DVD/CD-RW Drive Not Working (GRT796HP)

[ChrisOfTheOT]

I tried to record a CD-RW the other day and it failed. I got the 'ghost' icons in the drive folder and went to 'Copy Files...' but I kept getting an error message telling me to insert a disk.

In Device Manager an error message said that the device was installed but Windows couldn't see it (Note that the drive could be read, just not written to.) I... rashly... uninstalled the drive and let Windows re-install it and now have got this error message in Device Manager:

"Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

And now Windows cannot read or write to or from the drive. Ooops.

Anyone help? Please?

Cheers,

Chris

[kee-lo_]

Hi Chris,

Good to see you around.

Did you install Nero by any chance?
This can corrupt the registry.

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Hi Kee-Lo - thanks for the welcome, again.

In fact I did install Nero - just the InCD bit - it is very astute of you to inquire about that. Although I have since uninstalled Nero InCD, I've still got the problem. So, rather than studying after a hard mornings work (I am now (again) an electrical wholesaler), I'm going to go to the Nero (Ahead?) website to see if I can find a cure...

(But if you can think of something in the meantime )

Thanks for the valuable pointer, Kee-Lo,

Cheers,

Chris

[ChrisOfTheOT]

You were quite right about the Nero thing, Kee-Lo. (It took me ages just to find the Nero site - I was looking for Ahead! ) Anyway, Ahead do acknowledge the problem and offer a cleaning utility to get rid of the offending driver & registry hash-up:

http://www.nero.com/en/631938356417810.html

It's a tiny tool but works. Now I can use the DVD drive again... but it still won't record anything. If I click on DVD/CD-RW 'Properties', there is no 'Recording' tab to enable or disable the Windows recording feature. I've tried several disks - I hope I don't have a faulty drive...

Thanks again Kee-Lo,

Chris

[kee-lo_]

Yeah - it's a pain that registry messup, but this site is so slow I could have replied to this ages ago!

Glad to hear it's all sorted.

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Well it's not actually sorted out, Kee-Lo. I can read disks but not write them - I get a 'No disk is inserted...' error every time. I've tried these links from Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=316529

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;324129

Both were uesful but didn't solve the problem.

I'm going back to look at Vaio-Link - though that is usually useless (but at least they have a search feature)! :smileyfrustrated: Then it's back to MS KB - and after that there's only heavy drinking left...

Perhaps that where I should have started!

Cheers, Kee-Lo,

Chris

[kee-lo_]

A lot of people seem to have this issue with these notebooks.
I don't think we ever found a solution... let me see what I can come up with.