NEWS CATEGORIES:

NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>

Find us on Google+

Home > News > Microsoft > Windows

September 17th, 2009, 10:02 GMT · By Marius Oiaga

Windows 7 RTM Can Render DVD Drives Inaccessible

Adjust text size:

Following the installation of Windows 7 RTM some users may find that their DVD drives will be rendered inaccessible, even though the devices functioned under normal parameters before the deployment of the latest Windows client. Microsoft noted that it was aware of the issue, and provided a few workarounds for the affected customers to regain DVD drive functionality. According to the Redmond company symptoms involve completely or only intermittently inaccessible DVD drives post-Windows 7 installations. According to Microsoft, there is an issue with the firmware for some DVD drive products and the Adaptive Link Power Management (ALPM) in Windows 7.

The software giant even revealed the specific devices that are affected by problems: “This problem may occur if you use one of the following DVD drives on the computer: Sony BC-5100S DVD, Sony BC-5600S DVD and TSST TS-L633B DVD+/-RW.”

According to Microsoft there are two workarounds that end users can turn to. The first is the simplest, and it involves updating the firmware for Sony BC-5100S DVD, Sony BC-5600S DVD and TSST TS-L633B DVD+/-RW. “To check for an applicable firmware update, contact the manufacturor of the DVD drive,” Microsoft noted.

At the same time, the Redmond company presents an alternative designed to let Windows 7 users regain DVD drive functionality in the eventuality that a firmware update is not available. The second mitigation involves disabling the Adaptive Link Power Management (ALPM) feature.

“ALPM is a feature that puts a hardware device into sleep state after 100 ms of idle time. This is a power-saving feature. After you disable ALPM, you can still configure the drive to run in any one of three power plans: Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver. However, you cannot still benefit from the additional power saving that is provided by ALPM,” Microsoft explained.

In order to disable ALPM users will need to first open a command prompt. Just enter cmd in the search box under the start menu and right click the selected result choosing Run as Administrator. There are a total of six commands that users must run, Microsoft revealed, all of them included below. Commands must be executed in this order:

powercfg.exe -setacvalueindex 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

powercfg.exe -setdcvalueindex 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

powercfg.exe -setacvalueindex 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

powercfg.exe -setdcvalueindex 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

powercfg.exe -setacvalueindex a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

powercfg.exe -setdcvalueindex a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 DAB60367-53FE-4fbc-825E-521D069D2456 0

FILED UNDER:

TSST TS-L633B DVD+/-RW

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

20,462 hits · 12 comments · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:

Windows 7 Upgrade Paths – RC to RTM Jump Not Supported

Download the Windows 7 RTM Automated Installation Kit

Connect Windows 7 with XP SP3 Vista SP2 via Remote Desktop Connection 7.0

Windows 7 Bests Snow Leopard Says Mac Hacker

It Will Be Windows 7 SP1 to Go Against Google Chrome OS

READER COMMENTS:

Comment #1 by: Mark on 23 Dec 2009, 21:01 UTC	reply to this comment
This solution works for me, on an ACER Aspire 5738G Laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. My DVD drive works again, without failing! Thank you very much. Now, when Windows will resolve this problem in Windows, I'd like to know how to undo the commands that you have posted in this thread. Could you please provide the commands to restore the original settings, too? Thank you!

Comment #2 by: Debo on 09 Feb 2010, 17:47 UTC	reply to this comment
I've tried the second step above, but it doesn't work! :( I've got an Acer Aspire 5536. Could it be that I'm trying the command prompt wrong? It doesn't seem so...

Comment #3 by: Nitin Gupta on 16 Feb 2010, 10:05 UTC	reply to this comment
My DVD ROM Still does not work.. SONY DRU 190A ATA - Drive I have tried to remove the Upper and lower filters and also ran the Disable integrity checks command still No +Ve response.

Comment #4 by: Waterhouse on 23 Mar 2010, 20:53 UTC	reply to this comment
After many unsuccessful attempts to get Win 7 to recognize my TSST TS-L633B DVD+/-RW, although I had an upgrade driver available, this solution worked like a charm. Now I was able to install the upgrade. Thank you so much!

Comment #5 by: Peregrino on 15 Jul 2010, 04:10 UTC	reply to this comment
I have a Packard Bell with the TSST TS-L633B DVD+/-RW, and the commands to disable the ALPM doesn't make make any effect. Windows 7 on this computer still don´t recognize the DVD, but Vista does. And Packard bell does not offer any firmware update for this DVD unit

Comment #5.1 by: Darren on 02 Sep 2010, 12:33 GMT

Yeah so far packard bell are beyond useless on this one. This, or the registry suggestion does not help at all. Not even 20minutes on the phone to customer support provided ANYTHING :( Solution? buy an external and never us PB again

Comment #6 by: Hannes on 01 Aug 2010, 01:33 UTC	reply to this comment
I tried version 2 and so far this works fine for my Packard-Bell with TSST TS-L633B. Thanks a lot!

Comment #7 by: eyerishangel on 28 Nov 2010, 20:45 UTC	reply to this comment
OMG something on the internet that actually freakin worked!! Dell can shove it. They told me that since I upgraded the OS and didn't purchase through them they couldn't help me. WTF??? I bought the freakin laptop from you. Where's the customer service.??? Needless to say I will never buy another Dell.

Comment #8 by: eyerishangel on 28 Nov 2010, 20:46 UTC	reply to this comment
.....Oh and I even messaged the tech this article asking their thoughts. They had no comment!

Comment #9 by: Jimmi James on 02 Oct 2011, 15:56 UTC	reply to this comment
Acer Aspire 7535 with TSST. Upgraded to Windows 7 and ended up with no DVD. No help from PC World where i bought it, even though i'd only had it 10 months. Just disabled ALPM through the command prompt and all seems to be back in order. Thanx very much!

Comment #10 by: Jamie on 14 Oct 2011, 19:52 UTC	reply to this comment
Brilliant! Got it to work first time without having to restart. Thank you very much :) (Acer Aspire 5738Z)

Comment #11 by: gbreworkteam on 02 Nov 2011, 02:55 UTC	reply to this comment
This is the only solution out there that is a no miss worked on Acer worked on Dell it even worked on an old PB great Fix thank you thank you thank you

SUBMIT PROGRAM \| ADVERTISE \| GET HELP \| SEND US FEEDBACK \| RSS FEEDS \| UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE \| ROMANIAN FORUM
© 2001 - 2012 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Softpedia® and the Softpedia® logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.	Copyright Information \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use