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Vista error 19

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Nigel Goodwin

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I wonder if anyone knows why this actually happens?.

About two weeks ago I noticed that my DVD/CD-ROM wasn't working, so I checked Device Manager and it was listed as error 19, registry settings incorrect. I googled it, and found a Microsoft technical bulletin that explained how to correct the problem using regedit and a reboot - job done I thought.

Anyway, a week later (last Sunday) I was talking on MSN to my daughter at Uni and she said her DVD/CD-ROM had died as well (Vista on Sony Vaio), so I talked her through Device Manager, to find she had the same problem - so I sent her the link, and she sorted it.

Came home from work tonight, and my wife complains that her Sony Vaio DVD/CD-ROM isn't working?. Exactly the same problem, edited the registry, rebooted, and as good as new again.

The two Vaio laptops are about 18 months old, and my tower is about 9 months - how come they all had the same problem within a few days of each other?.
 
Hi Nigel

I am going to assume this is the fix you were using. There are several causes for this problem and why the registry seems to revert back to whee it was. Generally recently installed software or updated software and one main contributor seems to be iTunes as a culprit. I would begin looking for any software that may have been recently installed and is common to all the systems with the problem.

Ron
 
Yeah, that's the fix - just seems a bit coincidental that it happened to all three machines within two weeks. I doubt my wife had installed anything (ever!), but I'd just installed Nero 9, no idea about my daughter as she's away at Uni.
 
Yeah, that's the fix - just seems a bit coincidental that it happened to all three machines within two weeks. I doubt my wife had installed anything (ever!), but I'd just installed Nero 9, no idea about my daughter as she's away at Uni.

Yeah, go figure huh? The trick is finding a common denominator. My reference to iTunes was because it bit me. I was working on a friends system and every fix including the Microsoft fix failed. Finally in desperation we reformatted the system after saving important data across my network. Everything went fine and Vista installed fine. A week later the same problem but this time immediately following an iTunes download and update. Removed iTunes and then ran the fix and it worked. I have no clue why? :(

A simple automatic update of existing software can apparently cause the problem, even something unknown to the end user.

Ron
 
Yeah, I'm with the automatic update theory of Reloadron. After a Vista 64 update on my wifes computer we had a nightmare trouble with her video card ceasing to work (no screen display at all) took me an hour to get the machine into a safemode that allowed the monitor to work so that I could restore to a previous state to fix the problem. The next time the machine updated there were no issues again. I think this kind of thing is relatively common, not usually as fatal to system operation as my wifes trouble but 64bit Vista has more issues than regular.

Gotta remember, we don't really own our operating systems anymore, we're just licensing them from the maker =\
 
I don't like automatic updates and generally recommend turning them off.

I like to be in control of what software is installed on my system, especially updates to hardware drivers. I sometimes delay installing certain updates because I've read about people having problems.
 
I don't like automatic updates and generally recommend turning them off.

I like to be in control of what software is installed on my system, especially updates to hardware drivers. I sometimes delay installing certain updates because I've read about people having problems.

Absolutely I agree. More than once a certain update can wreak havoc on some systems. Another reason I turn them off is more than once I was bitten not by a bad update but the restarts. For the better part the machines here run 24/7 and I would go to bed figuring a project like rendering would be done in the morning only to discover that during the night the thing did automatic updates and restarted itself. Then I have to pick up where it left off. That sucks!

Then there is the control issue too. My system and I want to know what the heck it is doing and what is being updated. That does not just include Microsoft either.

I have seen the problem in the original post and it gets interesting as to what all three systems share in common and one is away from the others. Somewher there is that common denominator.

Just My Take
Ron
 
Turning off automatic updates is almost a guaranteed method of getting yourself infected with a virus in the long term. If you can remember to run the updates on a regular basis that's one thing but for general users it's an absolutely horrible idea. While there are many reports of users having problems with some updates, this is not the general experiance, and by large and far it doesn't create issues.
 
Sorry I disagree.

I have automatic updates disabled and I don't use memory resident AV. I update every week or so and scan for viruses just as often and I've hadn't a virus in years.

99% of viruses don't manically appear on the system but are installed due to user error. It's actually pretty rare for a vulnerability to directly install a virus, maybe it was more ten years ago with IE 6 and ActiveX but not now as IE asks for confirmation before running crap, not that someone who's moderately security conscience would ever dream of using IE.

I agree that it's not just MS software that gives me trouble with updates: Linux seems to be as bad if not worse, especially when 3rd party packages and repositories have been added to the system. It's probably also because Linux updated more often with is mostly a good thing.
 
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I wasn't talking about users that are conscious of their updating, simply those that weren't. Which without automatic updates would after a period of a few months be left critically vulnerable even passively. I'm talking about the masses not you. A fully patched Micosoft OS has active virus scanning that can partially mitigate the stupid user difficulties. Albiet only partially.
 
I suppose I agree: automatic updates are more aimed at lusers than users. :D
 
Microsoft likes to release updates on Wednesdays. Around here I do all the updates every Saturday morning. The same is true for anti virus and anything else needing updates. However, that is not the case for everyone. It isn't unusual to see systems that haven't had updates in a year or more. Not to mention expired trial versions of anti virus software. I don't know what is worse as to expired screwed up AV or not getting Windows Updates in a timely manner.

I am surrounded by senior citizens on my street and I am their free (OK big problems I do take beer) support and I make damn sure they get automatic updates and have schooled them on things. Not unusual for any of them to call when something wants to download and ask if it's OK. I get regular calls about Adobe Updater and always tell them the same thing, yes download the updates. I would rather that than field calls for infected systems.

I also like to see the updates, patches and fixes as to what they are but again my problem with automatic is the reboots when you leave a system doing something.

Ron
 
In XP I simply set updates to "Download updates for me automatically, but let me choose when to install them." That way I'm notified when updates are ready to install, by the yellow shield on the taskbar, but the computer will not install them or reboot until I tell it to.
 
It seems to me more like a family virus.

Nigel, please switch over to the recent OS goody -Windows 7.

Get a licensed Kaspersky AV. It's not a resource consumer like NAV.
 
In XP I simply set updates to "Download updates for me automatically, but let me choose when to install them." That way I'm notified when updates are ready to install, by the yellow shield on the taskbar, but the computer will not install them or reboot until I tell it to.

I agree with kchriste. This is the way Ubuntu (and many other non-MS) OSes work by default and IMHO it's much better, both for newbies and longtime users. This is important to power users because they know what to do with the information, but I feel it's also important to newbies since while they can (and often do) just hit "Update Now", at least it educates them a bit as to what's going on. Besides, a buggy or blown OS update can be truly frightening for the newbie.

So if this is the case, then what's the difference is between a blown automatic update and a blown update where you just pressed "OK" to make it happen? In my opinion the difference is that if you do it manually, you at least know that the update happened and could well be the cause of any new trouble which starts afterward. With automatic updates, you might not even be aware that your machine is updating itself, and you could wind up barking up a lot of wrong trees looking for the cause of the problem. The newbie may not be able to use this information directly but it's at least something to give his local guru to work with.

Fully automatic system updates are not, in my opinion, a good idea.

I don't dislike automatically updating some other kinds of software, though--I think it's a mistake to try to make a blanket statement about "updates", as if they were all the same and had the same implications. A blown antivirus signature dictionary update doesn't have nearly the potential to make your life miserable as a blown OS update does.

For some kinds of non-system software (antivirus, some user apps, etc) I quite like automatic updates. I don't use MS OSes anymore so I don't use antivirus, but I started on DOS 3.3* and Slackware 1.<mumble> and used MS OSes alongside Linux until Vista finally made me throw my hands up in disgust. Updating f-prot on my Win 3.11 machines used to involve downloading the update at university and bringing it home on a diskette. When automatic virus dictionary updates became realistic, I was thrilled. :)


Torben

*-If you don't count farting around with the Timex Sinclair and my old TRS-80 when I was a kid and using the Apple IIe in grade school.)
 
Get a licensed Kaspersky AV. It's not a resource consumer like NAV.

All memory resident AV programs uses significant resources because they scan every file read from the hard disk. This is unnecessary because you only need to scan files on removable media and those you've downloaded from the Internet or email.

A lot of memory is used to store the virus pattern database which is continuously searched. An AV program which uses less resources might not be as good because it might not detect as many viruses.

No AV program is perfect and you don't get much protection from new viruses which haven't been discovered. You should always be careful about what you download and install and don't put too much faith in AV.
 
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