Hi,

I have a similar problem.

If I have a disk (cd or dvd) in the drive on startup - works perfectly.
With no disk on startup - explorer will not show contents or name of any disk.

This has been from day one (for a year now) with a pioneer dvd-rw and is still the same with my new samsung dl dvd-rw. The only difference now is that on startup without a disk the drive in explorer is shown as dvd-w - if I insert a cd it will change to cd-rw - but that is it - still can't read any contents. The pioneer just showed up as cd-rom.

Every few weeks I search for a solution - and it seems like there are a million people with a similar problem - but with no luck.

I have tried re-installing etc etc. The drive is shown correctly in the bios and device manager.

Can't believe that microsoft knowledge base knows nothing about this.

Maybe someone can help. (I will try the software eject - maybe its' related)

The drive designation change is a common apparently cosmetic XP tic.

Have you completely uninstalled any and all burning software? Nero? Ulead? etc.?

This to eliminate that as cause.

I'll try - have Nero, Ulead and CopytoDVD.
One thing I don't remember ever checking is whether Nero, etc can read contents even if Explorer can't.

Thanks.

Also - strange that Explorer recognises that a disk has been inserted but won't read it.

These third party softwares often conflict with XP's internal capabilities.

Software eject does not work.
Nero can't read disk if Explorer can't.
Uninstalling Nero etc did not help.

Have you checked this MS page:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;321641

Have you considered reinstalling XP?

Thanks but I have been checking the Microsoft site. Don't get any error messages. Sometimes I get "Please insert disk" but usually I get nothing.

Have done Windows "Repair" (I think it is) but not a clean install - not that keen and I've read many have tried with no benefit. (Also already annoyed I had 3 days to reactivate Windows after fitting the new DVD drive)

Checked boot log and it is identical in both cases.
Started IMAPI in Services but made no difference - it seems to turn itself off anyway even if set to start automatically.
Started in Safe Mode and it works !
Read suggestion about changing to DMA instead of PIO but don't have definate option for this in my bios - UDMA is enable/disable and PIO is auto/mode0 etc.

Read that people have had success by searching for and deleting remnants of uninstalled programs (InCD etc) - would you know of utilities for this ?

Thanks.

The best option if the programs were listed by their names would be start Search

Type in the incd for example.

You could also try a Registry Cleaner. I like this free one:

http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

You can also check the possible locations here:

Uninstall Programs Manually

Just because Windows XP has the Add/Remove Programs feature it doesn't mean your application will appear in the list. Furthermore, even if it does appear, it's no guarantee that the uninstall feature will work. When you run across one of these situations the items listed below will help in getting rid of the application. Be aware that these steps may not remove everything associated with the application and can impact other applications on the computer. Have a backup or restore point and use caution.

*

Find the directory for the application and delete all the files in the directory. Delete the directory.
*

Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

To remove the application entry from Add/Remove Programs (if present) open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

Some applications have Services attached to them. If this is the case, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es, locate and delete the service.
*

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the individual user settings and delete program references. Common places to check would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.
C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries.
[Do this for each User ID listed]
C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.
[Do this for each User ID listed]

If no entries were found in the previous step and the application launches automatically, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
and delete the entry.

Also there are DMA/PIO settings in the Device Manager under the IDE Controllers:

Right click the Secondary then click Properties then Advanced Settings.