Need computer help with a driver please

[jamessd]

A few months ago my CD drive on my laptop stopped reading any CDs or DVDs. They still spin but the computer does not react. So, last week I finally deicded to try and find out what it was making this not work, and I came to a list of my system drivers and whther they were enabled or disabled.

As you can see from the attached image, it appears that the driver ''cdfs'' is disabled and from the descriptiong it looks like this is my problem.

Does anybody know how I can change this setting so it is enabled?

Thanks for any help.

PS in another collumn to the right under ''state'' it says ''stopped''.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2749/driverwz3.th.jpg (http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=driverwz3.jpg)

[Jerrick]

You should just right-click and take it from there and change the option.

What id do, is go to the device manager, and uninstall that cd drive. Restart teh computer and let windows find the driver and reinstall it and see what that does for you.

EDIT: Or you could use this as an excuse to buy a new drive. You can get a very good drive for very cheap now. ;)

[jamessd]

You can't right click it ;)

I would uninstall it but I don't trust windows to reinstall it as my computer has been a bit sketchy recently (ie telling me it's lost 3ivx.dll and then giving me blue screen when I end the process of that dialogue box). I may try that if there are no other ways though - thanks Jerrick.

[jamessd]

But I can't even find it in device manager :confused: :(

[Jerrick]

While in device manager there isn't a expandable + by the DVD/CD-ROM Drives?

Dont worry about the drivers. Windows has been very good with many drivers and most prives will be plug and play.

The 3ivx.dll sounds like its a quicktime error. Does that show up during startup, watching video, or when starting a program?

[1-wheeled-grape]

Yo james long time no see lol! Is it on your laptop or computer?

EDIT-laptop... I'm not reading again am I!

[jamessd]

While in device manager there isn't a expandable + by the DVD/CD-ROM Drives?

There sure is, but all that is shown is this:
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9271/fetishff3.jpg

(it says MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ bla bla bla....)

The 3ivx.dll sounds like its a quicktime error. Does that show up during startup, watching video, or when starting a program?

That was when I opened up itunes. I fixed it by downloading the file from the first site out of about three not to offer me a redistry fixer that I needed to pay for, and put it in system32 - problem solved.

[Jerrick]

There sure is, but all that is shown is this:
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9271/fetishff3.jpg

(it says MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ bla bla bla....)


Thats good. Right click on that title and uninstall it and then let windows reinstall the driver for you.

How old is the laptop?

[jamessd]

Year and 4 months :p

[jamessd]

Right, so I unistalled it, it dissappeared and then I went action>scan for hardware changes, and then it reappeared. Checked the system drivers list and it is still listed as not started, disabled... stopped :(

[Jerrick]

Ok, so it doesnt seem like a software problem. Id take this over to a computer forum. I dont know enough about laptops and vista to fully help out except for the basics.

Hopefully the drive isnt dying as replacing laptop parts isnt as easy or fun as desktop parts. But some brands and models are prone to hardware failure compared to toerh brands and models.

[jamessd]

Ok well thanks anyway.... you don't think it's anything to do with that cdfs thingy showing up as disabled? Or is that reporting to me that the hardware itself is disabled maybe:confused: .

[john_childs]

Ok well thanks anyway.... you don't think it's anything to do with that cdfs thingy showing up as disabled? Or is that reporting to me that the hardware itself is disabled maybe:confused: .
On my computer the cdfs driver is listed as
Started >> yes
Start Mode >> Disabled

I'm not sure what exactly the cdfs driver does. I suspect it is to read the cd file system.

The suggestions are on the right track to disable the CD drive in Device Manager and then let Windows discover and re-enable the drive the next time you boot. If that fix doesn't work then diagnosing the problem is going to take some geek-fu. One possibility at that point is a broken or failed drive.

[Tak]

I suspect a failed drive, particularly if it was working for a year and four months, then just stopped one day without any intervention.
A surefire way to find out: try to boot the computer from a bootable cd or dvd - this won't be affected by any operating-system-level driver issues. If it boots successfully, you've got a driver problem. If it won't boot, you've got a hardware problem.

[jamessd]

Nooo, this started a good half a year ago, and I just assumed it was hardware failure.

And from looking at the health report I did I have so many device issues that are confusing me I think it must just be time for a new laptop (having seen the blue screen of death a fair few times recently too...).

If I try to boot from my toshiba product recovery disc and it works, will this affect all my files and stuff on my computer, ie format it? If not then I shall try.

[Jerrick]

I suspect a failed drive, particularly if it was working for a year and four months, then just stopped one day without any intervention.
A surefire way to find out: try to boot the computer from a bootable cd or dvd - this won't be affected by any operating-system-level driver issues. If it boots successfully, you've got a driver problem. If it won't boot, you've got a hardware problem.


I was about to tell him that.

Another thing, this one may sound kinda dumb, but it is the main fix for ps2 that I repair, is the angle of the laser. In the ps2 I can control the angle notch by notch until I find the right angle for the laser to read all cd formats. If that doesnt work I have to pull out some more tools and manually increase the power of the laser.

So some people have had it work by tilting the laptop 30-80 degrees. Its really a last ditch effort to keep a drive going.

John: CDFS, think of it like the cache of a harddrive. Uninterrupted flow of data used for easier retrieval and connection. So when listening to a cd or trying to copy files off of it will turn cdfs on.

No, booting from a cd wont hurt anything unless you start clicking on options telling it to format or reinstall. If it does boot from a cd, you can just restart your comp and take the cd out. You may have to go into your bios and set your laptop to try to boot from cds before booting from the harddrive.

What model Toshiba do you have?

[jamessd]

Satellite A-100 - 451 ;) .

[john_childs]

One possibility is a bad filter driver for the CD drive.

You can run the utility busTRACE Filter Driver Load Order (http://www.bustrace.com/products/devfilter.htm) to view the filter drivers that get loaded for the CD drive. Select the CD drive and click the Clipboard button. Paste the filter driver info here.

There is a MS KB article on how to delete filter drivers (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/). Make a system restore point before proceeding. It requires manual editing of the registry.

I'm doubting that it is a filter driver problem. Deleting the drive from Device Manager and then letting Windows redetect the drive should have cleared all filter drivers. Worth a shot though.

If you have iTunes installed you'll have a filter driver called GEARAspiWDM. That is to allow iTunes to burn a CD.

[jamessd]

----------------------------------------------------
Filter Driver Load Order http://www.bustrace.com
----------------------------------------------------

Upper Class Filter: GEARAspiWDM
Device Object: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-850S ATA Device
Lower Class Filter: PxHelp20
Lower Class Filter: Pfc

Driver Name: gearaspiwdm.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: CD DVD Filter
File Version: 2.00.07.03 [2.0.7.3]
Product Name: CD DVD Filter
Product Version: 2.00.07.03 [2.0.7.3]
Company Name: GEAR Software Inc.

Driver Name: pfc.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: Padus(R) ASPI Shell
File Version: 2, 5, 0, 200 [2.5.0.200]
Product Name: Padus(R) ASPI Shell
Product Version: 2, 5, 0, 200 [2.5.0.200]
Company Name: Padus, Inc.

[john_childs]

You've got 3rd party filter drivers loading. I'd go through the MS knowledge base article and delete the upper and lower filter entries. Then see if the CD drive works.

Once you get the drive working you can reinstall iTunes and Padus DiscJuggler to get the filter drivers back. If the drive stops working after you install one of those you'll know what is breaking things.

[jamessd]

You've got 3rd party filter drivers loading. I'd go through the MS knowledge base article and delete the upper and lower filter entries. Then see if the CD drive works.

Once you get the drive working you can reinstall iTunes and Padus DiscJuggler to get the filter drivers back. If the drive stops working after you install one of those you'll know what is breaking things.
I did have a quick look at the MS help and support but it didn't not say anything about it applying to vista as well, just windows 2000/xp. Does that not matter?

[john_childs]

It's the same for Vista.

[jamessd]

John, how on earth did you become such a legend? Thank you so much, my cd/dvd drive is now happily running :)

Ps how could this have been casued in the first place?

[john_childs]

It's from hanging around with Harper. :cool:

[Jerrick]

Never heard of the filter stuff. But now ive learned something new. =p

[maestro8]

how could this have been casued in the first place?
Must've been written by a woman. Y'know... they always make bad drivers.

click here (http://www.instantrimshot.com/)

[john_childs]

Never heard of the filter stuff. But now ive learned something new. =p
There's a brief explanation of filter drivers in the Wikipedia article for the Windows Driver Model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Driver_Model).

Filter drivers used to be the common way for CD burning applications to communicate with the CD drive. Windows XP and Vista have better supported ways of communicating with the CD drive so filter drivers to do that are less common now. They were never a great way to do things. If a filter driver stops working it blocks all access to the CD drive. Most current CD burning applications no longer use filter drivers.

The DRM module in the famous Sony rootkit was a filter driver. As a filter driver it was able to see everything that goes through the CD drive. If it saw a protected CD it could block the flow of data from the CD which would prevent you from ripping it.