Issue with CD/DVD not working on Aspire M5-581T

I have an Acer Aspire M5-581T-6405 with Windows 10 Version 1803 installed. I hear the CD/DVD run but wont open anything. There seems to be a driver issue. I tried to install latest but windows tells me it has the correct one but says there is a problem. The CD/DVD shows up in device manager as H-DT-ST DVDRAM GU61N with the following error message:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)
{Bad Image}
%hs is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support. Error status 0x

I cannot find any legitimate drivers for this! Does ACER have an updated driver? Is this a Windows 10 issue? The unit worked fine when I bought it in 2013 with Windows 8.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

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MaClane

Good night Jones914 !

Acer does not provide Windows 10-approved drivers for this model.
Look here: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/ID/content/support-product/4282;-;

Try updating all drivers on your device with DriverBooster: https://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php

Anyway, from a read here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-my/help/314060/your-cd-or-dvd-drive-is-not-recognized-by-windows-or-other-programs

Jones914

Thank you for all the info. I tried the Drivebooster but it says my driver is "updated" and the latest (from 2006) Then I updated a driver for my audio (which it said I needed) which then crashed my laptop! Luckily I made a restore point before doing anything. I guess my only choice is to get a new CD/DVD unit for the laptop?

MaClane

Access the device manager and copy the hardware ID of the CD / DVD reader to find the correct one on Google.

In this case I do not know if another reader will work since it seems that it is a problem of incompatibility between the controller and the drivers without support.

Jones914

I tried that but brought up information about Windows 7 for my drive HL-DT-STDVDRAM_GU61N____2. At this point I think I'm giving up since I don't want to mess with the registry or anything in the bios. Maybe Microsoft will come up with an updated driver?

JackE

Jones914

Try uninstalling the driver from Device Manager. Exit Device Manager without re-installing any driver. Re-boot the machine and let Windows automatically re-detect and re-install the driver it wants. It will likely re-install a good copy of the 2006 generic driver. Jack E/NJ

Jones914

Hi Jack, I can only uninstall the device not the driver in Device Manager, doesn’t show that option. I tried that but when reboots the cd/dvd still shows up with yellow exclamation point and Error code 39 like I stated in original post. Funny I turned on the computer this morning after doing a restore to 2 days ago before I tried to install a driver from DriverBooster which gave me the “blue window” and there were no driver errors showing up! But still the cd drive would spin, etc, but nothing would happen. It really seems this drive is not supported in Windows 10. That’s when I believe I started having issues last year. Only comes up once a year when I try to load TurboTax... oh well...

JackE

Jones914>>>>I have an Acer Aspire M5-581T-6405 with Windows 10 Version 1803 installed.>>>>

Device Manager only controls device driver software not device hardware.

Do you recall approximately when 1803 update happened? Do you recall your machine's original factory-delivered Windows version? Jack E/NJ

Jones914

I don’t think the cd has worked for awhile. I’d say probably a year ago when 1803 updated. The computer came with windows 8 when I bought it in 2013 and everything worked then. Oh well...

JackE

Yeah, that's too long ago to recover if the 1803 caused the problem. My guess it probably just needs to be re-seated. Remove the charger. Turn the laptop upside down. Remove a single screw shown on the image below. Then re-seat the drive a half dozen or so times to clean the contacts to the mainboard. Jack E/NJ

rebit

My guess is software has installed filter drivers that need removing.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-the-upperfilters-and-lowerfilters-registry-values-2619222

Jones914

Hi All,

Thank you for all your suggestions. I tried all of them and I think maybe a combination of them finally appears to work. I did the upper filters and lower filters removal and an added a new Registry sub key and it appears to work with audio CD's, software and DVDs. I did download a DVD player called VLC Media player which was recommended by PC magazine, since Windows 10 has a crappy DVD player and the old Media Player seems to be gone. Now I just hope it continues to work especially after any future Microsoft updates...

JackE

congrats. Jack E/NJ

carlim

I just got an external Bluray CD/DVD player/reader. Too much of a headache to fix. And yes, tried all of the above.

ajs019

My Acer M5-581T-6405 will not power on - it was working fine than the low battery warning popped up - after plugging in the AC adapter the system went dead - please help

JackE

ajs019

Your battery is at least 7 years old if it hasn't been changed. If it shut down a short time after the warning popped up, then it reached a critical state too fast and its internal charge controller probably won't allow it to charge any more if the orange charge LED is off or blinking. If it's still lit, then leave the charger connected for several hours before trying to start it again. New replacement batteries are only about $30 so you should consider that option. Jack E/NJ

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