Error Code 37: CD-ROM or DVD-ROM No Longer Accessible, It’s gone…

Suddenly my CD/DVD drive disappears. This happens after I remove Roxio Easy CD Creator or DirectCD from my workstation that is running Microsoft Windows XP Professional. However, Windows XP does not seem to cause this problem.

Viewing Device Manager, I see a yellow exclamation mark before the CD-ROM device. Inside the property of the CD-ROM, and under Device status, I see a Windows  error code 37, which states “Windows can not initialize the device driver for this hardware.” Viewing Driver tab, Windows is telling that the device driver is installed properly.

What is actually causing my CD-ROM drive to disappear from my system? To my understanding, the actual cause lies at when I remove Roxio Easy CD Creator. When I first install this application, Roxio filters and records my CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive information in the registry under two entries: UpperFilters and LowerFilters. And, when I uninstall the Roxio software, the records are not cleared from LowerFilters and UpperFilters, which I think causes CD-ROM drive to disapear from my Windows XP workstation.

In order for me to bring my CD-ROM or DVD-ROM back in the system, I need to remove LowerFilters and UperFlters, from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. I need to restart my computer after I remove these entries so Windows XP has fresh information about the device.

After reboot, and browse My Computer, there it is my CD/DVD-ROM drive appears again. Then I google ”error code 37″, I found a few other related links with different error codes. For a future reference, I post those links here.

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270008 – Cannot Access CD-ROM and “Code 31″ Error Message in Device Manager After You Remove Adaptec Easy CD Creator from Your Computer.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/en-us – 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″
• http://www.cdr-zone.com/forum/about4719.html – Upper- and Lowerfilters in Windows.

I further notice that when this problem occurs, it applies to all internal or external CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs that are connected to the computer, which causes the drives to disappear. But, removing LowerFilters and UpperFilters from the registry resolves this problem.

Boot Compaq Armada E500 from CD-ROM

The Compaq Armada E500 notebook provides easy settings for the boot options, which you can configure to boot your computer from. The default settings of boot order found in Boot options are as follows:

Boot options	Boot order
Notebook MultiBay	Third
Notebook Floppy	Second
Notebook hard drive	First
Notebook Ethernet	Fourth

This configuration is stored in the computer setup program or the basic input / output system (BIOS). In order to change a boot sequence to boot from a CD-ROM, you need to enter the computer setup and change it under Boot options in the Advanced menu.

Enter the computer setup and change to a CD-ROM boot

1. Turn on the computer. When the Compaq logo displays, press F10. Or,
2. During Power On Self Test (POST), and after the memory check completes, press F10 as soon as you see a small white square flashing on the top right corner of the screen.
3. In the computer setup, use the right arrow to move the selection to the Advanced menu.
4. Use the down arrow to move the selection down to Boot options, and press Enter. The Boot options menu pops up with four boot order as described above.
5. Use the down arrow to move the selection down to Third (Notebook MultiBay) under Boot Order.
6. Press the left arrow twice to change the order of Notebook MultiBay to First.
7. Press F10 to accept the change.
8. Press ESC to jump back File menu, and then move the selection down to “Save changes and exit”.
9. Press Enter. If asked to save changes and exit, press F10.
10. The computer is restarted. If you already have a bootable CD-ROM in the drive, it will boot from the CD-ROM.

When you are done with loading or reinstalling operating system, and you want to reset the boot order to the default setting, follow step 1 thru 5 above. Then press the right arrow twice to change from First to Third order. Again, follow step 7 thru 9 above to complete the change.

BIOS & BIOS Keys

What is BIOS?

BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. It’s the lowest-level software in the computer that handles communications between the peripherals and the operating system.

BIOS is Read-Only Memory (ROM) chips or electronically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) chips that are found on the motherboards, video adapter cards, SCSI and ATA/IDE host adapters.

The BIOS keeps and controls your computer hardware settings and configurations including keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communication ports and other functions.

Modern computers use the BIOS that you can update whenever it’s necessary. This kind of BIOS is called flash BIOS. You may notice that there are different BIOS versions; however, the BIOS is standardized, which all computers work the same at BIOS level.

Why do you need to enter the BIOS?

These are the reasons that you need to enter the BIOS:

• To change a boot sequence. For example, you want to change it to boot from a floppy disk instead of from a CD-ROM; or from a hard drive only; or from a network.
• To setup a BIOS password to prevent the bad guys to enter the BIOS and change the configuration.
• To change printer port settings. For example, you need to change from EPP to ECP or from bi-directional to ECP.
• After adding a new stick of memory to your computer; some systems require you to enter the BIOS. Normally, new systems update this information automatically.
• To change IDE settings. For example, when you add a new hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD, and CD-RW drive, you need to enter BIOS to update its configuration.

In most cases, you enter the BIOS by pressing the following keys during the system boot up or power on self test (POST).

• For AMI Bios, press [Del] key during system’s POST.
• For Award Bios, press [Del] key during system’s POST.
• For Phoenix Bios, press [F2] key during system’s POST.

For specific systems, for example, Dell, Gateway, etc…there are specific key combinations to press when entering the BIOS.

Dell Computers

• 286 & 386 systems, press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Enter] during POST.
• 486 systems, press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Enter] or [Del] during POST.
• New Dell Systems, press [F2] during POST.

Gateway Computers

• All E Series, press [F1] during POST.

Others

• Acer, press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Esc] during POST.
• Compaq, press [F10] during POST.
• Compaq Presario, press [Alt]+[Ctrl]+[Esc] at boot when you see the “Compaq” logo in big letters.
• Hewlett Packard, press [F1] during POST.
• Toshiba Satellite, press [ESC] then [F1] during POST.
• IBM
  • Older Models – hold down both mouse buttons during POST to get into the configuration of the IBM setup screen (CMOS) screen.
  • Aptiva, press [F1] during POST

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