Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged (code 19)

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged (code 19)- CD ROM Device Manager Error

One of my client brought in a Dell Latitude laptop that has a problem with its CD ROM. According to the owner he can't access his CD. The model of his CD Rom is Samsung CD ROM SN-124. Upon inspection, I found out that the device (CD ROM drive) is missing from his My Computer (as you can see on the image below)

At first, I thought that the problem lies with the connection of the CDROM because I had it disassembled a week before due to display problem. The CD Rom is snap in type, so I easily took it out and back in without hassle. Upon logging in to windows, the problem still persist.

Next, I checked the Device Manager (right-click My Computer, choose Properties, then Hardware and click on Device Manager). As you can see on the picture below, there is a problem with the CD ROM because there is a yellow exclamation mark before it.

I double-click the entry to see the problem and it says:

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged (code 19)

As the error says, it is related to a registry problem. After a little bit of research, there is an entry on the registry that needs to be deleted in order for the cd rom to work. The culprit is in the registry key:

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

Here's the automatic fix, just download the file and run it:

Autofix for Windows XP

Autofix for Windows Vista


If the automatic fix don't work you can do it manually. Here are the instructions:

Click START, then RUN and type in REGEDIT. Navigate to the said entry. You will see that there are several entries that has {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. In my case, the first one is for CDROM. Remove the LowerFilters entry. If there is an UpperFilter entry, remove that as well, but in my case it is not necessary.

Here's a screenshot as a guide:

Blue box is the registry address entry.

The Yellow box shows that there are lots of the same entry.

Violet shows that you are on the right entry because it says CDROM

Green box is the entry that you need to delete.

Finally, restart your computer and you can see that your CDROM is now working.