Member Avatar for zawadzki14

I've got Windows Xp which i recently reinstalled. For about the first week the drives were reading now when i put in any DVD/CD i get an error saying: the disk is not formatted or it is corrupted and windows cant read them. when all the disks i put in were working a week ago and are in the same condition no scratching or dirt/dust. With a fresh restart any rejected disk is occaisonaly read but when i put in the next one in the same session i get the error stated above. What do i do?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by goldeagle2005

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Quick expert summary: the pattern you describe — freshly reinstalled XP could read discs for a short time, then physical CDs/DVDs and virtual images both start failing with “disk not formatted or is corrupted,” while bootable media still works — points away from a physically dead drive and toward a software/driver/filter problem that sits between Windows and the optical stack. ’s clean-boot/CCleaner checks ruled out a simple startup conflict, and ’s ASPI idea is one plausible direction given how burning/virtual tools can leave low-level drivers behind.

Two things commonly cause this exact behaviour: kernel‑level filter drivers or a corrupted registry filter entry for optical devices (UpperFilters/LowerFilters), and virtualization/driver layers installed by CD-burning or emulation software (SPTD/ASPI). Microsoft documents the registry filter issue and the device-driver/IDE controller reinstall sequence as standard troubleshooting for CD/DVD problems. (support.microsoft.com) Alcohol‑type virtual drivers (Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, etc.) install SPTD and can persist after uninstall; they’re a frequent cause of read failures and driver conflicts on XP-era systems. (forum.alcohol-soft.com) Radified and similar resources also explain older ASPI/wnaspi32 interactions with burning tools if you see ASPI-related DLLs present. (aspi.radified.com)

Practical order to try (do these before wiping/reinstalling Windows):

  1. Uninstall Alcohol 120% and any virtual-drive/burning software, reboot; then remove any leftover SPTD entries (Alcohol’s support/forum explains an SPTD removal tool and the manual registry/file steps if needed). (forum.alcohol-soft.com)
  2. Back up the registry, then remove UpperFilters and LowerFilters under
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} per Microsoft’s guidance, reboot. (This often restores normal access without reinstalling the OS.) (support.microsoft.com)
  3. In Device Manager (View → Show hidden devices) uninstall ghost virtual drives and your DVD/CD drives; uninstall IDE/ATAPI controllers and reboot so Windows redetects hardware. (support.microsoft.com)
  4. If still failing, verify BIOS sees the drive, reseat/replace the data/power cable or try the drive in another machine or via an external USB adapter to rule out intermittent hardware/cable faults.

Cautions: editing the registry and deleting drivers can break functionality — export the key first and work from Safe Mode or with a restore point. If these targeted fixes fail, a repair install or clean reinstall is the last resort; try the SPTD/UpperFilters steps first because they fix many XP-era optical problems without OS reinstallation. (support.microsoft.com)

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Member Avatar for nspireing

i posted this yesterday in a very similar forum i think it holds true for you as well take alook at it.

(copied from other forum)

do two things

hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and goto your proformace tab post back whats it says interms of % of CPU usage.

next just as a thing to do

goto the start menu
choose run
type: msconfig
in the program that pops up you want to choose selective start up and UNCHECK the start up items option restart your computer, there could be something that is conflicting with it. one warning here if you have something that starts with the computer THAT YOU KNOW FOR A FACT YOU HAVE TO HAVE RUNNING post or email me first if not this is rarely an issue 99 times out of 100 its a non issue.

also a third one for your goto google and search out CCLEANER. run the different options its does exactly what its name says Crap Cleaner.

post back what happens afterwards as well as your cpu usage and well see where your at.

Member Avatar for zawadzki14

Sorry it has taken me this long to reply. I have done the the things you told me but to no effect. I also ran ccleaner to no effect. On average my Cpu usage stays around 0% So im still stuck with the situation said in the first post

Member Avatar for nspireing

the final test is to boot the system off of a bootable disk such as the windows xp disk or a norton antivirus disk if it does not boot from that disk then the drive is dead if it does then there is a windows issue

Member Avatar for zawadzki14

I am able to boot from boot disks and i am quite sure that both the drives are not dead as they were bought new about 2 years ago

Member Avatar for zawadzki14

I have also just now discovered that when i go to switch an image on my virtual drive with Alchohol 120% i get the exact same error

Member Avatar for nspireing

i would have to say at this point the easiest solution will be to reinstall windows. something may have been corrupted or you may have a viruse its had to say with out being able to sit down with it

Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Probably your ASPI drivers are corrupt. You could try installing fresh ones. Reinstalling Nero usually does the trick. If not, google ASPI.

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