DVD-RW Drive Disconnections in Vista

Wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this issue. I am on a W3J running Windows Vista Business x64. Sometimes the DVD drive will disconnect from the computer for no apparent reason. I can eject it, then put it back in the system and it shows up again.

 

I assume that you don't mean pressing the eject button here?

I'm not as familiar with 64-bit Vista as I am with 32-bit Vista and XP, but I would assume nothing is radically different in the Registry. My advice would be to try a registry fix I send to my customers using XP (I've used it on Vista, as well):

Please note that, on my system at least, there is no "UpperFilters" entry. As a tip, you will probably only need to find the first string of numbers in the Class entry below ( e.g., just look for 4D36E965):

1. Click Start, then Run, then enter REGEDIT to open the Registry Editor
2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class entry
3. Under the Class entry, click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. In the right-hand pane, click ONCE to select the UpperFilters entry
5. Make sure the UpperFilters entry is highlighted, press Delete, then Yes.
6. In the right-hand pane, click ONCE to select the LowerFilters entry
7. Make sure the LowerFilters entry is highlighted, press Delete, then Yes.
8. Close the Registry Editor by clicking File, Exit.

 

What are upper and lower filters?

 

@E.B.E.:

I've never researched it enough to find out. All I know is that this fix works REALLY well on disappearing DVD drives (I originally found it to combat drive disappearance caused by installing or removing iTunes).

 

Ok. I just have trouble applying fixes if I don't know what they actually do.

 

Doing a bit of research, the problem with the filters is apparently caused by other applications (like the evil iTunes) adding their own upper/lower filter drivers.

From searchwinit.techtarget.com:
"Many third-party programs that control CD or DVD burning (as well as some player applications) install CD- or DVD-ROM filter device drivers into Windows. These filter drivers are meant to allow for low-level hooks into the hardware, to allow for functions such as packet writing (where a CD-R/W or DVD-/+RW can be written incrementally, like a hard disk).

These filter drivers sometimes have problems that can cause the CD or DVD drive to stop working correctly. The device entry for the CD or DVD drive in the Device Manager may show up with an error descriptor that reads "The device could not start." Additionally, there may be an error message that reads "One of the filter drivers for this device is invalid." The devices themselves do not show up in Explorer. Error codes for the device include code 31, code 32, code 19 or code 39, and sometimes the even more ominous warning "Your registry might be corrupted" appears."


From PCmag.com's encyclopedia:
"Upper level filter drivers sit above the primary driver for the device (the function driver), while lower level filter drivers sit below the function driver and above the bus driver."


So, basically, deleting the Upper and Lower Filters entry forces Windows to rebuild "extra" support from scratch (remember, the filters are additional features on top of the basic driver installed by Windows), and each program that might be using filters must also rebuild its filter from scratch (which means, in the case of uninstalling iTunes, the blasted thing is deleted for good).