cdrom.sys has become corrupt.

I have an odd problem, everything seems fine on my Vista 64 setup, and was working great for a while, but I recently noticed that both my CD-RW and DVD drive are no longer recognized by Vista. They work fine upon startup, e.g. I can boot off the Vista DVD, etc. But Vista itself does not recognize them.

When I checked the Properties of the devices, it said that the Driver (c:\Windows\system32\Drivers\cdrom.sys) was corrupt, but no amount of uninstall/reinstall, chkdsk, sfc, or Restore has been able to fix the problem. I also tried the Startup Repair option off the DVD.

Is there some way I can get my drives working again without a complete reinstall? I have an MSI CR52-A2 (CD-RW) and a D16 (DVD-ROM).

Thanks for any help!

I experienced exactly the same thing on one of my Vista 64 machines also. I have a NEC/Sony Optiarc 3550A DVD/CD R/W Drive.

Were you ever able to recover this corrupted driver?

Yes, it turns out the driver is not actually corrupt; this is a default error message. What has happened is that a filter has been placed on devices (ala the Registry, probably through a Hotfix) that is preventing it from being seen by Vista.

I found this info through another forum, and once I applied a registry change shown in "Method 2" (two entries are talked about, but I only had one) and rebooted, my optical drives were back!

You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive [...]
You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive, or you receive an error message after you remove a CD recording program or a DVD recording program in Windows XP: "error code 31"

This very same thing has happened to me!

When I installed Photoshop Elements 6 my CD Rom/DVD drive "disappeared." When I uninstalled PE6, the drive "reappeared." I learned the error was number 39.

This was a situation similar to the one mentioned by algorhythm. My TSST Corp CD/DVDW TS-L652D ATA seemed to be at fault. I sent a couple of emails to Toshiba-Samsung for help but received no reply.

I also found a solution on another forum and had someone more technical than I apply this. At the same time I paid to have my new Vista Home Premium optimized. Its performance increased dramatically.

Many senior citizens use computers now, but we do not have the technical expertise of the younger generations. It is good that professional help is available, but I do resent the fact that I had to pay to have a new computer with 2GB of RAM "optimized."

Got the exact problem and tried the solution provided by algorythmn - and it worked
Only the "LowerFilter" was present and had to be deleted.

Thanks a lot.

wow thanks man! i have my cd/dvd drive back!!

i wonder why it disappear in the first place
again thanks algorythmn

algorythmn you are GREATE!!!! TNX a lot. it realy works.

Hi, I am also experiencing the same problem. The DVD/CD drive is neither shown up in Computer nor in Device Manager (in Vista Home Premium). I removed the Upper filters and Lower Filters entries from the registry. It did not help. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Yes!!! It Worked!!! I using Vista Business 32 Bit and tried Method #2...Worked like a charm!!!

Thank You!!!