Dvd Drive Disappears randomly

Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways,
have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes b
windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both th
operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os o
did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and the
told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.
Things I have tried..

- System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to tha
point
- Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry
- uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects an
installs it upon reboot
- driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should wor
- boot into safe mode and try burning (samething
- boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problem

It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just lookin
at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft'
fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times

Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i jus
put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable us
hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os t
another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and whic
keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if
need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, s
be it. I just don't want to lose everything

Thank

--
Cdeath

Hi,

The Fixit tool deals with the registry keys, so if that always brings it
back then that is where the fault lies. When those keys are affected, it's
because of third party software accessing the drive, most often buring
software but there have been instances of playback software causing it as
well. The real resolution is to remove or update the offending program.

As to your proposed solution, you will find that you are not able to install
Vista to a USB-based external drive, it's not supported because the
throughput rate is too slow.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Cdeath" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways, I
> have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes by
> windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both the
> operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os or
> did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and they
> told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.
> Things I have tried...
>
> - System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to that
> point)
> - Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry
> - uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects and
> installs it upon reboot.
> - driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should work
> - boot into safe mode and try burning (samething)
> - boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problems
>
> It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just looking
> at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft's
> fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times.
>
> Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i just
> put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable usb
> hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os to
> another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and which
> keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if i
> need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, so
> be it. I just don't want to lose everything.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> Cdeath

Thanks for the reply. Ok well, I was using Imgburn at the moment and i
believed that may have also been the case. However, I updated it two
days ago. That should be the only burning software running. In safe
mode, when i launch it and burn, the drive will eject itself from my
computer. So i guess the problem lies within ImgBurn, which i have been
using for months without a problem. Do know what registry keys may
have been effected? Thanks again


--
Cdeath

By upper and lower bounds do you mean Filters as in this KB article
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314060

"Cdeath" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hey guys, I am new to this forum. This is my first post. Anyways, I
> have a dvd drive (Hitachi that is detected in the bios and sometimes by
> windows vista home premium) This is stock on my laptop, both the
> operating system and the dvd drive. I have not ever added another os or
> did a factory restore. I contacted my laptops brand (gateway) and they
> told me a factory restore was needed before sending this machine back.
> Things I have tried...
>
> - System restore to an earlier point in time (don't have any to that
> point)
> - Deleting upper and lower bounds in the registry
> - uninstalling the driver for the dvd drive, but it detects and
> installs it upon reboot.
> - driver is there and it is enabled so the dvd should work
> - boot into safe mode and try burning (samething)
> - boot into linux, works, the cd drive has no problems
>
> It disappears randomly whether i am burning something or just looking
> at a disk. The only way i can get it temporarily back is by Microsoft's
> fix it tool. However, it disappears randomly other times.
>
> Now my question is this. instead of doing a factory restore, can i just
> put an external hard drive in and install vista os on the portable usb
> hard drive. Once installed, can i copy my registry keys from one os to
> another? If so, does anyone know where i could find these and which
> keys they are? That way, i wont lose my settings and programs. if i
> need to install a few programs because i need to delete a few things, so
> be it. I just don't want to lose everything.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> Cdeath

Correct. I have just restored it to factory settings despite the fact
lose everything. However I have figured out what the problem was. Th
problem was Imgburn. Upgrading to the newest version caused the drive t
disappear. The older version works however. Thank You guys for you
help

--
Cdeath