Can't view content of CD/DVD

[Davetoo]

Odd issue for me. Lenovo T42 notebook computer, already replaced the CD/DVD drive as first step, problem remains.

When we put a data CD in the drive, Windows Explorer doesn't display any content for that CD. When I put a music CD in the drive, same thing, but...I fire up Media Player and it will play the music CD. Put a movie DVD in the drive...Explorer doesn't display any content but the movie plays.

Checked "View" to be sure everything is being displayed. When I put the data CD or music CD in I can then double click the icon in Explorer and it opens....but to a blank page, as if it's a blank CD.

Thoughts?

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[linney]

Try the automatic Fixit solution here too. It will check to see if there is any problems with either or both Upper and Lower Filters in the Registry. It is in fact a common fix for CD/DVD related matters.

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/

Do you have any program such as TweakUI which hides drives?

Is the CD drive showing up in Disk Management?

Is AutoPlay functioning correctly otherwise besides with Cd's?

On the Properties of each DVD or CD drive there is an Autoplay tab where you can configure what action Windows performs for each file type.

This program will fix things if AutoPlay is faulty -

Autoplay Repair Wizard - Autofix.exe

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...B6-E8FA-45C4-A171-1B389CFACDAD&displaylang=en

330135 - The AutoRun or AutoPlay Feature Does Not Work

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330135&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[Davetoo]

Thanks...already been through those things and deleted the lowerlimits manually. The problem isn't that it doesn't recognize that there is a CD/DVD in the drive...it's that it does recognize that it's there but doesn't display the content of the CD in Windows Explorer and reports the size as 0MB...yet you can click the drive icon in Explorer and it opens a blank window.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[linney]

Any problems with Drive Letter assignment, what happens if you change the drive letter?

Perhaps there is and old mapped drive or USB drive causing problems with drive letters?

USBDeview

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

You can try your luck in the ThinkPad Forums.

T61 and prior T series ThinkPad Laptops

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/bd-p/T_Series_Thinkpads

 

[linney]

Does another user have the same problem?

 

[Davetoo]

I'll try the drive remapping...this is limited to his one user. They are remote and connect to a VPN but I can control their machine.

Definitely strange...been doing this for years and never run across this.

another odd thing I noticed is when you put a CD in the drive, the icon displayed in Explorer changes to the icon that looks like a CD...but still doesn't acknowledge there is content on the CD.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[Davetoo]

Ok...I can change the drive letter and in drive management I can see that the CD has 521MB of "info" on it, but still nothing in Explorer.

I opened a command prompt and when I try to access the drive I get the following, whether it's a data CD or a music CD:

The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupt.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[Davetoo]

To confuse things further...with a DVD in, I can browse the file system just fine via Explorer!

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[linney]

Is the DVD being browsed by Explorer an improvement over your first post, "Put a movie DVD in the drive...Explorer doesn't display any content but the movie plays".

Blowed if I know what else to suggest that you try. Perhaps looking at the brand and color of the CD. Checking the CD out on another drive to see what files (especially anything that is 521MB in size) are on it.

Can you write to a CD?

 

[Davetoo]

Sorry...no, the DVD could be browsed the whole time...I was working remotely on this system and the Explorer window got put behind the others.

I finally gave up and had the guy ship me the system...shoudl be here tomorrow so I can diagnose further.

Very odd...never seen this before. I'll post the resolution.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[Davetoo]

UPDATE:

I had to run a Windows Repair to eventually resolve the problem. However, I believe the issue was due to Windows Media Player 11. I had tried to uninstall it/reinstall it and even reinstall it over top of itself, but it never would let me.

After running the repair and applying all of the updates, it reinstalled WMP 11.

All appears to be working fine now.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[linney]

Thanks for the feedback.