RW to burn up that it may do the same to the brand new one:( I guess if I had a warranty with my Acer 10x4x32, the guy that built my pc never told me about it. He didnt give me a lot of documentation with my pc, he built it from the ground up and didnt even give me my windows 98 cd with it! Besides my pc and cd/rw are at least 3 years old.



Thank you,

Hey guys,

I got a question, I know this is kind of a longshot, but since this is Saturday and my computer store is closed till tuesday, Do you think it would work if I downloaded another copy of windows 98se through a program like Kazaa? I know that is kind of a dirty way of doing it, but nobody around where I live has 98se anymore. It's so out of date and all. I do not really want to upgrade to windows 2000, ME, or XP and besides I dont really have the money for that. A guy on Kazaa says he has the whole program, serial number and all. IF I did that would I need to make a new folder for it? What would I do with my old windows folder?


Just an idea,

Thanx,

The problem with getting a good deal from the pc person nearby is he relies on you needing to return for service if anything happens. Put a bug in his ear about at least an OS so you can fix your own pc.

"If your Windows is on another partition you may be able to do it without the CD. If not, I doubt it."

How about doing a reg/restore function from DOS? Has/can that been tried?

Have you looked in BIOS to see if the drive can be seen there? Set it to autodetect and press Enter when on the correct line for where the CD-RW is connected. Is it seen?

Yikes!- Just using Kazaa at all, let alone download an OS from some guy that says he "has the whole program, serial number and all", should add to some already daunting problems nicely. :rolleyes:

BTW- Have you run a virus scan, spyware check, scumware check, etc. lately???

Sounds like your cd-rw is not in good shape....Hang aroung Kazaa long enough, and you'll have a "melted" OS to go along with it.

Um...Hi FTT- You just snuck in there. Maybe I'll just stay out of this one. :p

JB,
Don't feel like you're in the way, by all means join in. The only thing I was avoiding is the 'K' word! You said it as well as any could...

Kazaa stranger, Something like: "Yeah, you can D/L an OS from me, you get the OS, a VS! and a key. The first and third will be useless after the middle one does it's thing..." http://www.beenzeria.com/nuovismiles/classiche4/devious.gif

HeHe- I might have been a little harsh there....But honest, it's only because I truly care ;)

After all the crazy changes, registry tweaks etc, if it were me at this point, I would really feel better with a nice clean install...Start from scratch so to speak... After seeing if I could get a nice spankin' new copy of Windows....Maybe from the guy who sold the computer, or (Gulp), buy a copy.

Personally, I would never be without an original disk for my OS.

And then, Install my nice new CD-RW and be one happy little camper.

And last but not least, I would try to stay away from the Devil! :eek:

FTT,

I tried the reg/restore from DOS, although I am not real familiar with DOS, I found a tip on a site that kinda walked me through it. If I remember correctly(I have tried so many different things it all starts to run together) it gave me some kind of message that said it could not restore:(

When I went into BIOS it showed that all four IDE channels were on Auto. I am not sure how you can view the devices from BIOS as I am not totally familiar with it either. And yeah, you guys are probably right about Kazaa:rolleyes: !

Hey? Can I Partition my Drive now and then put Windows on it? I know absoluteley nothing about partitioning. I have used approximately 18.9GB of my hard drive and still have 22.9GB free.


Thanx,

Jabar,

Thanx for the reply and yes I definitely may have to go that route.

Okay,

Here's a whole other idea I've got. After all that trouble I have had and all the different things I tried, I noticed when I used the Floppy CD-ReWriter DEVICE DRIVER and used the Auto(Easy Preset) install, I, then actually had a D drive letter in My Computer, it just didnt respond. I think that it just installed the Drivers in a place different from where my CD/RW actually is. If one of you guys can tell me how to use the advanced setup on the Floppy maybe I can get it to coincide with my drive.


Heres what the advanced screen says:

Target Directory: C:\CDPRO
Device Name: MSCD001
1F0 IDE Port IRQ#: 14 (Where it says 1F0 and )
170 " " " : 15 (Where it says 170 I couldnt tell )
1E8 " " " : 12 (if it was supposed to be a 0 or D)
168 " " " : 10
MSCDEX'S Directory:
BOOT DRIVE: C
Complete Changes: Accept the configuration shown above


Thank you all for helping me!

I can't help you with the last post, but I was struck by 2 things. You mentioned Kazaa and I was wondering if you have it installed already. If you do, you may have a lot of other garbage installed that you don't know about and that could be causing your problems. The second thing follows from that... Jabarnutcase asked if you had run security scans and you haven't responded to that. I urge you to run full scans including spyware, trojans and virus. You can download programs to do this through mjc's security thread here:

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15179

You might also want to run online scans. There are some programs that can get installed on your system that block CD use in the interest of copy protection....

Budfred,

In answer to your first question, Yes I do have Kazaa installed on my pc and secondly no, I have not ran any of the scans you mentioned except for a virus scan. I have Norton Anti-Virus installed and run it at least once a week. No viruses have been detected.

I will run those other tests though, spyware, trojans, etc., as soon as I get the appropriate programs to check for them:)

Thanks for the help!

Run ASPI check again....make note of what files are listed.

Then boot into SAFE Mode, remove all references to the CD drive in Device manager, then before rebooting...delete the four files from your ASPI check list (you may have to do a Find for them, but they should be in Windows\system\IOSUBSYS). Also go to regedit, then go to this KEY..Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\SCSI and if there is anything left there referring to your CDRW remove it. Then reboot, Windows may ask for the CD...if it does, then just direct it to the cabs(install files) the builder placed on your HD.

Oh, and make a backup of your registry before doing this....

MJC,

Thank you tremendously for your advice. It is 11:32p.m. right now where I live and I think I am going to wait till tomorrow to follow your instructions, what with the Easter Bunny coming and all:D .
Just Kidding, I am tired from all of this research and need to recharge.
I'll let you know tomorrow what happened after the ASPI check and the regedit.



Thanks again,

MJC,

I finally got to implement your advice. When I ran the ASPI check, this time, just like every other time it only shows 2 files but also says all files are installed properly and ready for operation. The two files it shows are APIX.VXD and WNASPI32.DLL.


There were 3 different WNASPI32.DLL files and I deleted them all along with the one APIX.VXD file in IOSUBSYS. Although out of all of the WNASPI32.DLL files none were in IOSUBSYS.



After completing all the steps in your post I then rebooted and nothing happened. Windows did not ask me for the CD, The CD/RW still does not show up or respond when I try it and other than that my PC still runs pretty much like always, with the exception of my CD/RW drive not working of course or even showing up.

Well I did notice that, on the black screen, right before my desktop loads up it displays this message"

Sorry, I can't get something out of my mind from the very first post.......my wife put a cd in the drive and it stayed in there for 5 or 6 more reboots before we could finally eject it and when we did it was MELTED!(slightly) Also when feeling of the outside of the CD/RW it feels very hot!
I realize there are some other problems to sort out- (mjc's great with this stuff). But I must say, of everything I've read, that quote bothers me more than anything.

Anyone else ever produce any melted cd's???
I've "burned" a lot of CD's, but I don't recall ever melting one...This burner is apparently "burning" in the literal sense.
Personally, that would scare the hell out of me.
I would want to get rid of that thing before it burns up more than a CD-R.

Got a fire extinguisher handy?

OK....I'll fade away again for a while. :p

This is a follow up to my last post. I was about to tell you what the error message said at the end of my previous post, but I could not remember exactly what it said so I decided to just post what I had written so far and then reboot so I could read it again. The error message said "MSCDEX/D:MSCD001, No valid CD-ROM device drivers selected, Device driver not found"

BUT, when I went to reboot so that I could reread the error message, this time on the screen right before the desktop, it popped up a small window that said Windows is building a driver database! Also on the very first black screen where it shows the 4 IDE slots, it actually showed the CD/RW as the Secondary master!! Then after the driver database completed and the desktop loaded, I went to "My Computer" and there it was, my CD/RW(D drive)! The bad news is that there was a new, different error message on the black screen right before the desktop this time and I had to go back and reboot 2 more times just so I could see it all and write it down.

The error message now is, "The following file is missing or corrupt, C:\CDPRO\VIDE-CDD.SYS, This is an error in your config.sys file on line 4". Plus after I rebooted it that first time so that I could see the new error message, It went back to its old ways again and quit showing my CD/RW as the secondary master and removed the D drive letter again!

I think that you were right with with your advice MJC, I just think that I may have something else thrown off because I tried so many other things in the course of trying to fix it.


I believe that CDD.SYS file came with that CD-ReWriter DEVICE DRIVER that I found and tried to install. Although after it installed and had no effect I deleted the entire folder, which was labeled CDPRO. I still have the folder in my recycle bin. You think I should restore that folder and then try all of your advice again?



Thank you VERY MUCH for the support!

Ha Ha!! Good one Jabar!!

No I do not have a fire extinguisher, though I probably need one! I would like to go ahead and replace that CD/RW but, since I have been trying MJC's advice and all the other friendly people on these boards, I am trying to keep it in untill I, hopefully get this starightened out. Also I dont want to run the risk of burning up another CD/RW, if it was something in the files I downloaded that started all this to begin with! By the way, that CD that was slightly melted in the drive wasnt just a blank CD-R/RW it was a program Create-A-Card that my wife had borrowed from her friend! We've got to replace that after we get all this other straightened out!

Well thanx for your help Jabarnutcase! I'm gonna go try to download those programs that you and BUDFRED mentioned and try to run them while I wait on MJC to reply.

I'm with Jabar, I don't know alot about this, but my old CD/RW burned up literally! It was hot to the touch, would get stuck and not open, and eventually popped off the computer altogether! Sounds very familiar.

Yes, I literally burned my burner by having the write speed set higher then my system could handle. This is probably not the same problem you're having, but you may want to check. I had to scrape the whole drive (month old!!ARGH) and buy a new one. $250 later and I'll never do that again!

I would keep the fire extinguisher handy and I would not undelete the files that you have already deleted.

The problem that I see right now is that you have done so many different things it is hard to tell what it helping and what is hurting. The CD drive actually melting a CD and getting hot is extremely suspicious and stongly suggests a hardware problem, although maybe it really was trying to run faster than it is designed for due to some of the "upgrades" you installed. If my CDRW melted a CD, I would pull it fast and start shopping. For it to get that hot is just too scary for me... you could easily burn out your computer with that kind of problem and you could even start a fire that could threaten more than the computer....

If it were me - I would backup files, by the internet if necessary. I would then wipe the hard drive, reset the BIOS, pull the CD drive, install a new one, reload everything and start fresh....

Thanks Budfred, I am currently in the process of doing just that!

That error tells you exactly where it is config.sys...if you remove that line from the config.sys file it will be corrected.

Hey guys thanks for all the help! I finally decided to install my new cd/rw and now everything is back to normal. I really appreciate all of you!!

You know, many people including me have had very familiar problems with the same brand, same speed, and mystically missing drivers (acer 10x4x32). I think i notice my drive E: dissappeared after downloading "ares". I think it may be diliberate by the company as to get people to buy a newer version as the acer website itself convienantly only provides the driver for a newer version.

Ih8computers,

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Please note that this thread is 2 and a half years old, so it is doubtful that most of the issues discussed here are still relevant... If you actually need help with something, I suggest you start a new thread....