CD Reader --> unable to open device

[JohnTheMutt]

I have Winamp setup to read my CD's upon inserting them. However when I do, an error screen pops up saying:
--------------------------
Winamp-CD Reader-Error

"Unable to open device. Probably your system does not support Win32 driver calls."

--------------------------

I have the CD reader input plugin installed.
Windows ME
Winamp ver 2.78c
Plextor 16/10/40A as my "E":drive(CD-R PX-W1610A)(firmware 1.04)
Pioneer 16/40 as my "D":drive(DVD-ROM DVD-116)(firmware 1.09)


Can anyone please help me out so that Winamp will "see" my drives? I can play an audio CD when I specifically ask it to play it. But I cannot rip any CD. In fact no software off the net such as ZLURP, or CDex cannot "see" any drive to use as a ripper.

This is very frustrating and any help at all would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[DJ Egg]

Okay, I see this is kind of a continuation from your post in the wa2 plugins forum.

Fear not....

Try my suggestions & links in this recent & similar thread:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=80141

I think you'll need to install an Adaptec SCSI Controller from the Add New Hardware Control Panel, then upgrade the ASPI layer. You can find exact instructions in the links in the other thread (ASPI Problems section). I think it's Budgie who provides the precise & detailed information....

btw, it also sounds like you've got CDReader configured wrongly.
Goto: Prefs -> Plugins -> Input -> CDReader -> config.
Hi-lite each drive in turn & click "configure".
Make sure the correct drive letter is assigned to the correct device.
Also make sure the Interface is "ASPI" (not Win32)

Further details c/o those links

And what's this other software you were referring to?
ie. the one which you're getting the error message about @ bootup.

[JohnTheMutt]

Thanks for the reply DJEgg! I will try the things that you mention, and hopefully something will start to work here.

The "No ASPI layer detected" was coming from a version of Plextools for the Plexwriter I have installed. Just found this out. After contacting Plextor, they informed me that Plextor of America does not support Plextools and that I would have to contact the European branch of Plextor, which does suport Plextools. Also telling me that I have a "gray" market product. Oh well, not surprised at this point. Anyway, Plextor Europe did solve that problem for me by having me: Uninstall Plextools-> Install an ASPI install package(an earlier version from Adaptec)-> Reinstall Plextools. Now Plextools works and I no longer get the "No ASPI layer detected" message upon boot up.

Now however is still the issue with getting the other software to work with "seeing" the drive. But I'm off to try your suggestions now. I am curious though why do I need to install the Adaptec SCSI controller? I know that my drive is not a SCSI and that I have no SCSI controllers in my computer. My drives are IDE/ATAPI I think. Will installing this new hardware help anyway?

Thanks again for your helpful relpy DJEgg.

[DJ Egg]

The only reason why is so that the ASPI upgrade thinks there's some Adaptec hardware/software installed. It won't let you install the latest ASPI Layer upgrade otherwise. But, it seems like you've already solved this issue by uninstalling Plextools, installing the older ASPI layer, then reinstalling Plextools. You shouldn't have to install any Adaptec SCSI (note: or IDE) Controllers now, because as long as an ASPI-Layer is installed you'll be able to run the upgrade. The upgrade only fails if there's no previous ASPI Layer installed or no Adeptec hardware/software is detected.

As for why no software can detect the drives,
this suggests a different problem entirely.

Do both drives show up in "My Computer"?
Are they both accessible here?

Any problems listed with the drives in:
System Control Panel -> Device Manager -> CD-ROM -> drive -> properties ?

btw, you'll still need to make sure CDReader is configured properly
(as explained earlier)

[roach-o-matic]

JohnTheMutt - do yerself a fovor and follow the link above and try the things DJEgg suggests. (I'm the fool from that link ). I just beat basically the same problem and he was 100% on with his solution....make sure you let everyone know if if worked and what fixed it too

[JohnTheMutt]

Sorry that it took so long for me to reply DJEgg. Unfortunately my girlfriend of 3 years and I have just had a major breakup during all of this and the excuse "But I have had computer problems sweetheart!", totally doesn't warrant any sympathy. Just in case anyone is curious. Oh well, I'm very bummed with that to be sure, but...

I did try all of your suggestions, DJEgg and have had great success so far! Let me list the things I did and how they helped. And also your right roach-o-matic, we did have very similar problems.

First I did check that windows properly sees the drives with the System control panel-> Device manager-> CD-ROM -> drive -> properties. It shows that device is working properly, hmmm...

Anyway, before that, your aware that I did have the ASPI layer reinstalled by an older version of ASPI from Adaptec-> version 4.6 from Plextor. Which came with an installer of its own. Not sure where it put it exactly. I know that the version from Adaptec will install it in a default directory of c:\adaptec\aspi directory. Anyhow, the reinstall worked out okay and Plextools works okay now. So one down...

Next I configured the CD READER v1.95(x86) to properly see the drives by properly configuring the reader as you have stated. Such as NOT selecting WIN32(Windows NT/2000) but rather ASPI(Windows 9x/ME...). So this enabled the Reader to properly see my drives and not give the WIN32 error obviously. So now I can shut off the bundled Nullsoft input reader without negative consequences, by renaming the original input as in_cdda.dll.off

Okay. Just to be sure, I uninstall Winamp. Keep the folders with the plugins, etc. and then reinstall it. Full version. All my downloaded plugins are still there in the plugin folder and actually they are still configured as I left them. As you probably already know. But anyway, after reinstallation, I can now rip/encode CD's to MP3's!! Using Chun Yu's MP3 output for example. For the first time things are starting to work. WITHOUT using Windows ME's system restore. Which would have been problematic due to the large amount of newly installed programs since the last restore point, by the way. Unfortunately I am having problems getting Chun Yu's program to properly TAG the newly made mp3's. It keeps offsetting the track #'s by +1, and writing the data from the next playlist selections in the artist and track selection spots. If you have any links or info to how to make sure I am properly configuring that output reader or to fix what is happening, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Next I did reinstall Zlurp! And now finally I get it to recognize my drives as rippers, etc. Which before it did not.

So right now I am very far ahead of where I was before, thanks to all your help. Thanks so much for your help. Allow me to kneel before a shrine I have made in dedication to you DJEgg. Your the best. If not for you, I would be uber depressed, but now I am not. Thanks so much for all your help, your a real lifesaver.

[DJ Egg]

Weyhey, thanks for your kind words.
I'm glad it worked for you. Yay!

Just another suggestion...
Try Peter's MP3 Output plugin instead of Chun Yu's.
Out_Enc comes complete with the Lame Encoder and works a treat!

You might also want to give CDex or EAC a try.
Two truly excellent, top notch, freeware rippers
(they're both standalone programs, nothing to do with Winamp, although you can use Winamp's input plugins with CDex...)

[JohnTheMutt]

I'll definitely give those other programs and the output plugin a try. It is indeed getting a bit frustrating to use Chun-Yu's plugin. Thanks once again for all your help DJEgg.