CD-Drive = 0 Bytes

[Claude]

I've tried updating Adaptac ASCI drivers - nothing

Codecs - Nothing

Anything else?

...audio cd in there

Edited December 9, 2006 by prankst3r

[CptMurphy]

Is it only with certain CDs? Does the CD work in other places like a CD player?

[Claude]

only some audio cd's work, its really weird.

they are all originals - not burnt

they all work in cd players

[CptMurphy]

Simple, the CDs that don't work have a copy protection scheme. This was a huge issue because it didn't let the cd's work on PCs, at least until a, IIRC, sweedish guy figured a workaround. When you put the CD in, hold the shift key. If this doesn't work, try google for CD protection workarounds.

[Claude]

i never knew that... probably because i rarely use cd's

the shift method works perfectly, but are there any other ways that are... permanent?

[CptMurphy]

Well, doing a quick google search brought me these instructions:

Start with a Windows 2000/XP system with empty CD drives.

1. Click the Start button and select Control Panel from the Start Menu.

2. Double-click on the System control panel icon.

3. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.

4. Configure Device Manager by clicking "Show hidden devices" and "Devices by connection," both from the View menu.

5. Insert the Anthony Hamilton CD into the computer and allow the SunnComm software to start. If MediaMax has never been started before on the same computer, the SbcpHid driver should appear on the list for the first time. However, on some systems Windows needs to be rebooted before the driver becomes visible.

At this point you can attempt to copy tracks from the CD with applications like MusicMatch Jukebox or Windows Media Player. Copies made while the driver is active will sound badly garbled, as in this 9-second clip [10].

Next, follow these additional steps to disable MediaMax:

1. Select the SbcpHid driver from the Device Manager list and click "Properties" from the Action Menu.

2. Click the Driver tab and click the Stop button to disable the driver.

3. Set the Startup Type to "Disabled" using the dropdown list.

With the driver stopped, you can verify that the same applications copy every track successfully. Setting the Startup Type to disabled prevents MediaMax from restarting when the computer is rebooted. It will remain deactivated until LaunchCD.exe is allowed to run again.

Equivalently, executing the following commands from the Command Prompt will deactivate MediaMax:

net stop sbcphid

del %systemroot%\system32\drivers\sbcphid.sys

I don't know if it's permanent though. Here's the page's link: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/

BTW, I'm pretty sure the protection your cd's have is MediaMax.