1:00 AM
TheEpicChocobo
So since I’ve moved over to web development I haven’t had too much Tech Support type stuff to write. But now I do. I had to load a Virtual Box to test site in XP SP2 with IE 6… yeah I know some people are still using that :( but anyway. My CD drive wasn’t working when I went to go mount it into my virtual box. I tracked it down and found out in the Device manager I was getting an error stating that it couldn’t load my CD Drive. Well like with most things I didn’t read the error and just shut the PC down and re-plugged the power and IDE cables.
The PC came back up and I notice that it wanted to boot from the CD. So I thought to myself. Well it must be working. Windows came up and I logged in but still no CD Drive. “Damn it, I hate when stuff doesn’t work!” So I decided to actually look at the error and noticed it was one I’ve seen before:
“Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged.”
Oh well that’s not too hard of of a fix. I just had to track down that registry key again, which was an Epic Pain in the arse. So I figured I’d tell you guys about it and without further adieu:
To fix a CD or DVD drive that is not working due to the error:
“Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged.”
Click Start
Click Run (Or press Windows+R on the keyboard)
In the run box type REGEDIT and hit ok or press enter
Make a backup of your Registry (as always when you make any changes)
Navigate to the following Registry Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
There will be keys named UpperFilters, LowerFilters and Installer32
Delete all those keys
Close Regedit
Right click on My Computer
Click on Manage
Click on the Device Manager
Find your CD Drive that has the Yellow exclamation point on it
Right click on that CD Drive
Click Uninstall
Click OK on that Popup
Now Right click on any device in there and click Scan For Hardware Changes
And that should fix it. If not try to reboot. I’m not sure exactly what causes this but I’m assuming probably software like Nero or what not. Let us know if this helps you out at all.
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