Cd/dvd missing and video codec / video playback issues

The Microsoft knowledge base which is located here : Website Link

Walks you through step by step for both windows xp and windows vista how to delete upper and lower filters and even offers you a fix it wizard which you can download and it will fix it for you.

Also the above requires you to reboot your computer once done.

If you are still having issues with any optical drive ( cd, dvd, blu ray etc ) type computer drive then you can try and install the latest motherboard drivers for your make and model of motherboard ( Sometimes this is also known as the chipset drivers ) to obtain these you will need to go to your motherboard manufacturers website.

To establish what motherboard you have you can use a few utilities.

Namely SIW, Everest ( I would suggest home edition as its free and the latest home edition was version 2.20 ) or belarc.

SIW can be obtained here at this website link

Everest Home edition can be obtained here or here at this website link

Belarc can be obtained here at this website link

Adaptec ASPI drivers can be downloaded and see if that helps. ASPI Drivers can be obtained here on this link or here on this link

Explained here

Also explained here on wikipedia

Also if you have any other burning software ie multiple burning applications such as deep burner, cd burner xp se and nero installed as well as IN CD or roxio etc then it is suggested you only have or stick with one burning appliction such as Nero as mutliple burning applications can cause issues.

Also as a last resort check the optical drive manufacturers website for a firmware update for your optical drive - if they do then it is vital to read the read me file to see what functionality it adds or what it does and also how to apply the firmware update and follow those instructions to a T.

Ensuring that you do not turn your computer off during the firmware update as if the power goes off whilst you are in the middle of the firmware update it will brick the optical drive rendering it useless !!

If you are having issues with video playback then its always a good idea to try and use VLC which can be obtained from here - website link

or windows media player classic which can be obtained here - website link

As for codecs if you are not sure what type of codecs you require to playback video files then get Gspot from here - website link

Download it, use winzip or the inbuilt windows xp un zipper to extract all of the files into a folder and run gspot ( a stand alone exe ) and drag and drop the video file onto the gspot window and it will show you what video codec the video uses and what audio codec it uses ( if any for either ) and also whether or not the video file is a valid file.

For Divx and Xvid you can install specific codecs from here, respectively

For divx get the codec here - website link

For xvid get the codec here - website link

Codecs for both at the websites posted above are for both mac os and windows.

As a last resort for video you can try the codec pack which can be obtained from here - website link

Please find below some free cd / dvd burning software :

http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download

http://cdburnerxp.se/

A free useful utility for burning images and other things is img burn ( made by the same person who made DVD Decrypter )

http://www.imgburn.com/

For any other free application needs go to

http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/index.shtml

From the above link you can click on the relevant link(s) with regards to what kind of software you are after, cd burning, video playback, audio playback etc and it will list all the free software in that category ( you will have to scroll down some what but it is all there )

Also you can search on source forge for open source free applications and for everything else there is google - let me google that for you