First off, I am running Windows XP Home Edition on an AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3200+
1) My Help and Support service is running, but the system information tool, and the Help and Support windows will not open. I have several instances of helpctr.exe, but none in a PCHEALTH folder... in fact my system apparently doesn't HAVE a PCHEALTH folder.
2) Whenever I insert a disc in either my DVD-ROM (unknown make/model) or my CD-R (OEM Plextor PX-230A 52x/32x/52x), the drive will not acknowledge that a disc has been inserted. AutoRun does not start, and I have used Microsoft's Guided Help to deal with some of the registry entries that could be causing the issue. Plextor's website says that there aren't any specific drivers needed for the CD-R drive, but that it is designed to use the ones XP installs on it's own. I have not identified the DVD-ROM, and the Device Manager simply refers to it as "IDE DVD-ROM 16X." I have tested the drives with several different discs and neither drive seems to want to acknowledge that I have inserted any. For a while I could get them to work if I ejected the tray, tried to open the drive from My Computer to get it to display an "Insert Disc" dialogue, and would then insert the disc, but now even that doesn't work. I have also
The current CD-R drive is actually the second drive I have used on this machine, and it's predecessor (an OEM WRR-52Z 52x/32x/52x drive) had the exact same problem.
I've tried going through the Device Manager to uninstall the device drivers for both and restarting the computer to have it reinstall the XP drivers
I'm completely stumped on how to fix either of these problems.. I've been dealing with #2 now for over two years, and no amount of research into the problem has yielded any results for me. The other is recent, maybe the last 6 months but definitely before installing SP3.
I have too much crap on my computer to back anything up without my CD-R drive working, so I am unable to do a fresh install of Windows XP until I get that issue resolved.