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[Taniec]

Here is the story. I downloaded a program called Dameon Tools Lite which enabled me to run disk images so I didn't need a CD in the DVD tray. Since I didn't use my DVD drive for a while I never realized that it was broken up until a week ago when I bought my new monitor. I tried to install the disc that came with my monitor and I could see the light and hear noises which let me to belive that everything was working okay. However AutoRun didn't execute and when I try to manually search the CD the computer asks to put a CD in the disk drive which is already in. (I run Vista by the way)

After days of surfing the net it seems to me that the virtual drivers installed with Daemon Tools messed with my computer and is prevented me from using the actual DVD drive. I uninstalled the program and uninstalled the virtual drivers and uninstalled the actual driver to install from scratch. After the boot it still was not working. I deleted registry entries and driver files and still the same result. I am not convinced that my DVD is broken itself. Right now I am planning to format my HD in hopes that everything will clear up. Besides I could use a little spring cleaning.

I'm not really that good with computers. This will be a first for me. I had my older brother who is a computer whiz do this for me with my old computer. Since this is a first time for me I want to cover all my bases and not screw anything up. My computer did not come with a Vista installation disk and I deleted the recovery partition from my hard drive to get some extra needed space. I really regret that now. However since my DVD drive isn't working in the first place how in the world am I able to fromat my HD with a CD?

I am going to get a Vista Installation CD from a friend of mine. I have a liscense key on my box so this will me a legit install I think. I only hope my DVD drive can read the installation CD.

I have partitioned my HD to 3 volumes. 65 Gigs for the fresh install, 10 Gigs for my important files, and the other 230 something Gigs that my current Vista is on. Will this actually work? If it does and everything goes well then I will delete the 65 Gig partition to format the bigger one.

My biggest fear is this. I am afraid that if I do format my drive that all my necessary drivers will be deleted including the internet driver. If this happens then my whole house is screwed since my computer is hooked up to the router. Then one of my brothers will bitch and then I'll have to ask for help and my older brother won't be too happy. I'm moving out in the fall and am tired of my older brother coming over doing everything computer related for me. I hope to do this on my own with a lot of help. I hope to learn quick though.

If the DVD drive doesn't read the boot disk then I will just have to buy a new DVD drive. I hope that my computer doesn't blow up. I plan to buy a new one when I get the money so it won't be that big of a deal :O Sound good? Will it work? Any flaws? Thanks a bunch!

[kotekzot]

a driver is a part of the os. if you delete the os you delete the drivers, if you install an os you install the (basic) drivers. if your computer does boot from the dvd then your drive is fine. if it doesn't you need to buy a new one, because daemon tools couldn't have messed with that (i'm not really conviced it messed with the os drivers either, but it's at least possible).

also, you can just break the router by reinstalling your os, unless the router is getting its webbernets from your computer, but why would anybody do that?

[FoboslC]

Use backups of the date prior to the day you istalled daemon tools.
Seriously people, what the heck. Daemon Tools DOES NOT interfere with ANYTHING outside of itself. You're either an idiot or you got a virus.

[Tormy]

You're either an idiot or you got a virus.

That wasn't nice...
On-topic: I cannot help, since I don't know this Daemon Tools utility at all.

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Daemon Tools is a Image-mounting utility, that is used to mount image of DVDs on HDD so the DVD rom can be read by the machine as a DVD.

It is mainly used in 'sea-locked' means.

Anyway, Daemon WILL NOT interfere with anything outside of it self, yes, unless you badly screwed it. Or you get a virus-ridden version.

My best bet is to boot using a distro of Linux (FROM USB!) and try to fix it yourself first, by copying the necessary drivers, if you know what drivers that it wants, of course.

[Tormy]

Okay, I just installed and inspected Daemon Tools, and I guess that it's not the source of your problems. Perhaps it's a HW related error [Motherboard or DVD drive], but it's impossible to tell like this. Just format your HDD, and if your DVD drive won't recognize the installation disk, you might have to buy a new Mobo or DVD drive.

[Taniec]

Just format your HDD, and if your DVD drive won't recognize the installation disk, you might have to buy a new Mobo or DVD drive.

This was the case. Drive wouldn't read the boot disk. Bad timing I guess. I really don't have the money to fork over $30 

[Tormy]

Just format your HDD, and if your DVD drive won't recognize the installation disk, you might have to buy a new Mobo or DVD drive.

This was the case. Drive wouldn't read the boot disk. Bad timing I guess. I really don't have the money to fork over $30 

Ouch...bad luck. Let me tell you a story, which is funny, but it's also making me mad if I think about, and it happened like 2 years ago.
So, I had an ASUS 7800GT video card, which had 1 year of warranty. The year has passed. The card died 1 day after the warranty expired. I am not kidding. Perfect timing, isn't it? 

[Puck]

Anyway, Daemon WILL NOT interfere with anything outside of it self

But other stuff might be looking for emulated drives and then fuck up everything like a spoiled brat.

I had games not launch - grab a load of this - because NERO was installed oO

Not saying that's what happening to the OP, but maybe the DVD drive manufacturer is a real asshole? you never know 

Anyway, what I would do FIRST OF ALL:

1) firmware update for the DVD drive.
2) get a compressed air can and fffffffffttttt out the disc tray, if it doesnt help, it cant hurt. (try to hit the laz0r)

something else to consider, I thought it was really weird: A friend has a sony vaio with vista on it. the dvd drive supposedly has no drivers installed. at least thats how it looks. it shows up in the device manager, but there is no driver you can remove... at least it seems that way. I know it sounds weird. there just HAS to be a driver.

alright, so he got himself an old program for windows xp, with a nice "VISTA COMPATIBLE" sticker on it. he tries to install it, and the program says "meh, you got no driver, guy, you need to install THIS ONE, here you go". Of course, he clicks accept, because he has no clue about computers, and BAM dvd drive is dead, with the lil yellow exclamation mark in the device manager.

i was able to uninstall that one. but I was not able to find ANY drivers for that specific drive ANYWHERE. even the sony page tells you there arent any for that model. The drive just works without.

So we put the laptop back into factory state, because that was the only option we had, it worked again, he installed the same program again and clicked "fuck you" when the driver installing dialogue came up, and everything works fine now...

I DO think that is majorly screwed. I told him I'm not touching that OS again, unless he allows me to drive a wooden stake through that VAIO.

[SolarShado]

@OP: Going a litle overboard aren't you? "My DVD drive isn't working, so I'll completely wipe my OS and see if that fixes it"? Good thing you tried booting from the drive before you managed to wipe your HD. IMO, attempting to boot from a drive is the best and easiest way to make sure it's working (hardware-wise).

@Puck: I'm not terribly surprised by your story. I'd be shocked if Vista didn't support DVD-ROM drives natively (w/o additional drivers), and installing an XP driver in Vista is asking for trouble. (Surprised Vista didn't completely block it.) I'm interested by your comment that you couldn't uninstall the driver, I've never head of trouble getting rid of one...

[Puck]

I think you slightly misunderstood me :

sure vista should accept that drive. it should provide a "native" driver. But it didnt!

I could uninstall the XP driver, no problem. But there was no way to get back the vista "native" driver... because there wasnt one.

And yeah, I know, it sounds made up, but I swear, thats the friggin truth. I can barely believe it myself.

[SolarShado]

o_0 sounds like vista's even more incomprehensible than i immagined...

[dei]

Let's hope Windows 7 isn't such a pain o.o

[Yanlin]

So far 7 has shown to be AWESUM. But I'll wait some time anyway to see if any compatibility issues pop up. This is my main concern as I will probably switch to 64 bit so I can have more VRAM and RAM.

[Cheshire Cat]

Use backups of the date prior to the day you istalled daemon tools.
Seriously people, what the heck. Daemon Tools DOES NOT interfere with ANYTHING outside of itself. You're either an idiot or you got a virus.

i have not had issues with daemon tools for a while, but i remember some time ago it could do all sorts of horrible horrible things to your system, and i have heard of it messing with the functioning of peoples other devices. normally problems happen from a conflict with something you have on your computer, like a particular companies driver or another program that does similar image mounting, like puck's nero. alcahol can also cause issues, as well as the random software youve never seen before that seems to come preinstalled with every laptop ive owned.

i can remember on a friends laptop around 3 years ago, which was fresh and new and unmarred by the internet, that the daemon tools copy we installed from a disc, the one that worked fine on all our other computers, caused this laptop to fail so epicly we had to go into safe mode to get daemon tools off and do a system repair to make it better again.

so yes, daemon tools can very infrequently cause spectacular problems, and years back it did this much more often. installing new drivers for an old and perfectly working piece of hardware can very rarely do much the same thing. so dont be so black and white people, ive never ever seen a piece of software that will never mess up in some way or another.

also, im not sure how i did it, but a while back i managed to get rid of the 'native' drivers for my network cards and a bunch of other important things. fortunately windows was still working enough that i could put the disc in and do a system repair.

also you may be able to get a really crappy second hand cd or DVD drive from somewhere like a computer repair shop, or even out of a pc you see on the kerb. i manage random free or very cheap stuff like that all the time. many modern pcs will allow you to boot from a usb device, sometime ago i had made myself a usb key with a slipstreamed install of windows for my dvd driveless computer that had all the drivers on it as well as office. so a usb thumbdrive or external HDD may be the way to go.