PC only reads CD/DVD Drives in Safe Mode--What to do?

basketkase543

basketkase543

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I'm troubleshooting my fiancee's PC because she's been having numerous drive problems with it. Basically when you go to My Computer, none of her DVD drives are listed. When you pop in any kind of media, the PC completely fails to recognize it. I checked the device manager and saw that her two drives were listed with the dreaded yellow exclamation point and code 37: Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware.

When I boot into Safe Mode, however, the PC reads the drives just fine. They show up in My Computer, there are no errors in device manager, and CDs and DVDs load without a hitch.

BTW, I've tried updating the drivers but have had no luck. HP replaced them recently because the previous drives also failed (yeah, having GREAT luck with HP lately). The new drives are:
1. Sony DVD-RW DW-Q120A
2. DVD 16x -- No other information is given! How can I update drivers to something that has no information?

So what the hell? Why would the PC read the drives in safe mode but not in regular mode? Anybody have any ideas? Thanks in advance.
 
Try uninstalling the drivers in the properties of each drive in device manager by clicking on 'uninstall drivers'. Then restart the PC and allow the computer to redetect & let it reinstall the drivers by itself. Usually optical drives such as DVD burners do not need additional drivers other than the one supplemented by windows to work.

If the above doesnt work, try to delete the exclaimationed devices (your 2 drives) and reboot the PC, allow computer to redetect the hardware altogehter.

I've seen this problem before a long time ago, but I'm a bit rusty in thinking up possible solutions. Let me know if those suggestions work or not.
 
I agree with SOS, try deleting them from device manager, but I would also run a spyware and virus scan in safe mode, just to make sure.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys but no luck. I'd tried those things before and hoped it'd work the second time around but I got no success. The drives work just fine and get recognized perfectly when the PC is in safe mode but not in normal mode. I also tried doing the virus/spyware scan during safe mode and it came up with nothing suspicious.

I need some serious help with this one.
 
Hmmmm...

Open run and type in MSCONFIG.
Go to the startup tab.
Uncheck everything in there.
Reboot.


If the optical drives work then, then you know you have some program that interferes with them.
 
Did you ask your fiancee what she did b4 she started having this drive problems? She probably installed something that caused her optical drives to go ballistic.

Anyway do as Kayden said, its probably a program thats causing your problems since they work fine on safe mode.
 
Alright guys, I tried unchecking every item in the startup tab and still had the same problem. As far as system restore goes, it doesn't do me any good right now because ever since the PC came back from HP its been having the problem. The PC was sent to HP originally because of faulty disc drives and now this is happening.
 
Sounds like you've got something really obscure wedged into your OS somehow. If it works in safe mode, and you've exhausted all possibilities when everything is loading, then probably the easiest thing to do is to wipe the drive and reinstall XP...sorry.
 
I had this same problem with my mom's HP. Hers had a similar setup - DVD-R and CD.

The (ribbon? can't recall) cable connecting the DVD-R had failed, died, gone off to cable heaven. When we disconnected the DVR-R and moved the CD from slave to master, the CD drive started showing up again. We never replaced the DVD-R (she didn't really care about burning CDs).

This was a...year ago? I can't recall if we tested it in safe mode or not. It also could have been the connectior itself on the DVD-R. Can't hurt to try switching things around, at the very least.
 
[quote name='such great heights']I had this same problem with my mom's HP. Hers had a similar setup - DVD-R and CD.

The (ribbon? can't recall) cable connecting the DVD-R had failed, died, gone off to cable heaven. When we disconnected the DVR-R and moved the CD from slave to master, the CD drive started showing up again. We never replaced the DVD-R (she didn't really care about burning CDs).

This was a...year ago? I can't recall if we tested it in safe mode or not. It also could have been the connectior itself on the DVD-R. Can't hurt to try switching things around, at the very least.[/QUOTE]

If it was the cable, then it wouldn't work at all, in safe mode or otherwise.
 
Well, the problem is finally solved! I contacted HP via their customer chat service (which BTW is pretty quick and effective) and the rep led me to a registry fix that fixed an apparently known issue of a drive registry malfunction. I did the reg fix, rebooted, and my drives appeared in the PC!

Thanks for the help guys, I'm glad this one turned out okay.
 
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