DVD Drives Freeze on Disc Insertion

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

Well it's not even close to the problems I had previously, but it's annoying nonetheless.

Today I discovered that any disc I insert on either of my DVD drives causes Vista to momentarily freeze, the little circle spinning around and the data on my disc not being read. The last time I used the drives was exactly one week ago, so it's not likely they're physically busted.

I tried to uninstall the drives and let Windows detect them, but that hasn't fixed the issue. I also searched Lite On (the manufacturer) for a driver, but all I could find was an XFLash utility that says the following after I run it.

Which is odd since it is an LDW-411S, although for some odd reason, the D appears as an @ in Device Manager.

I've searched in Google and this seems to be a common problem with a reportedly legit solution:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11*CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Apparently it seems that this is an age old fix for even XP systems. If you venture to the registry key above by doing the following steps:

1. Click on the start menu.
2. If this is a Vista machine in the search box type in “regedit” without the quotation marks.
3. Maximize the HKLM and then go ahead and browse until you reach the key listed above.
4. In the right panel you’ll see something along the lines of “UpperFilter” and “LowerFilter” you want to click on each “filter” key and hit delete. Click yes when it asks to confirm if you wish to delete the key.
5. Restart Windows.

Only problem is that there is no "UpperFilter" or "LowerFilter" listed in that directory:

The only directory that has both is in the "sound, videos and games controller" directory:

But I'm not going to start poking around the registy and deleting anything that could screw up Windows.

Finally, I'd like to also mention that keeping a disc in the drive slows down the booting of Vista to a crawl. Screen is black, I eject the drive, it starts up normally. Not sure if this helps root out the problem.

Any ideas?

.kbf? · August 2008

Sounds like a personal problem!

But anyways, first suspect in anything like this is a virus scanner. Some of them scan everything, including any cds you put in the drive, and slow the hell out of systems. Might not be the problem in this case but it's easy to check so... why not.

On a side note, if the fix to common problem is to delete those registries and on you're machine they are not there then I would assume that the common problem is not your problem.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

I did install Nod32 recently, but quitting the program didn't fix the problem. So I uninstalled it completely, but the problem still persists.

.kbf? · August 2008

Try reseating any drive connections.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

What do you mean by reseating? Do you mean the BIOS order?

Also, after five minutes or so, I can open up the DVD drive folder, but instead of correctly displaying whatever's supposed to be on the disc, it displays a single file.

.kbf? · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

What do you mean by reseating? Do you mean the BIOS order?

Also, after five minutes or so, I can open up the DVD drive folder, but instead of correctly displaying whatever's supposed to be on the disc, it displays a single file.

Reseating as in opening up the case and making sure all the cables are properly connected. This involves taking out and putting back in all connectors.

grrarg · August 2008

.kbf? wrote: »

Reseating as in opening up the case and making sure all the cables are properly connected. This involves taking out and putting back in all connectors.

Given your bad habit of plugging connectors into random things, don't even take the connectors out. Just jiggle the connectors on the DVD drives to check that they are firmly seated.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

I'd appreciate it if you'd stop mentioning that. I'm not so incompetent that I'd mess up on connecting a DVD drive (especially when there's only one place on the whole motherboard it could even fit). Wouldn't it not even open up or be displayed in Device Manager if it wasn't properly connected?

Edit: Tried loading a Windows disc during BIOS, wouldn't start. So maybe it is something physical. They are old drives, but it seems oddly coincidental for both of them to die out, so it might be something loose. Of course, DVD-RWs are cheap these days, and I happen to need to stop at CompUSA tomorrow, so maybe a $20 drive will fix things right up.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

I opened up and checked on all the connectors, and everything looks okay. I think this may have to do with me recently updating the BIOS. I took some shots of how the drives are named in the BIOS screen, and it doesn't look right.

Are there any commands I could try, or changes? If rolling back to the previous BIOS version is the most recommended course, what's the easiest way to do that? Clear the CMOS through the screwdriver/jumper method?

Dunadan019 · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

I opened up and checked on all the connectors, and everything looks okay. I think this may have to do with me recently updating the BIOS. I took some shots of how the drives are named in the BIOS screen, and it doesn't look right.

Are there any commands I could try, or changes? If rolling back to the previous BIOS version is the most recommended course, what's the easiest way to do that? Clear the CMOS through the screwdriver/jumper method?

well it looks like both your HDDs and your dvd player are IDE... which i guess means you have 2 IDE cables?

however you cant have them all set to master at the same time, each IDE cord can only have 1 master device on it, the rest have to be slaves.

without knowing how you wired the drives together, i cant tell you which one to switch to slaves, so take a picture of the cables going to your HDD and DVD drives and where they come from.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

I have one IDE cable with two connectors, both connected to my two DVD drives. There's only one IDE port on my mobo, where the cable is connected.

Just to make sure it isn't a physical problem, I bought a DVD-RW from Circuit City (good thing about DVD drive packages is that you can easily put it back together and return it like it was never opened). I unplugged both of my previous two drives, put in the new one, and made sure it was set to Master.

The problem still persists. And once again, the name of the drive is written weirdly on Device Manager.

I tried to do a System Restore as far back as 7 days ago, but that didn't fix anything, so I undid it. The only thing I can think of is BIOS, since I can't boot up a disc during the start up phase either, and I did update it recently.

So again, will clearing the CMOS downgrade the BIOS as well, or is there another method I have to do? Or, another solution I could try?

Dunadan019 · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

I have one IDE cable with two connectors, both connected to my two DVD drives. There's only one IDE port on my mobo, where the cable is connected.

Just to make sure it isn't a physical problem, I bought a DVD-RW from Circuit City (good thing about DVD drive packages is that you can easily put it back together and return it like it was never opened). I unplugged both of my previous two drives, put in the new one, and made sure it was set to Master.

The problem still persists. And once again, the name of the drive is written weirdly on Device Manager.

I tried to do a System Restore as far back as 7 days ago, but that didn't fix anything, so I undid it. The only thing I can think of is BIOS, since I can't boot up a disc during the start up phase either, and I did update it recently.

So again, will clearing the CMOS downgrade the BIOS as well, or is there another method I have to do? Or, another solution I could try?

you have to find the old version of your bios and flash back to that. clearing the CMOS will not downgrade your bios.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

Well, on my mobo's homepage they have BIOS files to download. But whenever I download a file and run it, I get a message saying that the version is not compatible with the version of Windows that I'm running. That's the only links I can find though, I don't see anything for 64 bit BIOS files. Can't contact Gigabyte until Monday either, since they're closed on weekends.

Would you say it's very likely the BIOS? I can't think of anything else I did from the last time I ran a disc.

Dunadan019 · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Well, on my mobo's homepage they have BIOS files to download. But whenever I download a file and run it, I get a message saying that the version is not compatible with the version of Windows that I'm running. That's the only links I can find though, I don't see anything for 64 bit BIOS files. Can't contact Gigabyte until Monday either, since they're closed on weekends.

Would you say it's very likely the BIOS? I can't think of anything else I did from the last time I ran a disc.

considering the bios is detecting your apparantly SATA hard drives as IDE hard drives... yes its likely.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

And yet the hard drives don't seem to be affected by this. Still, aren't there some settings I could change in the existing BIOS?

Dunadan019 · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

And yet the hard drives don't seem to be affected by this. Still, aren't there some settings I could change in the existing BIOS?

to make the bios recognize your drives better? no.

why did you even change your bios anyway, please dont tell me you are trying to overclock.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

It was recommended that I always keep BIOS up to date, so I used the mobo's CD to download the BIOS utility and update it.

I just hope once I get a hold of tech support Monday that downgrading back won't be some difficult procedure, or something that requires the mobo to be shipped to them (no goddammit, not again).

Dunadan019 · August 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

It was recommended that I always keep BIOS up to date, so I used the mobo's CD to download the BIOS utility and update it.

I just hope once I get a hold of tech support Monday that downgrading back won't be some difficult procedure, or something that requires the mobo to be shipped to them (no goddammit, not again).

no you should be able to just flash back to a previous version with the same utility.

you dont need to keep your bios updated its one of the few parts of your computer where newer doesnt mean better. "if it aint broke dont fix it". updating your bios is only really usefull for people who overclock, other than that an update wont change anything. unless the bios is a problem dont update it.

Professor Snugglesworth · August 2008

Well, now I know (yet another thing with PCs). Maybe the manual can tell me how to flash back.

Desert_Eagle25 · September 2008

Do a physical flash. It's simple and you won't need to download anything. Just open up your case and you mobo should be able to flash itself in one of two possible ways based on manufactuter:

a.) look for the Mobo battery, lift it up for 10-15 seconds, then put it back down. Most Mobo's come with a small lever that lifts and reseats it for you.

b.) there's a jumper right next to your mobo. look in your manual, and it should tell you which jumper setting would allow for a bios flash. Seriously, go look in your manual before you do anything hasty.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

This is different from the CMOS reset, right (the method where you touch the jumpers with a screwdriver for a couple seconds)? Isn't removing the battery the same thing as a CMOS reset?

I'm going to contact Gigabyte first before I do anything. If they can provide software that'll fix the problem, then naturally I'll go for it.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

They're not answering the phone, so I guess they're closed for Labor Day. I sent an email and will try again tomorrow, but yeah, please confirm my previous message on resetting the BIOS to its default state.

.kbf? · September 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

They're not answering the phone, so I guess they're closed for Labor Day. I sent an email and will try again tomorrow, but yeah, please confirm my previous message on resetting the BIOS to its default state.

There should be a jumper. You move it over, leave it for a couple seconds, and move it back. I suppose a screwdriver could achieve the same thing if the jumper was missing off the pins.

Dunadan019 · September 2008

Desert_Eagle25 wrote: »

Do a physical flash. It's simple and you won't need to download anything. Just open up your case and you mobo should be able to flash itself in one of two possible ways based on manufactuter:

a.) look for the Mobo battery, lift it up for 10-15 seconds, then put it back down. Most Mobo's come with a small lever that lifts and reseats it for you.

b.) there's a jumper right next to your mobo. look in your manual, and it should tell you which jumper setting would allow for a bios flash. Seriously, go look in your manual before you do anything hasty.

shame on you, nothing good can come from telling him that.

(no offense snuggles)

software downgrade is garunteed not to mess up any electronics.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

Oh I'm sure you meant to offend a little.

I can't find in the manual where the resetting jumper is located on my mobo. Perhaps if someone could circle where it would roughly be I could give it a shot. Or if someone could confirm if removing the battery would cause the same effect (and yes, I know how to remove it).

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

So last night Desert Eagle helped me out with this issue, suggesting I disconnect the DVD drives, disable IDE Controller in BIOS, restart, re-enable it in BIOS, and reconnect the drives.

Didn't work.

I then decided to uninstall Spybot, in the possibility that TeaTimer was blocking access to the drives.

Didn't work either.

So today I'm on hold while waiting for Gigabyte to answer, and I check my Drive Manager while waiting.

The DVD drive names are listed correctly. Curious, I insert a disc.

It freaking works now.

What did I do before this? Well the replacement RAM arrived in the mail today, so I swapped out the disgustingly expensive RAM I "rented" from Best Buy (and then returned later today) with the brand I was using before.

So....it was the RAM's fault? Is that even possible? Or did it perhaps take a couple of restarts for Desert Eagle's method to kick in?

I have no idea, although I am glad the drives are working again. I'll still keep a close eye in case it occures again, but it's nice to be completely free of PC errors for a change.

darkgrue · September 2008

.kbf? wrote: »

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

They're not answering the phone, so I guess they're closed for Labor Day. I sent an email and will try again tomorrow, but yeah, please confirm my previous message on resetting the BIOS to its default state.

There should be a jumper. You move it over, leave it for a couple seconds, and move it back. I suppose a screwdriver could achieve the same thing if the jumper was missing off the pins.

There's an important detail about the CMOS reset pins - on many motherboards you must only short the jumper with the PC completely unplugged from the mains. Doing it with the PC plugged in or powered on puts a huge current backwards through a path that was never designed to carry it (because they cheaped out on the design and left out a current-limiting resistor), and will pretty much fry your motherboard, rendering it useless.

Make sure you read the manual regarding its use (which the manual may not even offer details or warnings regarding it), or better yet, just assume it's done with the PC unplugged.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

I'm aware of that. The manual states that warning in nice, big letters, so there's no worry. But the drives are still working fine, so there's no longer a reason to even do this.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

Sigh, gotta love the timing. I buy Spore today and pop in the disc, and the damn thing freezes again. The letters in Device Manager are back to @s as well.

I didn't even do anything different, aside from running CCleaner. Could this be a Registry issue? Why would it work one day and then not work again a few days later? Help me, please.

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

Disregard that, I cleared the CMOS using the jumper/screwdriver method, and the drives are working again. Installing Spore now. Hopefully the drives will work permanently from here on, but at least this confirms it's a BIOS issue.

darkgrue · September 2008

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Disregard that, I cleared the CMOS using the jumper/screwdriver method, and the drives are working again. Installing Spore now. Hopefully the drives will work permanently from here on, but at least this confirms it's a BIOS issue.

I think your reasoning tracing it back to some BIOS issue seems sound. If your mobo has a replaceable battery, you can try replacing it. Sometimes, on some motherboards, if the battery is getting low you get all sorts of intermittant wierdness as the battery is dying instead of a blank config every time you turn on the computer once the battery is pretty much dead.

Have to say although I've seen the disappearing CD/DVD drive trick (including a very, very esoteric case that I traced back to using GRUB as the bootloader), never seen them turn to "@s (the upper/lower filters and GRUB conditions, the drives just plain weren't there at all). Never seen that.

[BTW, glad you knew about the whole issue with the CMOS clear - and that your manufacturer was explicit about it. If I recall correctly, somone on this forum (memory hazy) fried a motherboard doing that. Thought it was worth mentioning to save you and others considerable grief.]

Professor Snugglesworth · September 2008

Well considering the last month and a half of problems, things can only go up for me.

It's a brand new mobo so I don't think it was a battery issue. I tried to remove it to clear the CMOS, but it's fastened on a bit tight, so I tried the jumper option and that thankfully did it.

FyreWulff · September 2008

If it happens again, try leaving the computer off for a while (unplug the cord from the PSU). Like, an hour or two, however long you can manage.

I had a computer that would do this, but with the ethernet port. Sometimes it'd become stupid and stop working, or not show up at all. Powering off completely like this always fixed it.

But hopefully it was a BIOS issue.

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