KoTOR: Vista and SecureRom

[Anraleth]

It's an age old debated topic: is securerom a rootkit?



Regardless of if it is or not, it has rendered my computer's cd player unoperable. It will not ready any data cds. It will read audio cds only.



Example: It thinks Diablo 1 cd is the KoTOR cd, or vice versa.


These are the original, purchased versions of the game discs.


Every time I try starting a program that requires a cd it says:

"Conflict with Disc Emulator Software:SecureRom" and closes the program.


Are there ANY solutions to this?

 

[casualcolors]

There isn't any debate. SecuRom was already proven to not be a rootkit. The only interesting thing that I recall coming out of the securom debate was Daemon Tools getting exposed for questionable practices and technically rootkitting, which obviously was unrelated.

As far as your problem, no idea. Need to know did KoTR function when you first installed it and ran it from the disc with securom installed, or did it fail and then everything subsequently fail?

 

[Anraleth]

Yes it worked once. It has not worked since, and when it stopped functioning is about the time I noticed my laptop not being able to read other data cds.

 

[casualcolors]

secuRom throws this error when virtual drives are installed as part of its means to preventing emulation. Any image drive software being installed will cause this. It is intended.

 

[JDFan]

secuRom throws this error when virtual drives are installed as part of its means to preventing emulation. Any image drive software being installed will cause this. It is intended.

Problem is it also sometimes mistakes regular DVD drives as emulated drives and causes this type of conflict also.

@OP try running the Securom uninstallation tool which will temporarily remove Securom from your system and then see if the Drive starts working again --- If it does at least you know Securom is indeed the problem. (Securom will reinstall itself as soon as you put a game that uses it back in the drive so this is only a temporary solution )

 

[Anraleth]

Thanks for the link and tip. I will check it out and report back.

 

[Anraleth]

Sorry I haven't gotten around to it yet, life has been too busy to provide time for messing around with games.

 

[SyncroScales]

To fix this poblem potentially: Would a person need to uninstall anything SecuRom related? Or would a completely new OS install fix the issue if it was SecuRom?

Can SecuRom or something actually destroy the hardware? I'd say no it's software, registry, etc related.

 

[JDFan]

To fix this poblem potentially: Would a person need to uninstall anything SecuRom related? Or would a completely new OS install fix the issue if it was SecuRom?

Can SecuRom or something actually destroy the hardware? I'd say no it's software, registry, etc related.

Actually what normally happens is that the Securom Software analyzes the system and for some reason certain brands of Drives are evaluated as Emulated drives instead of physical drives due to the firmware on them and when Securom thinks there is an emulation program running it refuses to continue running the game in order to protect it from being run from an emulated drive. (Sad truth about it is that the actual emulated drive programs have adapted so that they can be run and even load the game from an emulated drive with no problem so the only ones that have problems running are legit copies on hardware that is mistaken for an emulated drive as is the case with most DRM schemes !)

Normally the Securom removal tool will remove Securom from the system enough (it still leaves some traces of itself installed) so that the drive will start functioning again - problem being after running any Securom protected game it will be reinstalled and stop working again requiring it to be removed again ! ( I wound up downloading Daemon Tools and copying a few games to my HDD and running them from an emulated drive in order to have a couple games work on my old system as Securom did not like the brand of DVD drive it had installed (IIRC it was an HP DVD drive) - but my MSI DVD drive on my current system does not have the same problem.

 

[SyncroScales]

Ok. I get it. I remember reading about how certain rootkits or installs like this SecuRom apparently destroyed peoples DVD drives in times past. I don't know if that is still the case. The DVD drive rejection is a great thing to know and the firmware info too.

If I made a DVD iso image of a DVD (when I paid for it), would SecuRom still recognize it?

This Daemon Tools, is it an emulated drive or something? Is it seperate and just a program?

Another question I have is when buying games can you always tell if there is DRM with it? I have seen it on some packages. But I don't think they are listed on all boxes or descriptions before the downloads. I have a music program I use, I paid for it. But since I havn't been online on my desktop for over 2 months, it stopped working and asked for my DVD. Usually it just askes to check for updates. I found this weird since I registered this program a few times with the company already and it's a 2006 program too. I put the DVD in and luckily still had it.

 

[casualcolors]

If you're curious about a game's DRM, I'd simply google "X Game DRM" and read what they used on it.

 

[Anraleth]

Ok back. I have a chance to look into this today. I'll run the securerom removal tool and try and see where that places me.

 

[Anraleth]

The removal tool found three applications using securerom ( so it says. )

Neverwinter Nights (NWN.exe)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ( swkotor.exe)
Mass Effect (MassEffect.exe)

 

[casualcolors]

Yes, those are all 3 of your Bioware games. They all utilize securom. That shouldn't be surprising.

 

[JDFan]

The removal tool found three applications using securerom ( so it says. )

Neverwinter Nights (NWN.exe)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ( swkotor.exe)
Mass Effect (MassEffect.exe)

Have the tool remove all traces of securom - (Yes this is safe and once you run one of those games agian it will automatically reinstall itself !) - After removing check and see if the DVD drive functions again - and then at least you know the cause of the problem !

 

[AntiZig]

If you're curious about a game's DRM, I'd simply google "X Game DRM" and read what they used on it.

most of the big titles even that their DRM noted on the wikipedia

 

[Anraleth]

Have the tool remove all traces of securom - (Yes this is safe and once you run one of those games agian it will automatically reinstall itself !) - After removing check and see if the DVD drive functions again - and then at least you know the cause of the problem !

Will check today.

 

[HEXiT]

securom wont damage a drive and stop it reading any disk. its not designed for that purpose. its designed to stop disks being copied. basically the game/app looks for it and if it doesnt find it then it will stop loading the software. thats all.
sony did bring out a copy protection that would access your firmware on your drive and make it stop reading disks but that has nothing to do with securom. but again you would have to try and copy a disk in the drive for it to activate... and no it wont just activate randomly...

 

[JDFan]

securom wont damage a drive and stop it reading any disk. its not designed for that purpose. its designed to stop disks being copied. basically the game/app looks for it and if it doesnt find it then it will stop loading the software. thats all.
sony did bring out a copy protection that would access your firmware on your drive and make it stop reading disks but that has nothing to do with securom. but again you would have to try and copy a disk in the drive for it to activate... and no it wont just activate randomly...

It may not be designed for that but it does at times do it ( I've had it happen on an older system I used to have) -- Not sure exactly what it does but for some reason it inputs some sort of interrupt into the running of the system that causes certain brands of hardware to stop functioning or causes them to error out due to timing issues (again I'm not a programmer so do not know exactly what is going on with it but I've had cases of system drives not functioning while the software is loaded and as soon as you run the Securom uninstaller the drive would start functioning again and it was a repeatable error - so YES securom was the cause ! (As I mentioned it is only certain brands of drives with certain firmware that seem to be affected but I personnally have experienced it and through trouble shooting found that running the SECUROM removal tool made the Drive begin to function normally so tend to believe it was the cause !!

 

[Anraleth]

I haven't tinkered with the laptop in a bit, but after removing KoTOR and NWN the drive began functioning normally again.