John Inzer wrote:
FWIW, I use CCleaner daily and it has never
caused any problems. Others may report
differing views.

When you scan the registry if asks if you want
to save a backup which I always do but I've
never had the need to restore one.


Do you often restore one just to assure yourself that you know
how and that it works properly, should the need arise?

Please understand...this is not tech support.
We are simply volunteers who attempt to assist
folks who are having problems. What works for
us may not work for anyone else...

Good luck in solving your problem.


Hi,

Thanks Cari I appreciate the input, but I am not sure
what you mean by "removed something very important". What
it removed made my DVD ROM drive work, how is that a
problem? Maybe CCleaner was not a great idea, but, for
one of the drives the problem is solved and my computer
seems to be working great. Do you know much about that
program?

I suppose that I was not specific enough when I explained
what steps I have taken when I replied to WOJO a few days
ago. I have done the very steps you suggest more than
once and that did not solve the problems. That is why I
was willing to take John's and your advice and purchase a
new drive, and why I kept reading and searching.

Also, I did a fresh install of XP Pro SP 2 less than 3
weeks ago on brand new hard drives which I believe I
stated in my first post.

I have no idea of the exact item the CCleaner removed to
assist with this issue. I don't know if it had something
to do with the Nero software (which I installed and
uninstalled 3 different versions several times and used
Nero's cleaner tool as well) or something else. At this
point I only have trial versions of Power DVD 7 and
NVIDIA's video decoder installed and I am reluctant to
ever install Nero again.

I had done a fresh install of XP in April when I upgraded
other system components. I rarely used the DVD drives to
view DVDs and I have had the system for quite some time.
Before April the Sony DVD RW was the last upgrade I made
(1 1/2 years ago) and that came with the Nero software.
The problem with the DVD drives was actually discovered
in early June (I mis-stated that timing in my first post)
when I tried to make a DVD from my digital video camera
for the first time ever. At that time I was using
Panasonic software to download from my video camera and
using Nero 6 to burn to DVD. At first I thought it was
the Panasonic software so I uninstalled that software and
I have not reinstalled it, yet. I could not get the newly
burnt DVD to work after trying several different things
including setting write speed all the way down to 1X (I
made quite a few coasters). After reading too many
troubleshooting tips, that is when I put in a DVD movie
to see if there was a problem with the drives... and
neither would play DVDs, at least the several that I
tried at that time.

After countless hours of searching, reading, and
troubleshooting and basically taking several of the same
steps I decided to do another fresh install of XP and I
had wanted to upgrade the HDs, so I did that just a few
weeks ago. I took my time and installed all the SP 2
updates before installing anything. Then it was one
program at a time and then checking for updates until I
finally got back to Nero 6 from CD. Then I tried the Nero
6 updates and then trial version of Nero 7, all made no
difference. So when I ended up with the same problem
again I tried playing more of the DVDs in my library and
that is when I discovered that some DVDs actually would
work every time I put them in. The DVDs that worked
appeared to be older ones and that is what made me think
that something I installed knowingly or unknowingly
was/is causing this problem.

After using the CCleaner tool now when I pop in the
Matrix DVD there is a menu that does ask to install PC
friendly. Even when I decline I can still play the DVD.
This happens in the 6 year old DVD ROM drive. As stated
the Sony Drive still will not play.

The DVD ROM drive works, there is no way I am
uninstalling that drive at this point. Not after so many
hours. I would try that with the Sony drive again but as
I stated I have done that already. I installed the Sony
drive into another machine running Windows ME. I also
installed the Nero 6 software (from CD). I witnessed the
exact same results. The same DVDs would work and the
others would not work. So you see, I believe it is
something in Nero or a conflict with Nero that was/is the
problem, at least part of the problem. I could be 100%
wrong but why would the same condition exist on a
completely different machine with a different (older) OS?
Currently the same problem exists with the Sony drive, I
can play a special features DVD (not the movie) and some
older DVDs but most of the DVDs I have will not work in
that drive. This is why I think it may be a firmware
issue.

I have new drive(s) on the way and when I get them we can
see where that leads. I would like to solve these issues
with accurate knowledge but I have to balance how much
time I can really dedicate to that. There may be a log
from the CCleaner listing items removed that I can look
through, I will check into that.

If you were in my shoes, what would you think, or do?

I hope this information is helpful in some way and I
appreciate the help and information that I have received.
Thanks.


At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed
something very important from the Registry. I'd NEVER
recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the
Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then
I'd really say it was time to clean install and start
afresh.

So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from
the computer and try to get them back correctly.

In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and
all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any
DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do
this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall.

Reboot the PC.

Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical
Drives. Turn OFF the PC.

Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical
drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power
cables in this case since you know you are going to put
them back. While you are there, physically check the
jumpers at the rear of the drive(s)

Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing
you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also
confirms no entries.

Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)...
or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that
XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it -
and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP
can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding
software. Check that XP can play a video DVD.
Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it
burns.

Your next option is the format and clean install.

Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you
alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible
for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that
point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again,
they are fully within their rights if they decide not
to. --
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows


"Rob" wrote in message
...
Thanks.

I should not have used the word random. The drives to
not play randomly, it
is the disks that are playable that are random. The
same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the
ones that do not work, never work.

Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can
play DVDs... so far
all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I
think it might be the
disk.

The only thing that I did recently was to install and
run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans
out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys
that the program deems as an error. If the drive
continues to
work my belief will be confirmed that something
somewhere on the computer was
stopping the drive from working.

I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW
drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make
sense to me. What is different with that drive
is that it seems to attempt to access information for
about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk.
I have ordered new DVD drives but now I
strongly believe it is something in the OS and software
that is the issue. I
wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem
with the Sony drive. Is
there a way to clear that new firmware and install an
older firmware?

Thanks again.

--