Device Cannot Start (Code 10)

Author: ajua

21 May

The day before yesterday, i talked to a cousin that was having problems with his dvd drive. Windows didn’t show it in explorer and in device manager there was this error: Device Cannot Start (Code 10).

Then, i remembered having to face this problem more than once before. I offered my help as usual and the problem was solved. I thought of posting about it just in case someone needs a quick fix for it.

This problem can have many possible causes. The most common ones are that programs for burning or ripping, like Nero, AnyDVD and others sometimes left drivers installed when they are removed.

The first solution is to re-install the program. About a year ago, AnyDVD caused this, so re-installing it would solve the problem, same with some old versions of Nero. Try this to see if a program you installed/uninstalled was the cause.

The other solution involves deleting two registry entries and restarting your computer. It works for XP and Vista.

Open the Windows Registry Editor. Type regedit in the Run box of the Start Menu.
Navigate to this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
Go to File and choose Export. Then select Selected Branch and save this in case you run into a problem. You will be able to restore these values if something goes wrong.
Right click these two entries and delete them. UpperFilters and LowerFilters. If you only have one of them there, don’t worry, delete it.
Restart you computer. You should be able to see and use your CD-DVD drive again.

In case deleting the key causes you more trouble or conflicts, double click the file you saved and restart Windows. The entries will be restored as they were before deleting them.

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Filed under: Troubleshooting

25 Responses for "Device Cannot Start (Code 10)"

Marcel Bali June 4th, 2008 at 7:07 pm 1
Despues de reinstalar el OS windows,4 veces,al encontrar esta ayuda lo aplique y si, me soluciono el problema. Gracias, AJUA.
Macen June 5th, 2008 at 11:26 am 2
Hey thanks!! That worked perfectly. I’ll have to remember that little trick just in case
ajua June 5th, 2008 at 11:08 pm 3
Que bueno que te solucionó el problema Marcel. Saludos.
ajua June 5th, 2008 at 11:10 pm 4
Hi Macen, it is good to read that my post is helping people with this problem.

Regards.
Mike June 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am 5
Wow, thats awesome. Thanks for the help.
ajua June 15th, 2008 at 1:08 am 6
You are welcome.
moises July 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm 7
pues ami no me ha funcionado por que en la carpeta no aparecen los arcivos que hayq ue borar ya estaban eliminados
podrian ayudarme
gustavo August 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm 8
gracias, tengo un acer laptop y no podia ni formatear por lo mismo que no podia poner el dvd, con tus instruciones me funciono muchas gracias por el aporte fantastico wooooow.
ajua August 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am 9
@moises: Intenta hacer una búsqueda en el registro para encontrar la clave “Class” y el valor “CDROM”. Espero que resuelvas tu problema.

@gustavo: que gusto leer que ya resolviste el problema.

saludos a ambos!
puchito2000 August 7th, 2008 at 10:15 pm 10
hey men ur awesome!! it works perfectly!
Rafael August 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am 11
Muchas Gracias, Tambien a mi me funciono!!!!
Pochis August 24th, 2008 at 11:37 am 12
Muchísimas gracias! Estaba a punto de estrellar mi lap contra la pared. Me funcionó de inmediato. Es sensacional que compartas este tipo de información sin fines lucrativos. Te felicito y gracias de nuevo.
Saludos.
ajua August 24th, 2008 at 7:29 pm 13
Gracias por los comentarios.

Me da gusto que les haya servido este tip y hayan resuelto el problema.

Visiten el sitio de vez en cuando, ya que siempre estaré posteando acerca de como corregir problemas.
Titty August 29th, 2008 at 8:08 pm 14
Hola, yo tengo un problema similar pero con un mp3 que es nuevo. Me sale el mismo error “el dispositivo no puede inciar (codigo 10)” Ya intente desinstalandolo e instalandolo, buscando actualizaciones y desabilitandolo y habilitandolo. Pero nada funciono, y ya no se que hacer… los puertos usb de mi computadora andan perfectamente y probe el mp3 en una computadora que tiene windows xp y funciono a la perfeccion (yo tengo windows vista y no lo quiero cambiar). La solucion que diste es para lectoras y no se si funcionaria para mi.. pero de todas formas me fije y no tengo esos codigos que mencionaste, al menos no en esa carpeta. Bueno, espero que puedas ayudarme cuanto antes. Aca te dejo mi mail, si podes por favor ayudame que no se que hacer y quiero usar mi mp3
mi mail es: martu_sk@hotmail.com

Gracias!!
Naomi September 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm 15
How do I say this. Umm, I love you. I have been miserable for months because my cdrom/dvd would not work. I searched the internet repeatedly and could not find any pertinent information just other people with the same problem. Then today, a miracle this website popped up under a search for Code 10 problem. Thank you and now I must go and spread the good news to my people, other cdrom/dvd - less people searching for hope.
ajua September 8th, 2008 at 1:58 am 16
@Titty: Ya te envíe un correo hace algunos días. Espero que hayas podido resolver el problema.

@Naomi: Don’t worry, i really like to help people with their computer-related problems. Now go and and spread the solution (oh, and the love too!) that worked for you.
karen September 13th, 2008 at 9:14 pm 17
holaa amigooo ey muchas gracias por este articuloo me ayuda a componer mi compu que estaba nueva y ya lloraba yo porq no lei mis cds ni nada mill graciass eres buenisimo en estos temass te estare agradecidaa GRACIASSS!!!
ajua September 14th, 2008 at 12:47 am 18
Que bueno que te haya servido mi artículo, Karen.
DocJB October 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 am 19
Aquí tienes a otro que solucionó el problema con la ayuda de tu artículo.
¡Muchas gracias!
ajua October 3rd, 2008 at 12:40 pm 20
Por nada, DocJB.

Saludos.
ben grim October 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am 21
I recovered my desktop after it crashed.My external hd worked before this now I get “This device cannot start. (Code 10)”.Will this work for my storage device.It is plug and play so no driver to install. Ive looked on calvary website cant find a solution.Im bummed if Ive lost 40 gb of family pics i was storing there . HELP PLEASE ! !
ben grim October 23rd, 2008 at 11:37 am 22
ooops my email was missing the ” j ” between n and g
ajua October 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm 23
The Device Cannot Start (Code 10) problem sometimes is related to software, as i talked about in this post, and sometimes it has to do with hardware failures.

Try my instructions to see if it work again. If not, try connecting your external disk to other computers.

Good luck.
renemoran November 15th, 2008 at 12:09 am 24
what about display adapter with code 10 problem? hoping you can help me too. thanks and regards.
ajua November 16th, 2008 at 2:52 pm 25
Try uninstalling the current video drivers, reboot, then install them again using the latest version available for your video card.

Also, try to find your monitor’s drivers and install them. This helps some times.

Make sure you are using the latest DirectX and run DXDIAG in Start Menu - Run to see if all the tests run correctly.