Windows Vista & Windows XP

[jbahur]

Like many of you, I am also experiencing serious problems with Vista Ultimate hanging on startup. System recovery doesn't work, safe startup doesn't work, and it takes me hours and many power off/on cycles to get my laptop to boot up. Searching online, I soon discovered that lots of people are having this problem. I went to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and found that they are aware of the problem have a hotfix although they recommend waiting for the next service pack to be issued, whenever the heck that will be! Here is the link to the problem description where you can request the hotfix:

support.microsoft.com/kb/960723

I'm still not sure whether to install it or not as they say it's not fully tested yet. Which do I fear more - not being able to reboot before the hotfix or afterwards? Good luck to anyone who tries the hotfix!

Jbahur

[jbahur · Accepted solution]

OK, I was forced into another reboot anyway & spent two hours getting it to come back up, so I took the plunge and installed the hotfix. So far, it seems to have worked. There was no hang when booting up after the installation.

Jbahur

[Jerry_Lippey]

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 stops responding (hangs) during startup

Good find!

That should turn up in Service Pack 2 (which I've been testing).

Which computer model do you have?

[jbahur]

I have the Satellite X205-SLi6. One problem has cropped up after the hotfix installation - something happened to the DVD driver. I guess I'll try restoring the driver from the recovery disc next.

Jbahur

[Jerry_Lippey]

Satellite X205-SLi6

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something happened to the DVD driver.

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If the drive disappeared from view, try the instructions in KB929461.

[Ralph33]

hi, can you please give update whether hotfix solved your startup freeze? i started experiencing similar problem like 3 weeks ago (i bought satellite l300 in sept 08). microsoft has emailed me the hotfix but am hesitant to proceed. appreciate any feedback.  thanks.

[jbahur]

The hotfix definitely fixed the startup problem. I haven't had time to try to address the DVD problem, but will look at the suggested solution. I'm more worried about messing with the registry than I was about installing the hotfix. Anyway, I say go for it and install the hotfix. A dvd driver problem is a lot less trouble than not being able to boot up.

Jbahur

[jbahur]

I just read the recommended article and I think I know what happened to my DVD driver, and it has nothing to do with the hotfix. When I bought this laptop, I used Laplink PCMover to migrate data and programs from the old laptop to the new one. I had Roxio Creator 8 installed on the old laptop, but it isn't compatible with Vista, so after it was migrated Vista blocked the associated Sonic drivers. I decided I didn't really like Roxio & didn't want to upgrade, so I uninstalled the program. From reading the Microsoft article, I believe it was that uninstall that messed up the DVD driver.

Jbahur

[Jerry_Lippey]

Please let us know if it solves the DVD problem.     

[jbahur]

I followed the instructions to delete the DVD filters, and now the drive is back and functioning again. Thanks!

Jbahur

[Jerry_Lippey]

Happy to hear that!

[jbahur]

Be careful of subsequent Microsoft automatic downloads. Something downloaded last night that brought the startup problem back again. I think I will turn off automatic updating until the new service pack comes out, I'm tired of this.

Jbahur

[Jerry_Lippey]

I have never enabled Automatic updating for any of the computers here.

The very thought of turning that over to Microsoft makes me shudder.

In particular, never update drivers from that source. Get them all from Toshiba.

[Ryan6491]

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Jerry_Lippey wrote:

If the drive disappeared from view, try the instructions in KB929461.

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This happened to me after upgrading Vista Premium to Vista Ultimate.  I could not in no way no how understand what happened and I ended up calling Toshiba Support (and I never call tech support because I'm too stuborn and want to Google the answer myself) - this is the instructions they gave to restore the CD/DVD drive (it was missing completely and reinstalling drivers did not work)

To resolve this problem, remove the affected filter drivers. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit in the Programs list.
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
2. Locate, and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
   Caution There can be many instances of the registry subkey that is mentioned in step 2. You must make sure that you are in the appropriate registry subkey before modifying the UpperFilters and the LowerFilters values. To verify that you are in the appropriate registry subkey, make sure that the Default data value is DVD/CD-ROM and the Class data value is CDROM.
3. In the right pane, right-click UpperFilters, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the UpperFilters registry entry.
5. In the right pane, right-click LowerFilters, and then click Delete.
6. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the LowerFilters registry entry.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

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Need to remember this one.

[Jerry_Lippey]

Also, Toshiba supplies a little patch file that makes registry surgery unnecessary.

   CD / DVD drive missing from 'My Computer' (Windows Explorer)