Suggestions?

[ddouglass]

Do you turn the drive on before turning on the laptop or just when you need it?
Is it USB powered or does it have its own power plug?
Did you do the Express or Custom updates and did you go to the site several times to make sure nothing else pops up?
Many of the updates depend on whether you have a previous update installed.

[stublack]

It doesn't matter when I turn it on. If it is on and I start Hoster, Hoster never comes up. If I turn it on while Hoster is up Hoster crashes.

The player is nexstar-dx and external cd drive that has a power cord and plugs into a usb port on the laptop. (External 5.25 purchased from MTU).
Before I did the recovery this drive worked fine.

I always do custom updates and the High Priority and Software updates are currently at 0.

Thanks, Stu

[ddouglass]

Can you read a disc in the drive from Windows Explorer?
Have you looked for driver and firmware updates for the drive? Don't do any Hardware updates through Microsoft though as theirs are usually incorrect.
Is the drive listed in the Device Manager?

I can't think of anything that would cause this except some kind of conflict or driver that is missing or incorrect. Is this possible an older drive that is ASPI controlled?

[stublack]

I can't explain why it started working but it started working. Tested it and everything seems fine, hopefully it stays that way

[mindonstrike]

Maybe a bad usb cord?