CD/DVD Player won't burn CDs anymore...

[Skyline]

For no apparent reason my CD/DVD has stopped wanting to burn CDs. No matter what I do it refuses to recognise any blank disk, even though I have been doing this regularly with the same brands for ages - until today.

The drives (I have two, a Pioneer DVD-RW and a TSST Corp CDDVDW) also stopped playing music CDs today at the same time but I got a Fixit from the MS site and they will now do this, albeit not properly. I.e. the drives are configured to automatically use Windows Media Player when presented with a music CD but they don't - they don't even spin up. If I manually open WMP and go to Menu/Play it says there are no disks loaded. But if I then just open and shut the tray the track list shows up after about 15 seconds and the disk will play ok. Odd.

I have been in device manager and right clicked on both CDDVD players and tried to update the drivers but in both cases it said the latest ones were installed.

Not sure where to turn now. I can't burn disks and can only play music CDs if I coax things gently...

[Rob @ Scan]

Hi,

Sounds like a driver or possibly a software issue.

If you could do the same as when you tried to update the drivers but instead select "uninstall" and do this on both drives.

Then either reboot or right click on device manager and 'scan for hardware changes'

It should recognise both drives and reinstall drivers.

Regards,
Rob

[Skyline]

Hi Rob

I have now found out how I can work around things 'manually' to play music CDs and burn blanks. I have to open WMP first, then put a disk in, then choose either Play or Burn Disk from the WMP interface and after about ten seconds or so this will start to happen. This tells me that it's the W7 Autoplay feature that has somehow become broken. Music or blank CDs just sit in the drive with nothing happening unless I open WMP and go the 'manual' route. I've re-set/set the Autoplay settings in W7 but nothing changes.

This morning a friend showed me a screen (on his PC) which he invoked with GPEDIT.MSC which is apparently a front end for the registry and it has a section for checking/setting the status of Autoplay. But bad news. I have W7 Home Premium and it doesn't include GPEDIT! I need to somehow find the part of the registry that deals with autoplay on/off settings to check them. Any ideas how Autoplay can be turned back on from 'under the bonnet'?

John

[Pilgrim_uk]

Have you checked under control panel and autoplay?

What does those settings say?

[Skyline]

Yes, that was the first place I looked. Setting/resetting those has no effect at all.
Something has obviously become corrupted somewhere such that autoplay is permanently switched off nomatter what those settings say.

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi

Which programs have you tried for burning the disks?

Regards

Ben

[Skyline]

Hi Ben

I've always used Windows 7/Media Player.

Regards
John

[Jonj1611]

To check the registry :-

Click Start, and then click Run.
Type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDRom
Double-click Autorun and see whether a zero or a one is displayed in the Value data box.
If the value for Autorun is 1, go to step 5.
If the value for Autorun is 0, right-click Autorun, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

STEP 5

Locate and then click the following subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Double-click NoDriveTypeAutoRun to see its value. If the value is 0xb5, the AutoRun feature for CD-ROMs is turned off. To turn on the AutoRun feature, follow these steps:
Right-click NoDriveTypeAutoRun.
Click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 91.
Select Hexadecimal, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.

Shamelessly taken from Microsoft.

[Pilgrim_uk]

Beat me to it John.

Here's a link you can favourite if it happens again. Some bit of software probably changed the setting.

Windows autoplay or autorun not working.

[Jonj1611]

Beat me to it John.

Lol, have my moments

[Ben @ Scan]

Thanks for your help on this guys :-)

Has this resolved the issue with the system?

Regards

Ben

[Skyline]

I also turned up that link in the end after extensive Googling, but many thanks guys for going to the trouble!

So, good news - I resolved it!!


After spending ages finding, checking and tinkering (in a controlled manner of course...) with the Autorun stuff in the Registry per that article, to no avail, the solution was in fact in section 2. viz:

"2. Ensure that Shell Hardware Detection service is running.
Type service.msc in Start Search to run Services console. Locate Shell Hardware Detection, and ensure that the “Service Status” is Running, and “Startup Type” is Automatic.
Else, start the service and change the Startup Type setting accordingly."

My Shell Hardware Detection service was not set on Automatic and not Started...
So how in the name of God did that service change its settings all by itself???? It wasn't me because I had no idea what or where it was, so therefore it must have been something else - a by-product of installing some software or a virus I can only assume. I got my ESET Nod32 to scan every single part of my system and it turned up with zero. So, the mystery will remain unresolved.

Anyway, there are a select few of us who are now able to assist the next poor soul. Thanks again for your input.