RyanTAdams.com

Technology Advice by Ryan Taylor Adams

CD/DVD Drive Not Working (Code 41 Error)

April 2nd, 2009 · 5 Comments · Printer Friendly Version

WARNING! THIS POST IS MORE THAN 180 DAYS OLD!

While I make an effort to update older posts to keep them relevant and technically accurate, the rapidly changing nature of the tech world makes it possible that the content of this post may no longer be relevant, current, or even accurate. Additionally, because of this post's age, adding new comments has been disabled. If you would like to contribute new information to this post, or have questions pertaining to this post, please use the Contact Form.


If your CD/DVD/BD drive is not working, and its status is listed as “Code 41″ in device manager, there is a good chance a simple registry edit can fix the issue. Here is what you need to do:


Manual fix:

  1. Go to your Start menu and click “Run…”
  2. In the Run box that opens, type “regedit” and press Enter.
  3. In the new window that opens, navigate the tree in the left pane until you are at:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
    Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
  4. In the right pane of the window, you should see an “UpperFilters” key.
  5. Right-click the “UpperFilters” key an select “Delete”. Respond “Yes” to the confirmation prompt.
  6. You should also see a “LowerFilters” key in the right pane.
  7. Delete the “LowerFilters” key.
  8. Restart your computer.

If you found this post helpful, please consider making a donation to help cover the costs of this site:

Related posts:

  1. Keyboard Not Working Due to Missing Or Corrupt Drivers (Code 39)
  2. Internet Explorer Only Prints Source Code
  3. How to Install Vista on a M200 Without a CD Drive Using TFTP
  4. Getting Around the “cannot Read From the Source File” Error
  5. Fix Remote Desktop Error: “The Remote Computer Disconnected the Session Because of an Error in the Licensing Protocol”
?

5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Alix // May 3, 2009 at 12:29 AM


    Thought I should mention to people, who may have stumbled onto this page due to a code 41 error with their keyboard, that your Code 39 keyboard fix also fixed my keyboard code 41. Excellent work!!

  • 2 Lou DeAngelis // Dec 26, 2009 at 5:20 PM


    Ryan, you are a genius. When my CD/DVD ROM drive stopped working I ran device manager. It suggested that I contact the mfg. so I sent an E-mail to HP. They advised that I should purchase a new drive from them. Before spending $200 I decided to google the error message to see if anyone ever had this problem and I came across your web site. Ten minutes later my PC was fixed and the CD/DVD ROM drive was again operational. Please accept my donation with much gratitude.

    Lou

  • 3 Malaco // Dec 27, 2009 at 7:54 PM


    The code 41 tip was the solution to my problem…Thanks. Your advice saved me a gross amount of time, I had already spent 3+ hours trying to resolve the error.

  • 4 sandy // Dec 30, 2009 at 4:37 PM


    Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your instructions for error code 41 were perfect!! I now have my cd and dvd roms back.

  • 5 Dan // Jan 6, 2010 at 12:33 PM


    I had an error code 41 problem with my keyboard and, although your instructions for fixing the error code 41 did not work, your instructions for fixing the keyboard error code 39 worked !! Thank you and I hope you have a prosperous New Year.