Disk Not Recognised - Won't Load Game (UPDATED)

[Weaver]

OK, we might just be getting somewhere here.  I've done a lot of fiddling about and one of the things I did was download some Nero checker thing.  When it tried to access the cd-drive, it came up with an error message that I'd seen before when all this trouble started.  This is it:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\S32EVNT1.dll. An installable Virtual Device Driver failed Dll initialization. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application

I hit ignore instead and discovered that the Nero checker thingy said there was no cd in Drive E (there was).  Entered the above error in Google and found a Microsoft page which gave instructions to remove a key from the Registry.  Did this and stopped getting the error.  I then went into the Registry and did a search for Symantec entries and removed them all, except a group it refused to let me delete which ha to do with drivers.  No change to my cd-drive, but the Game Jackal image no longer worked, it kept asking for the cd.

I have now gone back to yesterday with System Restore and Game Jackal is working again, so it seems that deleting either the key relating to the above error, or the other Symantec stuff, has affected it.

Did you follow this guide at the (ugly long link) Symantec support site?
Make sure to delete the value named VDD and not the actual key VirtualDeviceDrivers (emulated virtual drives / D-Tools & Game Jackal will use these)

Could this possibly have to do with the CD not working?  It seems unlikely as I hadn't altered anything on the pc or downloaded anything, but it seems odd that I can't delete some of the keys, plus I have this Symantec program (Symantec Network Drivers Service) in services.msc that I have no way of removing and it will appear in start-up if I don't disable it ... the strange thing is, I removed Norton Anti-Virus & Firewall at least two months ago and have NO Symantec products on my pc now at all.  Of course, it does come bundled with the pc and is no doubt hidden in the restore files somewhere, but that doesn't explain why it will put itself into my start-up folder if I enable it in services.msc.  It's the word "drivers" that bothers me, because that's what the error was all about.

If you know that the Symantec products are present and not used in any capacity, there are a few guides and tools to completely remove all traces of lingering files. (I used to have boot issues with the older anti-viruses suites years back, arg!) I don't think any of the products produced by the company could be directly causing issues with the drive.

I've run a virus check and Ad-Aware, but nothing came up with those.  The only thing I can't do is see if the cd-drive is working in Safe Mode because I can't get into it.  Everytime I try, the splash screen disappears before I have chance to select anything and Windows just starts up. 

There is an easier way I've found to get safe mode guaranteed to load:
Start Menu > Run > msconfig
Select the BOOT.INI tab at the top
Tick the /SAFEBOOT checkbox under Boot Options heading.

Make sure to uncheck the box while in safe mode to return to normal programming.

I just happened to log into my other account and the CD-drive worked with a CD containing image files.  I took it out and put my OFB disk in, but it wouldn't recognise that and even after I rebooted and put it back in, it still showed the folder for the image files disk.  This is what happened with the other account when it started going wrong.  What is puzzling is that it worked to start with, so I am now leaning very much towards a software problem.

I'm wondering if the optical drives reading capability is impaired - either that or Windows decided to cache the contents of the disk.
IMHO, at the moment there is nothing to directly associate it with definitely being a hardware or software issue, both appear possible causes.


I would go forward with Avalikia's suggestions - check the drivers and update if applicable.

Do you know the manufacturer and model of the DVD drive?
You can pull the details from Device Manager (Start > Run > devmgmt.msc)

[Ancient Sim]

The drive is a HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GWA-4164B.  I tried your suggestion for getting into Safe Mode and it took 10 minutes to do so, the computer just hung after it had loaded a certain file the same as before (Googled it and thousands of people have the same problem).  I was really panicking, thinking I'd never get back in, so I just left the pc and went into another room and it finally made it.  All to no avail as the cd-rom won't work in Safe Mode either.

I do have a couple of questions.  Is the CD-ROM meant to be shown as a removable drive?  I swear it wasn't before, but it is now.  I have 4 other removable drives shown as well, but I have no idea what they are.  I could swear I had more before, but maybe I am just confused.

I also noticed that the location of the CD-ROM is shown as 0(0) in Device Manager - is that right?  Sounds to me as if it might have come loose or something.  It did work briefly when I uninstalled it, but then stopped again.  I'm just wondering if Windows isn't detecting it properly because it's showing as removable when it isn't, but I don't understand all that technical stuff.  Also, not sure if I mentioned it before, but the only option I have in the left-hand panel in My Computer, or if I right-click on the cd-rom, is to "Write these files to CD" - what files???  It's as if it's only seeing it as a writer and not as a player.  It even says this for blank disks and it makes no difference whether it's a CD or a DVD.

[Weaver]

I do have a couple of questions.  Is the CD-ROM meant to be shown as a removable drive?  I swear it wasn't before, but it is now.  I have 4 other removable drives shown as well, but I have no idea what they are.  I could swear I had more before, but maybe I am just confused.

Are you referring to listings in My Computer?
Your DVD-RW should be under "Devices with Removable Storage" in group detail view.

I also noticed that the location of the CD-ROM is shown as 0(0) in Device Manager - is that right?  Sounds to me as if it might have come loose or something.  It did work briefly when I uninstalled it, but then stopped again.  I'm just wondering if Windows isn't detecting it properly because it's showing as removable when it isn't, but I don't understand all that technical stuff.  Also, not sure if I mentioned it before, but the only option I have in the left-hand panel in My Computer, or if I right-click on the cd-rom, is to "Write these files to CD" - what files???  It's as if it's only seeing it as a writer and not as a player.  It even says this for blank disks and it makes no difference whether it's a CD or a DVD.

The drive being listed as 0 is correct in that it is registered as the master (primary) device.
Are you referring to the drive in question or do you have another CD-ROM drive present on the system?

I tried your suggestion for getting into Safe Mode and it took 10 minutes to do so, the computer just hung after it had loaded a certain file the same as before (Googled it and thousands of people have the same problem).  I was really panicking, thinking I'd never get back in, so I just left the pc and went into another room and it finally made it.  All to no avail as the cd-rom won't work in Safe Mode either.

Oh well there goes that plan.

If Safe Mode was successful, it would have proven likely a software issue was present and loading on the core system essentials remedied the problem. There's still possibility on both defected hardware and clashing software (but not with third-party). On to 'Plan B!'

The drive is a HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GWA-4164B.

I did a little research digging and think I've found the original manufacturer (LG) and model (GWA-4164B).
The problem with firmware on this drive is that most suppliers customise the model and incorrect or generic firmware can cause more problems.

Did you originally purchase the computer system with the drive as a package and if so, which company (HP/Dell/etc)?

[Ancient Sim]

The pc was made by Acer and the drive was included with it (it's not even 4 months old yet).  Unfortunately, things have got worse insofar as I've been messing about so much in the Registry and so on that the Game Jackal image thing won't work anymore, despite several System Restores to times when previously it did.  Don't know if it means anything, but I went into the BIOS and although it shows the drive, it has 0's everywhere (no volume, etc.), although Device Manager still continues to insist it's working properly.  It did work briefly after I uninstalled it, but only very briefly and just for the one cd.

On a different note, I found quite a few Registry backups, but I can't install any of them because it's asking for a password.  What password? I've entered all the passwords I've ever had on this system and none of them work.  These must have been saved automatically and I have never been asked to set a password for anything like this.

If I can't get the Game Jackal thing to work I may as well bite the bullet and try restoring everything back to factory default.  If that doesn't work, it'll have to be a phone call to Acer on Monday.  I just need to find a virtual drive somewhere to store all my files, otherwise I will lose everything as obviously I can't put them onto cd, unless I can work out how to copy them onto the pc upstairs and then transfer them back (so far I've only worked out how to share and if I delete on one pc, it deletes it on the other, which would be a disaster).  Not sure whether the Game Jackal thing would still work if I did that, though.

Chances are the drive has just packed in, it sounds as if it's a pretty crappy one.  Seems a bit unlikely though, the ones on the other PC's are years old and they've never been any trouble at all. 

[Sleepycat]

unless I can work out how to copy them onto the pc upstairs and then transfer them back (so far I've only worked out how to share and if I delete on one pc, it deletes it on the other, which would be a disaster).  Not sure whether the Game Jackal thing would still work if I did that, though.

when you are on the other computer, open the folders that contain all your stuff, drag and drop them onto the desktop or a folder that is located on (the harddrive of) your upstairs pc. You should then have copys of your stuff on the upstairs computer that won't get deleted if you delete the ones on your downstairs one. At the moment it sounds like you are just looking at the shared folders and not copying anything over to the upstairs computer. correct me if I am wrong

[Ancient Sim]

That makes perfect sense, actually.  The only drawback is that with my old pc not working, my daughter is using my son's, which has a miniscule hard-drive and I don't think there's even enough free to take my Sims folder, which is a good 5GB.  Maybe I could burn the files straight onto a disk without adding them to the actual hard drive.

Anyway, System Restore has now decided to pack-in on me and has the latest restore point permanently squashed-in with no means of choosing another one.  I am quietly going mad here.  Haven't been able to go into the game all day and am getting withdrawals now.  I've basically run out of things to try apart from reformatting.  I will have to resort to it, because the last thing I want to have to do is send the PC away.

[Sleepycat]

That makes perfect sense, actually.  The only drawback is that with my old pc not working, my daughter is using my son's, which has a miniscule hard-drive and I don't think there's even enough free to take my Sims folder, which is a good 5GB.  Maybe I could burn the files straight onto a disk without adding them to the actual hard drive.

I would certainly try burning straight to disk if I were you, should work. 

I would try reformatting and then if your cd drive still dosen't work then I would try another cd-drive - but I have a brother who I manage to sucker into doing the hardware stuff. I don't think age matters with cd-drives, some just crap out quicker then others. In my (main) computer I have two DVD-RWs... just in case 

[Weaver]

Honestly, System Restore has a horrible recovery rate. After all Windows ME introduced it! (sorry, couldn't resist bashing that OS, muawh)

The best method to store configurations and backups is to use a disk imaging program to create an exact reproduction of the state, this can then be stored on a DVD for future preservation (especially good for setting your system up and storing, so next time you can skip a lot of steps).
Acronis True Image and Norton Symantec Ghost are two known products that come to mind.

I'm using a tool called ERUNT to backup the system registry, it has never failed me.

I mentioned updating drivers earlier: the following is the firmware software specifically for the GWA-4164B drive.
I could not find any specifically catered for by Acer, so be careful with these drivers.
LG GWA-4164B 1.0

If you feel a fresh environment is a good idea and you are willing to take the time to manage it, the reformat would be a good option.
A few other options for transferring the files should the home network not be available:

Do you have a secondary hard drive? You can copy the files over quick and efficiently, it also makes a good backup medium.
If you can manage to get the DVD burner working with a spare blank DVD ready, your Sims folder will fit.
CDs have a smaller capacity, but good if you have a pack to spare - make sure to check the files are written correctly.

Try not to panic too much about the situation, the computer has not caught fire... yet.

[Ancient Sim]

Thanks for the link, I'd already found that and installed it.  I'm not sure what it is, but my driver still shows the exact same date, but I think the file has gone somewhere as I downloaded a utility that seemed to recognise it.  I've been seeing a lot about some sort of codec things (ASPI or something) that have to do with CD-ROMS and this pc apparently doesn't have them.  I downloaded some, but I couldn't get them to go on the pc.  Can't see that it's them though, as it worked perfectly without them before. 

I'm wondering whether to replace the driver files and any other system files that involve the cd-rom, that's something I haven't done yet.  They're all stored on the pc, but the only option I have is to Extract, not copy, so I'm not sure what that's all about.  I will probably just bite the bullet and try reformatting tomorrow and if it doesn't work, I'll just have to put-up with sending it away.  From what I can make-out, the engineers only do home call-outs if you've paid for the extended warranty and I haven't because I got a year's warranty when I bought it and there's still more than 8 months of it left.

[Weaver]

Apaptec has a tool to check for the presence of the ASPI layer interface: clickie
ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface) is related to device adaptors (including CD-ROMs)

The alternative to reformat is to reinstall the OS. This can get messy but no files are removed only system files replaced.
Windows will functionally reload as a new install. You will need to reinstall programs but personal files remain untouched.

[Ancient Sim]

I don't have the ASPI thing, that was the tool I meant that told me I hadn't got it.  As for reinstalling Windows, that's basically what it will be doing, but when I did it before it removed all my files.  I don't actually have an XP disk, it comes bundled with the PC.  I do have an XP Pro disk that goes with my son's computer, but I don't think that would work on here as this one uses Home.  Well I know it won't, because I tried it on my old PC once and it didn't work.

Something weird happened earlier.  I clicked on the Logitech Camera folder in My Computer to check what was in it before I removed the Logitech stuff (my son put it on, I don't want the thing!) and for some reason, when I clicked "Play" it made the DVD-RW icon disappear.  Probably just a coincidence, but I couldn't remove the Logitech Webcam software or driver in Add/Remove Programmes, I had to remove the former from the Uniinstall in the folder and I had to remove the driver folder manually.  I don't think either of those is the culprit though, because I rolled back to before they were installed at one time and nothing changed. 

Oh, and System Restore has basically deleted all my previous restore points for some reason.  They were all there right from when I got the PC in May, so I suppose the file had reached its limit or something with all the extra ones I've been doing.  Seems stupid to remove all of them, though.

[RainbowTigress]

I had a problem similar to what you described with CDs not being read and the PC displaying the contents of CDs that had been removed from the drive.  I thought I was going nuts because I had the CD in my hand, yet the computer kept displaying the contents even after refreshing.  I could remove the device in Device Manager and have it redetect it, and it would work until I put the next CD in.  My brother-in-law said it was a bad controller on the motherboard.  I was also having problems with my mouse locking up sometimes when the CPU got to 100%, so he recommended a motherboard and helped me install it.  It fixed both problems, but I had to reinstall Windows.  I have two hard drives, and I keep all my data files on the secondary drive with only Windows and programs on C.  That way, if I need to reformat, I can just wipe C and do a clean install. 

I think it sucks that companies won't give you a Windows CD with your computer anymore.  They think they are discouraging piracy that way.    You can still download a CD image of Windows and burn it to a disk.  They haven't stopped people from doing that yet.  We'll see what happens with Vista, though. 

[Ancient Sim]

I'm copying all my files onto XDrive at the moment, which is a VERY slow process, but I'm wondering now if I actually need to.  The drive is partioned into two, one (C) and one (D) (100 gig each) and apparently all files on (C) will be lost (that's where Windows is, obviously), but it doesn't say the ones on (D) will, so it sounds as if they'll be OK.  The actual XP files are all on (D) somewhere, that's what it uses to put them back.

From what you've just said though, it sounds as if reformatting isn't going to make much difference.  As for downloading an image, that sounds most intriguing.  Do they work with Game Jackal?  Not that I would use one of course, I am just interested.  Might be the only thing that would get my daughter's PC working again.

[RainbowTigress]

You mean Windows or Sims?  Windows images have to be burned to CD because the computer has to boot from it and run the computer from it.  You can't run it from Daemon Tools because Daemon Tools requires Windows to be functioning.  As far as the Sims, you can load a Sims disk image file into Damon Tools (which works like a virtual CD/DVD drive) and install it from there.  To actually play the game, as of OFB, you have to use something like sd4hide to bypass the SafeDisc4 copy protection.  I'm not familiar with Game Jackal. 

[Ancient Sim]

I honestly don't understand how the Daemon Tools system works.  From what JM says, I could use it and still play the game without my cd-rom functioning, but I don't know how because surely it would have to copy the disk first and it can't do that if the cd-rom won't recognise it.  He seems to be suggesting that it doesn't need to do that, but I am totally confused as to how it could copy it otherwise.  My Game Jackal profile has stopped working, it keeps asking for the cd-rom, so I can't play at all now. 

[RainbowTigress]

Here's a hint.

[Ancient Sim]

Just thought I'd let you know I'm good at taking hints and also very grateful for them ...

Still don't know how this hint would work with the forthcoming non-existent furry EP if I couldn't install it, though (well, short of downloading the entire thing, that is).  I suppose I'm going to have to get the drive fixed before it comes out, even if it means doing without the PC.  Incidentally, Game Jackal works again now as a result of that SD4 thing.  I had a feeling that's what the problem was, it wasn't hiding the virtual drive anymore (whatever that means).  This other one is much better though, Game Jackal has to go through all the times you've already used it before it will even start, unless you pay for it, which is a pain.  Will keep it though, best to have something to fall back on.

[RainbowTigress]

Still don't know how this hint would work with the forthcoming non-existent furry EP if I couldn't install it, though (well, short of downloading the entire thing, that is). 

Yes, that's what you do.  Download the whole CD, and load it into the virtual drive.  I did that with Nightlife, even thought I bought it, I haven' t used the disks because I downloaded it and it worked perfectly without having to do the disk hokey pokey.  In fact, I once reinstalled the whole game from the hard drive because I have disk images from TS2 and all the EPs on my secondary hard drive.  It's a lot faster and easier than doing the disk hokey pokey. 

[RainbowTigress]

Ok, so I'm double posting.    I asked my brother-in-law today about your problem, and he says it sounds like the drive is bad.  He said for $50 you can get a new CD writer, and it's not hard to put in.  I've done a few myself.  Of course, I know yours is under warranty.  He builds his own PCs and builds them for other people for a small fee.  Sorry I don't have better news...I know you hate the thought of sending your PC away.