Author Archives: justin-merrill

CD Drive doesn’t appear in XP/Vista

Computer Aid Posted on by

This has happened to me once or twice since I have had my own computer and it is typically a pretty easy error to fix.

What exactly is the error?

There are some instances that cause your CD Drives not to appear in My Computer. Although there is a CD in the drive and hear it working the operating system doesn’t recognise the disk.

What causes the error?

Typically, this issue occurs after uninstalling software like Nero and Alcohol 120% which installs virtual drive software onto your computer. Sometimes files are uninstalled incorrectly and it causes your physical drives to become disabled also.

How can I fix the error?

In XP/Vista simply open your device manager (from control panel, or run devmgmt.msc). This application lists all the devices that are installed on your system. The program will also note if the hardware is disabled or installed incorrectly.

Head down to the DVD/CD-ROM Drives and drop down that menu. You should see a number of devices equivalent to the amount of CD Drives you have.

Select the drives the aren’t working and right click on them.

Find and click uninstall. Confirm the operation.

Restart your system. Upon restart, the device should reinstall. It will appear in My Computer and Device Manager as before but only this time you will find the drive works!

This doesn’t fix my issue!?

If this doesn’t fix your issue it may be a larger issue like a dead CD/DVD drive. If you believe it isn’t your drive, check inside your computer and make sure all cables are properly fitted and in the proper place. Sometimes disconnecting and reconnecting the cables helps.

Also take a look at:

vista loses drive

DVD gone from XP

Justin Merrill
A philosophical soldier for the thermonuclear age.

Can’t Play a Media File? VLC Media Player

Computer Aid Posted on by

If you download as much as I do, you often run into issues where you can’t play the file simply because you don’t have the proper codec for the file. Today I have a solution for that. That solution is called VLC Media Player.

What is VLC Media Player?
VLC Media Player is an infamous media player that plays just about any video or music file that you have.

How many file types can it play?
VLC Media Player can play well over 100 file types. If you would like to see a complete list of file types VLC Media Player can handle: click here.

But I have a Mac?
Do not worry! VLC Media Player is available for just about any operating system including most distributions of Linux.

Does it cost money?
VLC Media Player is completely free and is under the GNU Public License.

Awesome, where do I download?
Visit the main page and select your operating system. You will be able to choose from mirrors from across the world.
Alternatively, if you would like a direct download: Windows 2000, XP, Vista (15.6MB) Self-extracting

Notes:
VLC does not register all file types to itself. If you come across a media file and there is no program associated to it simply: right click > open with > VLC Media Player. You can also open an empty instance of VLC Media Player from the start menu and drag the file onto the program.

You may also have issues playing media files with DRM (digital rights management) inside of them. Although you may have the certificate installed in your computer to play them VLC Media Player does not recognize them.

VLC Media Player is also very good when it comes to resource usage. You may find that things run a lot smoother when you use VLC Media Player.

Justin Merrill
A philosophical soldier in the thermonuclear age.

Quick Fix: The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000006).

Computer Aid Posted on by

Today I will be writing about the “The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000006).” error. This is a common error especially in this day and age.

This error is caused because the .NET Framework isn’t on your computer (or it was uninstalled.)

The .NET Framework is a library of files designed by Microsoft to make designing applications easier for programmers. So if you get the “The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000006).” error is was because your computer was trying to load the .NET Framework libraries for that application but it couldn’t because they don’t exist!

To fix this error you simply download the latest version of the .NET Framework.

.NET Framework Development Center
Direct Download (135MB) (From Microsoft Servers)

You will find that an increasing amount of programs are relying on this framework. So make sure you have it and make sure you have the latest version!

My name is Justin Merrill and I own a personal blog called Educated Whore. I write just about anything but mostly about my military career. I have been blogging since 2005 when I was 15 years old (now 18 ). I plan to be writer when I am older too. I also know a bit about computers but my blog doesn’t get much attention in that department so I decided to write posts on a site dedicated to computers and help with computers. I plan to write many posts. I hope you enjoy them.