Need help, weird stuff going on!

[Arcnite]

Quick Summary: Split drive into 3 partitions, 1 partition will not format. Also, I'm getting an "Image simulation SCSI CdRom Device." listed as a CD-Rom under disk management and my computer. The thing is, it's comming from the HD. Please help if you can...


I just received a Western Digital 180GB (special edition) drive as a replacement for a defective unit that I had. I noticed that this replacement drive has been refurbished. When I first intalled it, it was recognized in BIOS, but disk management and windowsXP did not detect it. The only thing that was detected was an "Image Simulation SCSI CdRom Device" (note: HD is connected through an Ultra IDE card). I thought that some of the previous owner's data may still be on the drive so I used Datalifeguard utilities to erase the drive (write 0's). That seemed to work. I was then able to install the drive using datalifeguard (before erasing I received erros when trying to install). I split the 180GB drive into three partitions (NTFS). The first two, each of 56.27GB seem to work fine. However, the third partition of 55.10GB is not responding. Under Disk Management it's listed without a file system and with 100% free space. I tried doing a full format and a quick format, each resulted in the message "the format did not complete successfully" Also, which I find odd but important, I still have a CD-ROM device listed that shouldn't be there. It's coming from the Hard drive, but I don't know why it's being seen as a CD-Rom. It's being called an "Image simulation SCSI CdRom Device." Please respond as soon as you can, your help is very appreciated. Thanks!

Mobo: Epox 8K7A+
CPU: AMD Athlox XP2200+
OS: Windows XP pro SP1
HD: WD 80GB
HD: WD 180GB SE
RAM: 2x512MB DDR 2100

 

[Crashman]

That simulated SCSI CDROM sounds like an "image drive". I have used various software such as Daemon Tools and a Nero tool that allows you to see ISO and BIN/Cue CD images as CD's. I don't know what program you have doing this, but try and figure that out.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Arcnite]

The problem is I never used any type of software to create it. It came up all by itself when I put in the new hard drive. When I try to double-click it, it says "please insert disk into drive F:"

Mobo: Epox 8K7A+
CPU: AMD Athlox XP2200+
OS: Windows XP pro SP1
HD: WD 80GB
HD: WD 180GB SE
RAM: 2x512MB DDR 2100

 

[Arcnite]

Update: I was able to get that last partition to format.. by some miracle, I'm not even sure how. I just kind of kept playing around and it finally worked.. kinda defies all logic.. but hey. Anyways, I thought the problem was over with. I had uninstalled the driver for the "Image Simulation SCSI CdRom Device" and moved the drive from my ultra ATA card to my onboard ATA connectors. The problem is, the "Image Simulation SCSI CdRom Device" keeps coming back! I try to go to it's property's, under driver, and "uninstall" But it doesn't stay uninstalled. Also, the HD is connected directly to my MB and all partitions are formatted, it's still producing the "CdRom" as a "SCSI CdRom" <starts to pull his hair out> Anyone have any clue?

Mobo: Epox 8K7A+
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2200+
OS: Windows XP pro SP1
HD: WD 80GB
HD: WD 180GB SE
RAM: 2x512MB DDR 2100

 

[lwj81]

I was having a similar problem with a Nforce2 board.My hardrive,cd/rom and cd/rw drive were listed as scsi devices.The Nforce drivers are not whlq certified.I went back to using the MS IDE driver and everything is listed as
its supposed to be.Not sure if it helps you but i thought i would mention it.

 

[Crashman]

It REALLY sounds like you have such a program installed though, and that it's re-installing the virtual CD every time you restart! Are you certain no programs like this are running? Have you checked to find out what all those icons in your tray and programs under "add and remove programs" and the start menue do?

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Arcnite]

I double checked to make sure, but there are no programs that should be causing this. Windows seem to be the one detecting it. As a habit, I keep programs out of my tray that I don't use, so nothing's running there that I don't know about. And I checked add-remove programs... I know all the programs in there, nothing that should be causing this. Also, I had a drive identical to this one (same brand/size/etc.) and never had this problem with it, nor with my other drive that my operating system is on.

As a band-aid solution I just disabled it so that I don't see it under My Computer, however.. it's still there, just disabled. All the partitions on my HD (the same one it's coming from) seem to be working fine. Do you think having this CdRom image device will effect performance or stability in any way?

Mobo: Epox 8K7A+
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2200+
OS: Windows XP pro SP1
HD: WD 80GB
HD: WD 180GB SE
RAM: 2x512MB DDR 2100

 

[Crashman]

I don't think whatever is causeing the problem will have a noticable affect on performance.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>