Dvd Drive Disappears randomly

[Cdeath]

Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways, I

have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes by

windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both the

operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os or

did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and they

told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.

Things I have tried...



- System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to that

point)

- Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry

- uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects and

installs it upon reboot.

- driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should work

- boot into safe mode and try burning (samething)

- boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problems



It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just looking

at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft's

fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times.



Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i just

put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable usb

hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os to

another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and which

keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if i

need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, so

be it. I just don't want to lose everything.



Thanks





--

Cdeath

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,



The Fixit tool deals with the registry keys, so if that always brings it

back then that is where the fault lies. When those keys are affected, it's

because of third party software accessing the drive, most often buring

software but there have been instances of playback software causing it as

well. The real resolution is to remove or update the offending program.



As to your proposed solution, you will find that you are not able to install

Vista to a USB-based external drive, it's not supported because the

throughput rate is too slow.



--

Best of Luck,



Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org



"Cdeath" wrote in message

news:7d1fcf8209aea370b2389223ed06de3a@nntp-gateway.com...

>

> Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways, I

> have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes by

> windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both the

> operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os or

> did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and they

> told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.

> Things I have tried...

>

> - System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to that

> point)

> - Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry

> - uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects and

> installs it upon reboot.

> - driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should work

> - boot into safe mode and try burning (samething)

> - boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problems

>

> It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just looking

> at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft's

> fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times.

>

> Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i just

> put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable usb

> hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os to

> another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and which

> keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if i

> need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, so

> be it. I just don't want to lose everything.

>

> Thanks

>

>

> --

> Cdeath

 

[Cdeath]

Thanks for the reply. Ok well, I was using Imgburn at the moment and i

believed that may have also been the case. However, I updated it two

days ago. That should be the only burning software running. In safe

mode, when i launch it and burn, the drive will eject itself from my

computer. So i guess the problem lies within ImgBurn, which i have been

using for months without a problem. Do know what registry keys may

have been effected? Thanks again





--

Cdeath

 

[TheDuck]

By upper and lower bounds do you mean Filters as in this KB article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060



"Cdeath" wrote in message

news:7d1fcf8209aea370b2389223ed06de3a@nntp-gateway.com...

>

> Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways, I

> have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes by

> windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both the

> operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os or

> did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and they

> told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.

> Things I have tried...

>

> - System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to that

> point)

> - Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry

> - uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects and

> installs it upon reboot.

> - driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should work

> - boot into safe mode and try burning (samething)

> - boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problems

>

> It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just looking

> at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft's

> fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times.

>

> Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i just

> put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable usb

> hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os to

> another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and which

> keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if i

> need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, so

> be it. I just don't want to lose everything.

>

> Thanks

>

>

> --

> Cdeath

 

[Cdeath]

Correct. I have just restored it to factory settings despite the fact i

lose everything. However I have figured out what the problem was. The

problem was Imgburn. Upgrading to the newest version caused the drive to

disappear. The older version works however. Thank You guys for your

help.





--

Cdeath