DVD Drive Error Code 32 – A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver maybe providing the functionality

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I connected to a customer today that said their DVD/CD drive wasn’t working. I checked the device manager and I instantly saw what the issue was. The DVD drive had a yellow warning triangle over it, indicating the driver was missing or wasn’t working.

DVD Driver Warning

PLDS DVD+-RW DH-16AAS ATA Device Driver Warning

I right-clicked on the PLDS DVD+ RW DH-16AAS ATA Device and got properties of the DVD drive. This is the message the driver gave me.  A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver maybe providing the functionality. 

It took me a while to find the solution but this is what fixed it for me. You won’t even need to install a new driver, its a simple registry fix.

Step One: Go to Device Manager and right click on the DVD drive and uninstall the device.

Step Two: ( Please backup your registry before doing this) Open Regedit. Continue reading →

OnePlus One – Unboxing and First Impressions

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I received my OnePlus One yesterday. I purchased the 64gb Sandstone black version. Here are some photos and my first impressions. I am upgraded from an HTC One M7 to this OnePlus One. I will be making some comparisons between these two devices.

I thought the packaging of the device was nice. The packaging was simplistic but still had style.

OnePlus One Packaging
OnePlus One Pull Tab
Packaging Opened
OnePlus One Box
OnePlus One Box
OnePlus One Box
OnePlus One Box
OnePlus One Box Opened
64gb Sandstone Black OnePlus One
64gb Sandstone Black OnePlus One
Closeup of Sandstone Black OnePlus One
Closeup of Sandstone Black OnePlus One

[Show slideshow]

Setting up the device was easy. It asked me for my Google account. It also asks if me if I want to make a CyanogenMod account. Since I didn’t have an account I created one. My phone needed the XNPH25R Incremental CyanogenMod update, when I turned it on. I installed the updated and my phone was ready within a couple minutes. Continue reading →

Windows 7 Computer and Network Connections Freeze at Startup for 15 Minutes

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Problem: Whenever, I would turn this Windows 7 desktop computer on, it would freeze up. A little blue circle would spin and spin over the network connections (in the right corner of the task bar). The computer would be totally unusable for at least fifteen minutes. When I would come back to it a little later on it would work just fine. However, as soon as I would reboot, the computer and network connections would again freeze. I talked to the customer and he said he didn’t do much besides installing some Oki printer software. Here are a couple of the troubleshooting steps I tried.

  • I tried System Restore. It errored out on me and did not finish successfully.
  • I ran Malwarebytes, just in case this was virus related. The computer was fine.
  • I tried disabling a couple startup items and services. It  didn’t make a difference.
  • I ran a check disk on the hard drive and it came back clear.

However, I discovered that when I boot into safe mode with networking everything was fine. I decided to open “msconfig” and disable all services from starting.

I turned the computer on and it started just fine. I then enabled a few services at a time. I kept restarting, after enabling a few services. Each time it was fine, until I turned on the “server” service in Windows. The computer and network connections once again froze up.

Through some of my other research I found out that the server service and the print spooler service work together. However, the service server needs to start before the print spooler service does. I unchecked the print spooler and kept the server service checked for Continue reading →

Desktop does not load and only displays blue background after Windows 7 log on

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This morning our customer called me and said their computer was “blue screening”. When you hear someone is having a blue screen that is never good news, but I decided to try figuring it out. They told me the computer would start up just fine and would come up to the log on screen. Once they unlocked the computer and logged in, it would instantly “blue screen”.

I had the customer restart the computer and tap F8 until they got the “advanced boot options” in Windows 7. I had them select the option, “Safe Mode with Networking”. The computer booted up and our customer logged in just fine.

I connected with our remote program. I thought it might be just a graphics driver issue. I uninstalled the current graphics driver and installed a newer driver. I rebooted and to my chagrin nothing changed. I ran a Malwarebytes and Kaaspersky TDSSKiller scan. Malwarebytes found two small threats. I removed them. I also went into msconfig and disabled some of the startup items and services that weren’t necessary. I opened Event Viewer and checked on the logs. The logs didn’t tell me much. I rebooted the computer.

We let the computer start normally. I had the customer log into the computer and once again it “blue screened”. I questioned our customer a little more and she said it came up to a “blue screen” but the “blue screen” had no words on it. I became suspious that something else was wrong. I told her to go CTRL+ALT+DEL and let me know if anything came up. She listed the normal programs the come up in Windows 7. I told her to open Task Manager.  I Continue reading →

How to make a Vacation Responder with Office 365 OWA

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Office 365 allows you to make a vacation responder in the Outlook web app. This is very useful if you are on the road and don’t have your work computer handy. Or if you don’t feel like setting up a rule in Outlook.

Here are the steps: Go to mail.office365.com .

Sign in with your credentials (normally your email address and password).0365 Login

Click on the settings gear and select “Set Automatic Replies”. Continue reading →