Dell 755 with TWO DVD DRIVES one not working

Hi mbc320,

Well if both the DVD drives are getting detected in BIOS then it should be detected in the Device Manager too. But since its not, it might be an issue with upper and lower filters in the registry of windows. To fix this lets follow the steps below:

• • Press the Win+R key on the desktop to open Run Window.
  • Type regedit and click ok.
  • Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder under Computer/My Computer and click the |>or (+) icon next to the folder name to expand the folder.
  • Continue to expand folders until you reach theHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
    
  • Click on the |> or (+) icon next to the Class key to expand it. You should see a long list of subkeys open up under Class  {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
    

After you restart, check and see if the dvd drive starts to work. Also in order to activate the Office 2010, you should have the 25 digit product key. If you have the key with you then activation Office 2010 should not be a problem.

Hope this helps.

Hi Jyotpal F, thanks for your prompt reply. I followed your instructions up to and including the last bullet:

• Click on the |> or (+) icon next to the Class key to expand it. You should see a long list of subkeys open up under Class  {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

I came up with 10 subkeys in the right pane.

The LowerFilters entry shows REG_MULTI_SZ     PxHelp20 AnyDVD

The UpperFlters entry shows REG_MULTI_SZ    incdrm InCDPass GEARAspiWDM

I think I got them right. The reference to "AnyDVD" may refer to software that removes region coding from DVD discs for playback. I have used for years.

Where do I go from here? I wanted to copy all of the subkeys into this message but could not figure out how to do that. I am typing this on my laptop.

Thanks very much for your help.

Hi mbc320,

Once you have highlighted { 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} , then on the right hand side of the screen you will see UpperFilters and LowerFilters. Simply, select them (all the UpperFilters and LowerFilters entries) and delete them. Once deleted, restart the computer once and then check if the DVD Drive starts to work or not.

Sorry I did not mention about deleting them in my previous post. Apologies. Don't know how I missed it :emotion-1:

Hope this helps.

"You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive,
or you receive an error message" (Error codes: 19, 31, 32, 39 or 41)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314060/en-us

Also: CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q316529

Windows 7

To resolve this problem on a computer that is running Windows 7, use the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter. For more information about how to open this troubleshooter in Windows 7, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Windows Vista

1. Click Start
   
   , and then click All Programs.
2. Click Accessories, and then click Run.
3. Type regedit, and then click OK.
   
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
4. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.
   
   Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only. If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to step 8.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
8. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.
   
   Note If you do not see the LowerFilters registry entry, unfortunately this content cannot help you any further. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about how you can find more solutions or more help on the Microsoft Web site.
9. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
10. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
11. Exit Registry Editor.
12. Restart the computer.

Hi Jyotpal F,

I deleted the UpperFilters and LowerFilters as you asked, then rebooted the PC. The registry now shows only a LowerFilters Data as: AnyDVD. There is no UpperFilters entry.

The second DVD drive still does not show up in Device Manager or Disc Management. Functionally the errant drive is OK, I checked it on another PC and it works fine.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

mbc320.

Hi mbc320,

You can also try and run a Microsoft fixit for the same. Click here to download it. Run the fix it and see if this fixes the issue. If not, try downloading another fixit for hardware troubleshooting by clicking here . Run this fix it too and see if it starts to work.

Also try uninstalling any burning software installed and check if the device manager then starts to detect the device or not.

If still you are not able to get the DVD drive detected then swap the SATA cable/slot with the drive that works and see if it starts to recognize it in windows.

Please reply with your findings.

Hi J, I will try your suggestions tomorrow and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks very much for your help, I am sure we will find a solution which may also help others.

Hi SpeedStep, I am running XP Pro on the Dell 755.

I deleted both the Upper and LowerFilters earlier today, all that did was to disable my AnyDVD Software, which I re-installed.

After reboot, the results were the same; I am not getting any errors or other messages. It is just that I cannot see the second DVD drive in the Device Manager so I cannot use it. I can see it in the F2 setup in the drive section.

Thanks,

mbc320

Hi mbc320,

You are welcome.

Sure! You can reply to me anytime tomorrow, and am glad we will be able to help others as well if anyone comes across this post and is facing a similar situation.

Take care.

Hi Jyotpal F,

The first "Fix it" did not fix it. The second said: We’re sorry, but your operating system is not supported by Microsoft Fix it  at this time. Should I be surprised at Microsoft? You don’t have to respond to that comment.

I uninstalled the burning software but that did not fix it.

I swapped the SATA cables and the missing (DH 16A1L) drive was recognized in Device Manager, but the HL-DT-ST_BDDV_GGC-H20N is now missing. I shall swap them back in a few minutes to see if there is any change then I will report back again.

Best regards,

mbc320

Good day Jyotpal F,

The saga continues.

I swapped the cables back to their original configuration, and we are back to where we were yesterday, with the ATAPI_DVD_A__DH16A1L drive missing from Device Manager.

In the meantime, strictly as an exercise, I did some searching in the registry to see how many instances of the non-working DVD drive I could find.

I was surprised when I discovered instances of two DVD drives that are not installed in this Dell 755. These were at some time in the past installed in the Dell GX520 where the System Drive came from that is now in my Dell 755. Meaning these two drives have never been installed in the Dell 755.

Here is a list of them without their locations noted:

These two are NOT installed in the Dell 755:

• Phillips 8801. This was the original DVD burner that came with the Dell GX520. This drive died and was replaced.

• LG GH22LP20 which was the replacement for the Phillips in the Dell GX520.

These two are installed in the Dell 755:

• HL-DT-ST_BDDVDRW_GCC-H20N. This one is installed in the Dell 755 and works fine.

• ATAPI_DVD_A__DH16A1L. This is the drive that is NOT working and is not recognized in Device Manager.

Do the multiple occurrences of the two non-existent drives provide any clues? The first two listed are NOT installed in my Dell 755. I counted at least 30 occurrences of the Phillips DVD8801.

Would it be safe for me to delete all references to the Phillips and the LG drives? I will do a registry backup first, just in case.

Best regards,

mbc320.

Hi mbc320,

If the drive is being recognized by swapping the cables, then I guess we found our culprit. It could be the SATA Cable or the SATA Port on the motherboard. Try to swap the ports with a good known working SATA cable and check if the drive gets recognized. If the drive gets recognized on both the ports with the woeking cable then the cable it was originally connected to may have gone bad. No changes in registry are required as of now.

Please reply with your findings.

Good day again Jyotpal F,

I followed your suggestion and tried both cables one at a time, on both drives one at a time, on the SATA 3 port.

I restarted the PC after each change and hit F2 to check the Bios settings. In all cases the Bios recognized the drive attached to SATA port 2. Then I repeated the process using SATA port 3.

In all cases SATA port 2 and then port 3 listed a drive. This would lead me to believe that the drives, the cables and the SATA ports are functioning. But regardless of which cable and drive is connected to SATA port 3, Device Manager does not show anything connected to SATA port 3.

As an exercise, I tried another small experiment. I have a gadget that allows SATA or IDE drives (HDs and DVD drives) to be connected to a USB port.

Without physically removing the DVD drive (the one connected to SATA port 3) from the Dell 755 case, I disconnected the SATA cable at the SATA 3 port on the mother board and connected it to the SATA/IDE adapter gadget. I plugged the USB cable into one of the front USB ports on the Dell 755, and Device Manager recognized both DVD drives. Both will also play DVD discs in this mode. One connected to SATA port 2, and one connected to a USB port.

I then reconnected the drive cable back to SATA port 3, but again it is a no-go in Device Manager.

This all tells me that both drives and cables are OK. Now this leaves us with SATA port 3 as the errant culprit. But this begs the question why is it showing correctly in the Bios setup, but not in Device Manager? Maybe now we know where to look next? I hope so.

I have an eSATA port on the Mother Board too, but I understand this is for hot swappable hard drives.

Best regards,

mbc320

Hi mbc320,

Hope you are having a good day too!

Well if this is the case above then it seems there is some problem with Windows itself. The reason is at times Windows if functioning normally, at times does not detect the drive but it does show in Disk Management where we can assign a drive letter to it to start functioning. And, as you had mentioned earlier, in your case, it neither does show in Device Manager nor in Disk Management. So the only possible way left now is to do a clean re-install of windows on the computer to get this issue fixed. But before you do that, please backup your data first. Once the windows is re-installed am pretty much sure the drives should detect properly. Rest assured, its not a hardware issue. 

Good day again Jyotpal F,

Before I make the decision to re-install Windows XP, I will run the Dell Diagnostics one more time just in case it finds something this time.

Also maybe now is a good excuse to upgrade to Windows 7. The only downside to that is much of my software is older and would be very expensive to replace and could run into the thousands. If the software runs on Win 7 or XP compatible mode or whatever it is called then I may go the Win 7 route. Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Premiere Pro would be very expensive to replace, to name but a few. I also have one DOS based app that I used for years. It is a huge database that I am gradually converting to MS Access and Excel. But that could take months to do all the data tables and so on.

So my next step will be to find my original XP Pro disc, good luck to me on that; then to investigate which if any of my older expensive apps will run on Win 7. In the meantime, I will give the Dell diagnostics another go.

I will let you know what I decide to do and how it progresses.

Thanks for your help; the saga continues.

Mbc320

PS. I really hate Microsoft software.