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Troubleshooting - Incompatible Software

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Problem Description

Faulty third-party software may adversely affect the operation of Firestreamer with any of the following symptoms:

  • Firestreamer drivers fail to load.
  • Your backup software detects Firestreamer tape libraries incorrectly, or does not detect them at all.
  • Firestreamer produces errors while accessing drive media.
  • Firestreamer misbehaves.

In most cases, such software installs itself as a storage filter driver, interfering with the data flow between Firestreamer and your backup software, or between Firestreamer and your media drives. The Firestreamer Installer displays a warning message when it detects third-party storage filter drivers on your computer. Note that it is only a warning because the actual problem may or may not occur.

Certain versions of the following software are known to cause problems with Firestreamer.

SiRemFil May cause malfunction of Firestreamer.
PxHelp20 May prevent Firestreamer drivers from being loaded.
InCDPass May prevent Firestreamer from accessing a SCSI DVD-RAM drive.
CDR4_2K, CDRALW2K May prevent Firestreamer from accessing an optical media drive.
imdrvfsf May prevent Firestreamer from accessing an Iomega REV drive. More....
jgogo May cause your backup software to detect Firestreamer tape libraries incorrectly.

Troubleshooting

If you do not experience problems with Firestreamer, no further action is required. Otherwise, get an updated version of the third-party software from its manufacturer. If it does not help, you may want to either uninstall or disable the offending software.

Disabling Third Party Filter Drivers

IMPORTANT:

  • Back up your computer before changing the system registry.
  • Changing the system registry and/or disabling a storage driver may prevent your system from starting up.
  • Do not attempt to change the system registry if you are not experiencing the problem that is likely to be caused by a third-party filter driver.

Devices in Microsoft Windows are grouped by "device class". Each device class is identified by a GUID (globally unique identifier). The following GUIDs directly relate to Firestreamer devices:

  • Storage controllers: {4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
  • Tape drives: {6D807884-7D21-11CF-801C-08002BE10318}.
  • Medium changers: {CE5939AE-EBDE-11D0-B181-0000F8753EC4}.

In addition, the following GUIDs relate to the devices which may used by Firestreamer as virtual tape in drive media mode:

  • Optical drives (for example, a DVD writer or Iomega REV): {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
  • Disk drives (for example, a USB external HDD): {4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

A filter driver may be installed for all devices of a given class, or for individual device instances.

To check what filter drivers are installed for the devices of a particular class, and to disable such filter drivers, follow the steps below:

  1. Back up your computer.
  2. Open the Registry Editor.
  3. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\<GUID>, where <GUID> is the GUID of the given device class. For example, for storage controllers, the actual registry key name is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
  4. Check if the key contains the UpperFilters or LowerFilter values. If any of these values is present, it may contain one or more names of the filter drivers associated with all devices of the class. To disable a particular filter driver, remove its name from the value, and then restart the computer to see if the problem is resolved.
  5. Expand the registry key you navigated to at step 3. There will be one or more sub-keys named NNNN, where N is a decimal digit, for example, 0000, 0001, and so on. Each sub-key corresponds to a device instance.
  6. Click the first sub-key to check its values. If the DriverDesc value contains "Firestreamer", then the device belongs to Firestreamer. If any of the UpperFilters or LowerFilter values is present, it may contain one or more names of the filter drivers associated with the device instance. To disable a particular filter driver, remove its name from the value, and then restart the computer to see if the problem is resolved.
  7. Repeat step 6 for all NNNN sub-keys.
  8. Repeat steps 3-7 for the other relevant GUIDs.

 

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