How to Fix CD and DVD Device Manager Error Codes

CD and DVD drives are perhaps that least well engineered parts of computers these days, because manufacturers do not expect them to be used very often. Thus they often malfunction. Many modern day users are familiar with the Device Manager which can be accessed by entering in "devmgmt.msc" in the Windows Start Menu Run box. Device Manager allows you to see and change special configuration data for your hardware devices. The hardware configurations accessible here are not as easily accessed elsewhere. If a CD or DVD drive is malfunctioning, and for instance not appearing in the file manager, it may still appear in the Device Manager with a yellow exclamation point next to it and an error code. This article describes methods for dealing with the error codes. Generally, all the methods can be used for any one of the error you may have.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. **Likely Errors** Here are the error codes you are likely to see with CD/DVD drives: **Error Code 10 - This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. Code 19 Your registry might be corrupted. **Error Code 31 - The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. **Error Code 32 (or Code 31)- A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled. **Error Code 39 - Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. **Error Code 41 - Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device.

2. **Upper and Lower Filter Removal** About 40% of the time, Device Manager CD/DVD drive error codes are resolved by uninstalling the upper and lower filters. The filters are drivers the disk use to provide service. Sometimes when software is uninstalled like during an OS upgrade, the registry filter setting will be left behind even though the registry driver no longer exists. This causes an error. Third party burning software will need to be reinstalled after fixing the error. See Microsoft's article on the subject on how to effect this easy Registry change: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060. The statistics come from the experience of my company, Digital Support Tech: http://www.digitalsupporttech.com/en-us/index.htm.

3. **Applets for Removing the Upper and Lower Filters** The program XP_CD-DVD-Fix.exe (see http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/XP_CD-DVD-Fix.zip) based on the registry file CDGONE.reg (http://aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip), accomplishes the filters deleting mentioned above along with removing a few other keys that are normally around after an uninstallation of older Easy CD creator versions, which is the biggest cause of this error. Even if your problem is due to uninstallation of another CD related program, or an OS upgrade, this patch should still do the trick.

4. **Additional Filter Removal** It's also possible there are subkeys which contain the upper and lower filters. See this article, http://tinyurl.com/delete-more-filters, about deleting them. This is less common.

5. **SONYBMG Rootkit Uninstall** Another strong possibility is the Sony Rootkit has been installed. The $sys$crater filter that older Sony music CDs add to the registry often make the drives malfunction and disappear from the file manager. Uninstall it with Sony's rootkit uninstaller utility - http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html.

6. **Drives Disappear After You Install ITunes or Norton Ghost** If after installing ITunes or Norton Ghost, you get Device Manager error code, try locating the Audio File System (AFS) driver from Oak Technologies at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\afs.sys or doing a search for it. Rename it afs.sys.txt and reboot. This driver is incompatible with the driver found in iTunes and Norton Ghost. The driver from these two companies is the same and made by a third company called Gear Software. After renaming the afs.sys driver file you will lose access to the CD burning feature of of the following: HP Memories Disc Creator, Liquid Audio Portal Player, Oak Technology SimpliCD, or Broderbund's Print Shop version 20. If you still wish to use the burning feature in any of that software, upgrade it to a Vista versions. For more information, see the article here - http://www.gearsoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=CD/DVD_drives_disappear_after_installing_iTunes.

7. **cdrom.inf File Corruption** The C:\Windows\INF\cdrom.inf file is the script Windows uses to reinstall it's CD/DVD drive drivers. When you uninstall an optical drive or IDE channel and rescan for hardware changes, Windows uses this script to recreate the registry settings and point the drive to the proper drivers. This file can become corrupt. You can replace the XP SP2 or SP3 file (they are identical) with this one, http://www.cd-dvd-troubleshooter.com/hosted-files/windows-xp/cdrom.inf, or the Vista SP 1 version with this one, http://www.cd-dvd-troubleshooter.com/hosted-files/vista/cdrom.inf.

8. **Detecting and Replacing Corrupt CD/DVD Drive Driver Files** If one right clicks on any CD or DVD drive in Device manager and chooses Properties and then Driver tab, you will see five or so files listed. If any of these are corrupted, presumably they will give Device Manager errors. These can be examined by opening a command prompt and typing in "sfc /scannow" without the quotes. You may need to find the Command Prompt program (cmd.exe) in the c:\windows\system32\ folder where it usually hangs out and then right click on it and choosing "Run as an Administrator". If the sfc scannow command finds a corrupt CD it will in XP, first look for a virgin copy in the the c:\windows\system32\dllcache. If the sfc /scannow can't find the file there, you may be asked for your Windows install CD. There are ways to get around this listed in a link at the end of the Additional Resources section below.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to set up a System Restore point before engaging in any changes to the registry.
• Another faster safety mechanism is to back up a registry setting by exporting it before you change it.

Resources

• Explanation of error codes generated by Device Manager in Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft's article on removing upper and lower filters.
• Digital Support Tech can help you with Device Manager errors.
• Exceutable file that removes the upper and lower filters and a few other relevant registry keys.
• The popular CDGOne.reg registry key which you can double click on and it will remove the Upper and Lower Filters.
• Article regarding additional subkeys where the Upper and Lower filters can be removed.
• SonyBMG rootkit uninstaller. Sony's rootkit is a big causer of device manager issues
• Apple's ITunes filter article
• Article regarding Audio File System (AFS) driver from Oak Technologies removal.
• More instructions on using "sfc scannow", with some workarounds to an absence of an installation CD.