[bbatche3]

Hope someone can help with this one. I'm tired of thinking about it.

DVD\CD RW drive doesn't respond. Several attempts to uninstall and reinstall driver fail. Hardware wizard gives as reason

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

Downloaded driver from Dell. An HLDS GSA-H21N HH 16X DVD+/-RW PATA firmware that was listed as "urgent". Their instructions were to download a file to the desktop, run the file (which unzips several files to C:\dell\drivers\R143730). Followed these steps. According to the website, an Installshield window is supposed to pop up prompting me to complete further installation steps. Nothing happens after I unzip the files. None of the unzipped files in the C:\dell\drivers\R143730 will open.

Any help would be appreciated. I understand this particular device driver has been causing a lot of people problems.

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Optical drives don't need any extra drivers under Windows XP.

One of these may help:
1. Uninstall the drive through Device Manager.
Restart computer. The drive will be automatically reinstalled.
or...
2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
Restart computer.
or...
3. Download, and run Restore Missing CD Drive patch
Double click on cdgone.zip to unzip it.
Right click on cdgone.reg, click Merge.
Accept registry merge.
Restart computer.
or...
4. Go to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.

[Broni]

Optical drives don't need any extra drivers under Windows XP.

One of these may help:
1. Uninstall the drive through Device Manager.
Restart computer. The drive will be automatically reinstalled.
or...
2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
Restart computer.
or...
3. Download, and run Restore Missing CD Drive patch
Double click on cdgone.zip to unzip it.
Right click on cdgone.reg, click Merge.
Accept registry merge.
Restart computer.
or...
4. Go to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.

[bbatche3]

I'd already tried uninstalling the device. Upon restarting, it attempts to load the driver (I assume a plug and play), but then pops up the error message "Windows cannot load the device driver. / The driver may be corrupt or missing (code 39).

Error message is the same after merging registry patch. Windows fix said it would not run on my operating system. I also tried manually eliminating the upper and lower filters from the registry using microsofts directions. They were not where microsoft said they should be, so I assume the patch already did so.

Still, no changes, and the same error message w/ code 39, though all advice is appreciated.

Could there be a problem w/ a conflict with another codec? I'm running VLC videolan player.

Virus????

[Broni]

Upon restarting, it attempts to load the driver (I assume a plug and play), but then pops up the error message "Windows cannot load the device driver. / The driver may be corrupt or missing (code 39).

If it happens upon restarting, you may have some system files missing.

Go Start>Run ("Start Search" in Vista), type in:
sfc /scannow
Click OK (hold CTRL, and SHIFT, hit Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) will find any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD (rarely in Vista case).
If sfc won't find any errors in Windows XP, it'll simply quit, without any message.

[bbatche3]

Ran the system file checker, which did not produce any results (dissappeared almost instantly, as you described).

[Broni]

I'm sorry, but my conclusion is: the drive is dead.

[bbatche3]

Nuts.

Thanks anyway for all the advice!

[Broni]

Not such a big deal. New drive = ~$30.