Missing Cd Rom From My Computer when you cant even start the CD-Rom

[BuffaloHelp 24]

I was called in about 3AM the other day regarding missing CD-ROM drive. You got to be kidding...right? Well here is what happened.

 

Apparently a computer in the office cannot "find" CD-ROM or access it. Going into the device manager reveals CODE 19 (registry error) and no one has any idea what happened. Looking at My Computer shows nothing about CD-ROM drive's icon. Humm that's funny... So, take a spare CD-ROM drive and just switch it over, right? No! Windows recognizes that a new hardware is found but the same error message of CODE 19. I'm not about to sit there and manually correct the entire registry. There's no way I was in the mood to restore the whole computer. After searching this code error, seems like I wasn't the only person who came across this bizarre behavior.

 

Apparently when a CD writing program, such as Easy CD Creator, is removed (uninstalled) when using Windows XP, sometimes it leaves your registry all messed up. At this point I had two questions: 1) there's got to be a patch and how do I look for it (what to type to search) and 2) who installed a program that wasn't suppose to be installed? My office computers carry some information that should not be viewed by the public. So who installed a CD creating software and uninstalled it to cover the track? Well, first things first.

 

I found this link to Microsoft https://support.microsoft.com/en-us But wouldn't you know it? For my issue, the said registry did not exist. It was completely wiped out. But then I found this site http://aumha.org/regfiles.htm And in the name of all that is holy, I found a patch called CDGONE.ZIP

The popular CDGONE patch. CD drives may vanish in Windows Explorer, Device Manager, etc. if a third-party CD-burning package has been uninstalled and Registry references for some code modules aren?t removed successfully. This patch and a reboot usually will restore the missing drives. Any third party package still required will then have to be re-installed. For more information on this and other possible causes, see the ?Problems? section of Alex Nichol?s Burning CDs in Windows XP article.

I will upload this file at Xisto so if anyone needs this, you can get it from here. There are three files in this zip: cdgone, EditReg, READ ME FIRST. cdgone and EditReg are registry files. All you have to do is right click on cdgone and select merge. But if you are skeptical as I am, click on EditReg to merge. This will prevent from installing a possible "fake" registry file to merge. You never know these days what some people are trying to do to your computer. Always read the READ ME file! Always back-up your registry before attempting any editing.

 

And after the entire debacle, just restart and ...voila!

 

PS: looks like I don?t (or can?t find) the attachment option. Go to the link http://aumha.org/regfiles.htm and look for Restore Missing CD Drive about half way down?

[sxyloverboy 0]

Well Thats Pretty intresting. ive never heard of a missing cd drive or anything but i think this article was very helpfull as for the futur. Nero counts as 3rd party dosent it? anyways maybe someone burned all your secret stuff on a cd and went away. id think about that.

[rvalkass 5]

I had the same problem on an old PC, it kept coming up with the same error. I found just unplugging the drive, switching on then off and plugging it in again worked. Anyway, if someone has tried to steal sensitive information then that is a serious crime. Do you have CCTV or network activity records or something? Thats just worrying that someone would try to steal the information.

[RGPHNX 0]

Hi BuffaloHELP,Nice post re: info...re-formatting to fix registry errors is the best (ie. safest) way but can get to be very time consuming & frustrating.For the future you might want to enhance your computers security by either encrypting & passwprd protecting sensitive data files and/or installing a keylogger program to track computer usage.Hope this is clear.RGPHNX