Jo-Anne wrote:
I've been using a Samsung external DVD drive with my WinXP netbook. Last
week I installed all the Patch Tuesday updates. Then I used the DVD drive to
install Microsoft Word. After that, I installed all the high-priority
Microsoft updates that followed the installation of Word.

Yesterday, when I tried to play a CD, I discovered that the drive isn't
recognized by Windows any more. When I plug it into the USB port, it lights
up momentarily; but there's no Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system
tray, and the drive doesn't appear in My Computer.

I unplugged the drive, waited, and plugged it in again, but no change. I
tried another USB port; no change. I unplugged it and turned off the
computer, waited a bit, and turned it back on; no change. I left it plugged
in and turned off the computer, then turned it back on; no change.

I tried to use Add Hardware, but Windows seemed to think it was looking for
a camera or a printer. There was nothing in the list for a CD/DVD burner.

Is it possible that the updates I installed after installing Word screwed up
Windows' recognition of this drive? Could it be something else?

I'd be grateful for help in fixing this problem.

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

Maybe the external drive uses a Cypress USB chip and the config space is erased ?

1) Go to C:\WINDOWS\setupapi.log and check the last entries. The entries have
date stamps, and you can check for any behavior changes, or attempts to
install "new" hardware lately. Maybe that will hint at what has happened.

2) Get a copy of UVCView and review what the device is currently showing for info.

3) Check Device Manager carefully for any question marks.

When my external optical drive disappeared, the symptoms matched this article.
I had just run "Seatools for Windows", to test an internal hard drive, when
my optical drive disappeared. And I had "Install driver for Cypress AT2LP RC42"
or "Install driver for Cypress AT2LP RC58" type error. The fix involved doing
a flash update of the drive enclosure, so that the configuration information
again reported a "USB mass storage" type device.

http://www.cypress.com/?id=4&rID=38494

The actual package I used, might have been this one. This article has some
nice pictures - in particular, notice the Device Manager appearance, and
the "yellow question mark" under Other Devices. If your Device Manager doesn't
have this problem, then this is not your solution. And then it's back to setupapi.log
for a look for hints.

http://www.mvixusa.com/support/index...articl eid=74

If your drive is physically functional, about the only other (popular) cure,
is the Fixit, which corrects an Upperfilter/Lowerfilter problem. You'd need
a perfectly clean Device Manager, the proper entries for the enclosure and so
on, before a thing like this would work. It sounds like you're not a candidate
for this, as the drive is no longer showing up at all. This basically fixes
a value in the Registry.

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd...rive_problems/

In terms of Device Manager entries, I just plugged in the (repaired) external
optical drive and these are the entries I see for it

- Under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"
"USB Mass Storage Device" - usbehci.sys, usbhub.sys, usbport.sys, hccoin.dll, usbui.dll
Hardware Ids = USB\Vid_04b4&Pid_6830
- Under "DVD/CD-ROM drives"
"HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22LP20 USB Device"
cdrom.sys, imapi.sys, redbook.sys, storprop.dll
Hardware Ids = USBSTOR\GenCdRom

That's all I can see right now, that gets added by switching it on.

Paul