Roxio Drivers NOT LOADING (Listed in Driver Protection List). Removal?

[Lysimachus]

I posted these topics in Microsoft's Community Newsgroup, but I'm not getting the help I need. Hopefully one of you will be able to guide in the right direction. Here are my problems:

Hello. I have an annoying problem. Whenever I boot my
machine, a little icon with a baloon shows up on my
taskbar saying something like:

"Devices or applications disabled...will cause Windows to become unstable. Windows has prevented these drivers from loading. Click here for more details."

So I click, and the Windows XP Help and Support Center
loads up under "View the status of my system hardware
and software" which is under "My Computer Information". All
this is in the "Help and Support Center" of Windows XP.

Once in the "My Computer Information - Status, the top
cells show:

"Obsolete Applications and Device Drivers"

Two "CD Recording Software" files appear.

1. cdralw2k.sys Roxio, Inc.
2. cdr4_2k.sys Roxio, Inc.

I clicked "More Info" concerning these drivers, and it
says:

--------------------------------------------------------

Issue Description:

A CD-recording driver is installed that might cause
stability problems, including problems shutting down
and problems using a CD/DVD drive. This driver will be
disabled.

This driver might have been installed by Easy CD
Creator, Windows Media Player or RealJukebox. You might not be
able to record CDs until you obtain compatible drivers.

Roxio, Inc. provides an update for Easy CD Creator users at the Easy CD
Creator Updates Web site.

For Windows Media Player users, see the Microsoft Web
site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/windowsxp/roxio.asp

For RealJukebox users, see the RealNetworks Web site at http://switchboard.real.com/rj2/?cd=xpfix.

--------------------------------------------------------


As I now remember, I once installed Easy CD Creator 4,
but then found out that it was incompatible with
Windows XP, so I completely removed and uninstalled it.

However, I now have the latest version of Windows Media Player
9.0. I now use the built in Roxio CD-Burning features
in Windows XP.

Since I had no reason to go to Easy CD Creator's
website for updates (since I no longer am supposed to have
anything with Easy CD Creator installed on my machine),
nor have I ever used or use RealJukeBox, I decided to
click the link for "Windows Media Player Users", and
see what updates they might have to fix this problem (since
remember, this is after I clicked details, and they are
supposed to now be solving my problem).

So I click the link to see what Windows Media Player
issues I might have, and this is what Microsoft tells
me:

--------------------------------------------------------

Windows Media Player for Windows XP

Issue Description:

The Windows Media Player components of Windows XP have
been updated for this release. Windows Media Player for
Windows XP no longer uses the older CD-Recording
driver. No further action is required from you.

-------------------------------------------------------


So, apparently, this is coming across as though I have
nothing to update concerning my "built-in" Roxio
software.

I try rebooting my machine, and bang, save Roxio
Drivers not loading. I don't know why they are still in there,
but it is very annoying.

Also, I went ahead and tried to see if I could find anything in
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software pertaining to "Adaptec"
or "Roxio". Nothing whatsoever.

However, I did find this Microsoft link:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/driver/drv_protect_Print.mspx#drv4


Scroll down, and you'll see the Driver Protection List. Make sure you expand the pictures on the site.
My two files are listed "cdralw2k.sys" and "cdr4_2k.sys".

Under "How to Update a Driver on the Driver Protection
List" it gives me steps of what I need to do to resolve
this problem, but it doesn't tell me where to go to take
these steps. It is not very specific at all. For
example, it says:

"1. Produce an updated version of the driver that fixes
known incompatibilities".

Does it mention how? NO! I have no clue what that
sentence is talking about.

Anyway, there you have it. If you have an insight on
what that link is talking about, please let me know, but
in as much detailed step-by-step instructions as possible.


Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in
advance.

Sincerely,

Lysimachus

 

[Lysimachus]

anyone?

 

[Lysimachus]

Does anyone know of a forum that provides more hardcore techsupport and is more busy concerning Windows XP issues such as these? A forum where 10 minutes later you'll find 10 replies? Or do I have to wait another 5 hours like I have already just for one reply?

 

[Rainsford]

I have the same problem as you, I just ignore it, but your post has made me want to fix it. Here's something you might try. Search for those files in your registry. They are under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs. They are labeled with the pathname to the file and their value is "1". This could mean enabled or disabled or something. I will give it a try, but right now I'm downloading something and I don't want to reboot to test. I'll post the results when I do.

 

[NogginBoink]

The older Roxio drivers are a recipe for disaster. (Actually, they're a recipe for a STOP 0x7B blue screen.)

Also, there is a bug in the uninstaller for these drivers that renders your system unbootable (again, a STOP 7B) when you uninstall the software. (The uninstaller deletes a driver from disk, but does not remove registry entries that tell the OS to load the driver. So the OS attempts to load a driver at next boot that doesn't exist on the hard drive.)

Contact Roxio tech support for a brute force uninstaller, and upgrade to a version later than version 5.x.

 

[Rainsford]

Here's what I did, and it worked. I do no promise the same for you though. Anyways, I renamed those two files and went through the registry and deleted all reference to those files, with and without the .sys extension. Everything seems to work alright.

 

[Lysimachus]

Wow, thanx Rainsford. You say you went and renamed those files? First, Where are they located where you would want to rename them? I did a search and found both files. Then I went to the path where they are located. However, I'm not sure if you mean rename the files themselves, or rename them in the registry? Also, when you say "rename", do you mean rename the "name" before the ".sys", or change the name AND the ".sys", or just change the ".sys" to something else?

I will definitely try your suggestions. Glad it worked for ya! Hope it does the same for me

 

[Lysimachus]

Alright, what Rainsford said was right to a degree. However, when I did what he said, I lost my CD-Rom Icon located in "My Computer". The Device was corrupted (with an exclamation) in the Device Manager. Drive E this was. Completely missing.

Here is what I did that caused this problem:

1. I went ahead and edited the two files: "cdralw2k.sys" and "cdr4_2k.sys", and renamed them to "cdcorrupt1.sys" and "cdcorrupt2.sys". At least this is what I gather I should have done.

2. I went in the registry editor and deleted both files (cdralw2k.sys and cdr4_2k.sys) under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

3. Rebooted my machine and BAM! It solved my problem alright. Although there was no error message saying that there were Roxio drivers that could not be loaded, but I lost my CD-ROM completely as well! Neither was there an Icon nor was I able to view/read CDs.

Here is what I did to resolve this problem:

1. First, I did a System Restore to the checkpoint just before (day before) I made the Registry changes.

2. After I got my CD-Rom back (as well as the error message indicating that Roxio drivers could not be loaded), I went ahead and followed the suggestions offered me in Microsoft's Newsgroups and downloaded this:

www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip

3. Next I unzipped it and right clicked the "cdgone.reg" and clicked "Merge". Note: the EditReg.reg is an additional little feature that you can read about in the Read ME First.txt.

4. Bingo! Problem solved. CD-ROM Icon minus Driver Errors. PROBLEM GONE!

Now, the big question is, if it weren't for this nifty Regestry fix I found, what would you have done to restore the keys and solve the problem correctly? What mistake did I make that caused my problem? As you might have figured out, I'm the type of person who is obsessed of getting to the bottom of things, and I never give up until I can determine the cause of a problem and resolve it. What could I have done, and why did the procedures I took wipe out my CD-ROM device?

Your comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rainsford]

I got the same thing you did at first, but what I did was search the registry and delete everything with "cdralw2k.sys" or "cdr4_2k.sys" in it, and I deleted everything with "cdralw2k" or "cdr4_2k" in it. The way I believe it works is that the drivers are considered drivers for the CD drives, so if you just remove them without removing them from the driver list for the CD drive, it disables the entire drive. When you remove everything I did from the registry, I believe the drivers are removed from the list of drivers for the CD drives, and renaming the files (for the record, I rename all files when I'm testing to whatever.whatever.bak) or deleting them should have no effect. Since the CD drives obviously work fine without those drivers, removing them from the list of drivers for the CD drives (sorry, no clearer way of putting that) has no effect. The only problem comes in when they are listed as drivers but windows cannot find them.

The above is just my guesswork of course, but it worked for me.

 

[NogginBoink]

All right, guys, if you're not going to take my advice and contact Roxio, here's what you need to do.

Go to hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\class

Under there, there are at least two, possibly three, keys that have one of these drivers in the UpperFilters REG_MULTI_SZ value. Delete references to these drivers.

One is {4D36E967....
One is {4D36E965....
There may be others.

If you're on Win2K, be sure to use regedt32, not regedit.

Be *very* careful here. You could render your machine unbootable.

(But why are you going through all these gyrations when Roxio has a packaged solution?)

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
All right, guys, if you're not going to take my advice and contact Roxio, here's what you need to do.

Go to hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\class

Under there, there are at least two, possibly three, keys that have one of these drivers in the UpperFilters REG_MULTI_SZ value. Delete references to these drivers.

One is {4D36E967....
One is {4D36E965....
There may be others.

If you're on Win2K, be sure to use regedt32, not regedit.

Be *very* careful here. You could render your machine unbootable.

(But why are you going through all these gyrations when Roxio has a packaged solution?)

Heh, well usually any time I need to "contact tech support" I tune out, especially when I can fix it myself. I've done enough registry stuff that I feel fairly certain about what I can and can't mess with, and in this case I fixed it with little fuss.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
All right, guys, if you're not going to take my advice and contact Roxio, here's what you need to do.

Go to hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\class

Under there, there are at least two, possibly three, keys that have one of these drivers in the UpperFilters REG_MULTI_SZ value. Delete references to these drivers.

One is {4D36E967....
One is {4D36E965....
There may be others.

If you're on Win2K, be sure to use regedt32, not regedit.

Be *very* careful here. You could render your machine unbootable.

(But why are you going through all these gyrations when Roxio has a packaged solution?)

Heh, well usually any time I need to "contact tech support" I tune out, especially when I can fix it myself. I've done enough registry stuff that I feel fairly certain about what I can and can't mess with, and in this case I fixed it with little fuss.

See, the thing is, you couldn't have fixed it yourself without this information you didn't have. Roxio has, I believe, a small app you download and run that takes care of all of this for you, in a lot less time.

But hey, you are free to have your opinions about tech support and do things the hard way.

 

[rmrf]

we were having a lot of problems at the company I work at with the old roxio drivers. we just used the newest drivers from roxio, and everything was fine. I'm usually not a tech support guy, but roxio actually has a good thing going for them with this driver.

 

[DSE]

If they hadn't screwed it up so bad in the first place....

In their defense, I suppose they couldn't forsee that Microsoft would put in CD burning capabilities into their new OS that wouldn't play well with their drivers, but other CD burning software did not have nearly as much problems. The price of over engineering, I suppose.

 

[Lysimachus]

And besides, messing around with the registry excercises your brain, and when you mess something up and then fix it, you are learning. IMO, it's more profitable to go the hard way and learn the sciences of what makes things work in the software world rather than just double clicking some executable and letting it do all the work for you.

However, I am curious to know what this software package is that Roxio has? I went to Roxio's site and I do not recall anything of the sort. Could someone plz provide the exact link should a problem similar or like this arise in the future? say with some friends of mine that don't know much about computers...

Thanx.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: DSE
If they hadn't screwed it up so bad in the first place....

In their defense, I suppose they couldn't forsee that Microsoft would put in CD burning capabilities into their new OS that wouldn't play well with their drivers, but other CD burning software did not have nearly as much problems. The price of over engineering, I suppose.

Um... actually, I believe the CD burning software in XP was licensed from Roxio.