CD Drive Problem

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Nightsky - 21 May 2008 05:39 GMT

The CD drive in my Inspiron 7000 reads and opens things like pdf files, but
will not play commercial or burned CDs. WinMediaPlayer message says it
cannot handle this type file (.cda)

Sometimes another message says, "Unable to find file".

I re-installed WMPlayer, check all the file associations, refreshed drivers,
all to no avail.

Any help appreciated

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Lee - 21 May 2008 09:50 GMT

> The CD drive in my Inspiron 7000 reads and opens things like pdf files, but
> will not play commercial or burned CDs. WinMediaPlayer message says it
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Any help appreciated

http://www.cdrfaq.org/

For those of us who don't know, is the CD drive in your Inspiron 7000
special or unique in any manner? Is this a laptop? Have you applied
Force Aspi 4.60?
http://aspi.radified.com/

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Nightsky - 25 May 2008 16:25 GMT

Lee - No, the CD drive is typical for my Inspiron 7000 Laptop.
What is Force Aspi 4.60?

Nightsky

> The CD drive in my Inspiron 7000 reads and opens things like pdf
> files, but
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Any help appreciated

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Etal - 25 May 2008 18:06 GMT

> "Nightsky" wrote:
>> The CD drive in my Inspiron 7000 reads and opens things like pdf
>> files, but
>> will not play commercial or burned CDs. WinMediaPlayer message says it
>> cannot handle this type file (.cda)

Not sure if this can be it, but do you have "Enable Digital CD
Audio .." checked for that drive in 'Control Panel : Multimedia :
CD-Music :'? If not does the machine have an analog audio-cable
connected to that CD Drive?

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Please followup in the newsgroup.
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Lee - 30 May 2008 08:44 GMT

Force Aspi 4.60 is method to update your Aspi layer files to version
4.60. Win98 has apsi layer files of version 1 or so and for most part
they work fine. But some situations require higher versioned files.
4.60 seem to as high as Win98 can go without causing aspi layer
problems and coaster burning when using a CD burner at least in my
experiance. 4.60 version files are actually for NT 4.0 but work
gangbusters in my Win98. Since you have a laptop which usually
require specialized CDROM drivers you should probably NOT apply force
Aspi 4.60 unless as a last resort and then only with the full ability
to resort your system back to orginal files and registry entries by
use of Total Uninstall or similar program.
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/util/uninst.html

Usually when a CDROM drive doesn't recognize data on a disk, it is a
problem with the drive's BIOS and might be fixed by flashing the drive
with the latest update file if available. This file would be found on
your Laptop's site.

There is a rumor where Laptop's keep part of their BIOS and some of
their CDROM driver code on a hidden partition on the hard drive like
Compaq computers do. Thus one can not normally just wipe a drive and
install Windows 98 clean from a regular installation CD like a true
IBM compatible computer can. If this rumor is true then the only way
you as a Laptop user can get from here to there is to use the Restore
CD that came with your Laptop which will install the hidden partition
along with BIOS and CDROM driver code to allow your system to work as
a normal computer. The Compaq site has downloadable files to do this
on their system, perhaps Inspiron website has a similar area? The
Restore CD also has a custom set of Windows files and Windows should
only be installed from the Restore CD.

> Lee - No, the CD drive is typical for my Inspiron 7000 Laptop.
> What is Force Aspi 4.60?
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> special or unique in any manner? Is this a laptop? Have you applied
> Force Aspi 4.60?http://aspi.radified.com/

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Bill in Co. - 30 May 2008 20:14 GMT

ASPI version 4.70 also worked ok for me (IIRC) on Win98SE.
However, the later editions might have been the problematic ones (like
around 4.71, or 4.71+)

> Force Aspi 4.60 is method to update your Aspi layer files to version
> 4.60. Win98 has apsi layer files of version 1 or so and for most part
[quoted text clipped - 50 lines]
>> special or unique in any manner? Is this a laptop? Have you applied
>> Force Aspi 4.60?http://aspi.radified.com/

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Ben Myers - 21 May 2008 22:51 GMT

> The CD drive in my Inspiron 7000 reads and opens things like pdf files, but
> will not play commercial or burned CDs. WinMediaPlayer message says it
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> all to no avail.
> Any help appreciated

Make sure you are using version 7 or later.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/

Ben

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glee - 22 May 2008 03:08 GMT

I replied to your nearly-identical post in April....did you look at what was
suggested then, repeated below?

Windows Media Player Does Not Play Audio CD-ROMs Automatically
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279614

<quote>

To make Media Player the default player for audio CD-ROMs, follow these steps: 1.
Open Windows Media Player, click Tools, and then click Options.
2. Click the Formats tab.
3. Click to clear the CD Audio Track check box, and then click Apply. Now, click to
re-select the CD Audio Track check box, and then click Apply.
4. Click OK.
5. Now insert a CD-ROM, and it should automatically play with Windows Media Player.

If this does not work, you need to manually associate Media Player with audio
CD-ROMs. In order to change this manually, follow these steps: 1. Right-click My
Computer, and then click Explore.
2. Click Tools, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.
3. In the Registered File Types box, click to select the (N/A) or (NONE) extension
type, with a file type of AudioCD.

Note There is no extension because it is referring to the format of an audio CD-ROM,
which is not a regular file type, and therefore has no extension.
4. In Details for 'AudioCD' file type, click Advanced.
5. The Actions box should contain the choice Play. Click Play, and then click Edit.
6. Browse to the location of the Windows Media Player and select the executible; it
should be similar to the following:
"D:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" (including the quotation marks)
Add to the end of the line: /device:AudioCD "%L" (including the quotation marks).

The full path under "Application use to perform action:" should be similar to the
following:
"D:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" /device:AudioCD "%L"
7. Click to select Use DDE and then click OK to save your changes.
8. Now insert a CD-ROM, and it should automatically play with Windows Media Player.

</quote>

Signature

Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

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Nightsky - 23 May 2008 23:39 GMT

Glee,
Thanks for your help.
I did try, but with no luck.

First, there is no Formats tab (so I used File types tab). Second, there is
no CD Audio Track box ( so I used the Music CD Playback box). No luck.
message said something like

"The selected file has an extension that is not recognized by Windows
Media Player,
but the Player may still be able to play it. Because the extension is
unkown by the player,
you should be sure it comes from a trustworthy source"

If I use Explore to open the CD ROM drive, the tracks are listed as
Track01.cda, etc.
If I drag a track to WMP, the message says

"Windows Media Player cannot find the specified file. be sure the path is
typed correctly. If it is, the file does not exist at the specified
location, or the computer where ther file is stored is offline."

Although I click "More Info", enbable all network protocols, and verify
proxy server settings, results are still negative.

On to manual association.

I tried the "In the Registered File Types box, click to select the (N/A) or
(NONE) extension
type, with a file type of AudioCD." But I do not see anything resembling
(N/A) or (NONE) extension type, with a file type of AudioCD. My File Types
did show a CD Audio Track type which I edited to conform to steps 6,7,8
below.

The path is confirmed as
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" /device:AudioCD "%L"

All this and still no luck.

For what it's worth, the CD drive handles data disks properly.
The contents are displayed, and I can open various files

Is there another procedure I shoud try?

Nightsky

***********************************

> I replied to your nearly-identical post in April....did you look at what was
> suggested then, repeated below?
[quoted text clipped - 45 lines]
> >
> > Any help appreciated

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glee - 26 May 2008 05:28 GMT

Sorry, the info in that link referred to settings in Windows XP.

Try this for Win98:

Start> Control Panel> Folder Options> File types tab

In the List of registered file types, select AudioCD
Click 'Edit'
Select 'Play' in the Actions list, and click the 'Edit' button.
Under "application used to perform action", I have:
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" /prefetch:3 /device:AudioCD
"%L"

DDE is NOT checked.

Start> Control Panel> Folder Options> File types tab.
In the List of registered file types, select CD Audio track
Click 'Edit'
In the Actions box, I have both 'Open' and 'Play' listed...'Play' is the default.

Select 'Play' in the Actions list, and click the 'Edit' button.
Under "application used to perform action, I have:
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" /Play "%L"

Select 'Open' in the Actions list, and click the 'Edit' button.
Under "application used to perform action, I have:
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" /Open "%L"

DDE is not enabled for either of those.

Set yours the same, click OK all the way out, and see if that helps anything.

Signature

Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

> Glee,
> Thanks for your help.
[quoted text clipped - 108 lines]
>> >
>> > Any help appreciated

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