flamdiddle

okay, so i just installed XP 64, and had been getting all my programs installed. i had installed all my drivers and everything getting my computer to run. so after my computer was all set, i started to install some games and video players and such. the first time that i noticed the problem was after installing alcoholsoft. i ran it and tried to create a virtual drive, but after it should have finished making the drive, i noticed that at the drive listing down at the bottom had no physical or virtual drives showing. so i checked my computer and instead of having my two cd drives: GCE-8527B and GSA-H10A, i had two removable disks. i checked my device manager, and it showed that i had two generic storage devices in disk drives, but it also showed my cd drives, but there was an error. the update wizard says that it cant update my cd/dvd drivers, and that the driver details still say the driver files are there, just that for some reason its not working. also, the device manager is saying that i have a mass storage device hooked up, that i do not. i had a Tvisto external hard drive hooked up, but that was yesterday, and ive done plenty of things since i disconnected it, and i dont know what the problem is. ive tried uninstalling my cd drivers, and runnning the add hardware wizard, but it brings me back to the exact same spot. i uninstalled alcoholsoft and redid everything, and still nothing. and i came seem to find a similar case on the internet to help me out. also, i ran hijack this and noticed that some of the files that the cd driver details said it had showed up saying file missing in hijackthis, such as: C:windows\system32\drivers\imapi, and i cant seem to find the right drivers for my cd drives either, so im completely stuck.

smz

im not sure if i follow the whole thing but you mentioned alcoholsoft which installs that virtual nightmare by default... I actually go into options and set the number of virutal drives to ZERO and anything about remember to launch them at startup is NO. as for external dvd burners, i would consider them removeable devices because they are hot swapable via firewire or usb. an internal ide or sata dvdrw is still a removable device so to speak as well. but the classification is more appropriate for an external drive. you need to lose the virtual drive in alchohol. did you only install that to burn a .mds file? I think nero can even burn thoughs now. www.nero.com if you havent been there.

flamdiddle

well, that was the first thing i did. i went into options to remove the virtual drives, and then also to see there was any other options left on that might be affecting my actual drives, but i couldnt see anything else. then i uninstalled alcoholsoft. none of this changed anything. now i have no proof for this, but it seems like alcoholsoft made my computer think my phyical drives were virtual ones, but i dont see how it could. the computer used to show:
CD-RW (G:)
DVD-RW (H:)

now its Removable Disk (G:/H:)
and the computer thinks they are usb storage devices. it thinks my cd drives are flash drives. ive tried reinstalling alcoholsoft to see if theres any kind of options ive missed, but i dont see what else i can do.

smz

though this is sort of a workaround if you can't get rid of the virtual drives but without further damage to the OS, you could always go into disk administrator under admin tools and right click on the virtual drives in question and use the option "change drive letter" and instead you just click remove. Then you don't have to stare at it every time you open explorer.

flamdiddle

okay, my solution was (since i had just installed xp64 and everything else a day or two before) was to just reformat C: and reinstall windows. cuz i figured i wouldnt have a solution in the time it would take me to reinstall everything. but now it did it again, only this time, i didnt install alcoholsoft. the first time i noticed it this time was after installed azureus, or more like the problem: a Java JRE. now, idk how this could do anything, but it might have been the wrong version for 64. im gonna try uninstalling the JRE and then azureus.

smz

be careful with 64 bit windows... if you run any software or burning utilities for that matter that use a 32-bit "SERVICE", your chances of it working are slim and none. Make sure your burning software is has native 64-bit support. no guarantee of a 32-bit burning program working under x64 unless stated by the author.

flamdiddle

there was one other thing that might help figure out whats going on, the only reason i didnt say it b4 was cuz i did it twice, and it didnt do anything the first time. i have a Tvisto external hard drive. and i had hooked it up to copy my files (pictures, documents, music) back to my drives after i formatted everything. after ive unhooked it, it still said there was a mass storage device connected to my computer. maybe the tvisto is 100% compatible with 64bit, but im considering uninstalling everything one last time and installing 32bit. grr.

smz

Is there anything special about the Tvisto external hard drive? Most if not all external hard drives and even those in generic cases will speak to WinXP x32 & x64 as well as vista without asking for any special driver. Some of the drives may include a cd with their backup solution or an application to enable buttons on the outside case. But USB Mass Storage is the generic driver Windows Installs almost 100% of the time. Though alot of the time, it is smart enough to read the drive information so you can see the hard drive maker's name in the device manager. Did your Tvisto external hard drive come with a cd of any kind? Just be careful with included software as the majority of the time they will not have x64 support on the cd and may have none on their site or only beta versions.