I'm having a problem with my IDE drivers. The primary/secondary IDE channels in my device manager have yellow exalamation points and the error is a code 31 "unable to load drivers". unisntalling/reinstalling/rebooting does nothing. I've tried uninstalling all of my cd/dvd burning software and that did not fix a thing. I would like to avoid formatting if possible.
I'm running xp sp2 and the two devices themselves are fine as far as hardware goes, but unusable/invisible in windows.

Enter bios setup then see to it all your ide devices such as hard disks and especially your cdroms are being recognized by the bios. If not, check the ide cables and power connectors of the corresponding devices.

Does your cdrom drives appear in the "My Computer"?

Enter bios setup then see to it all your ide devices such as hard disks and especially your cdroms are being recognized by the bios. If not, check the ide cables and power connectors of the corresponding devices.

Does your cdrom drives appear in the "My Computer"?

The hardware is recognized fully in bios. The hardware in question is an 80gig HD and a DVD drive. The devices are not viewable at all in windows because the primary and secondary IDE channel drivers won't load.

Do you have Roxio Goback program run in your windows?

Does your system run in a ide/sata pci controller card?

Okay, try this.

Run your system in safe mode. Go to Device Manager and under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, right click each item then select uninstall. Delete all items you have found on it. Then restart.

I don't have roxio goback on my computer. I have installed/uninstalled roxio easy cd creator. I just bought an IDE/SATA pci controller to bypass this problem so I can have access to my IDE drives while I figure it out. The problem still exists with the onboard IDE channels however, as windows reports not being able to load the drivers. I have tried that technique in safemode to no avail as well.

1. Remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely from the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

NOTE: If you are getting a code 39 message, it may be that additional third-party filter drivers were added to UpperFilters and LowerFilters values in addition to Adaptec filter drivers. In that case, you may try to remove the non-Adaptec filter drivers first, leaving the Easy Creator filters in place to see if the Code 39 goes away. If you still receive an error code 39, 32, or 31 message, remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely in the preceding key.

2. Restart your computer.

1. Remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely from the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

NOTE: If you are getting a code 39 message, it may be that additional third-party filter drivers were added to UpperFilters and LowerFilters values in addition to Adaptec filter drivers. In that case, you may try to remove the non-Adaptec filter drivers first, leaving the Easy Creator filters in place to see if the Code 39 goes away. If you still receive an error code 39, 32, or 31 message, remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely in the preceding key.

2. Restart your computer.

There were no upper/lowerfilter registry keys. I fixed this problem by uninstalling windows xp service pack 2 from my computer. I still have no idea what caused it, but that problem itself is solved.

I am glad you fixed your own problem. However, as I know one thing that is causing registry corruption is when you accidentally uninstall some programs with shared files wherein they are needed to start some programs.

It's not clear to me how you set up your system with ata/sata pci controller card. But not all ultra ata/sata pci controller are functioning well with optical drives.

if the ide channels are built into the motherboard then go get the drivers for the motherboard manufacturers website and reinstall them.. see if that helps. if it a controller card plugged in to the MB's PCI slot then same thing, go download the drivers..

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.