Page 2 - CD-ROM - Invalid MS-DOS function?

Double-check the settings in your burning software. This problem is caused when you burn a CD that violated the standards. It can be caused to too long of filenames, too deep of paths, etc.

I have gone nuts trying to get a solution to this problem... using optical media as a sole backup option was a VERY bad idea. I have many copies of home movies on CDs all averaging 650-700MB. Of about 500 discs I can now read about 400. And that number is getting smaller.

For me it seemed when I first come across the error "Invalid MS-DOS Function" in XPSP1 I couldnt figure out where to start looking. Then when I upgraded to SP2 it started calling it a CRC error which I know about so made it a lot easier to understand. But now it's happening too often. It's gotta be the software - in the previous posts we've eliminated hardware and media so software's all we got left.

Anybody had this problem using something other than Nero? What 'bout Linux? We've had this mentioned before but no real result.

We gotta either fix this or come up with a more reliable form of media for around the same cost.

Anybody had this error with a disc that wasnt burnt on a PC? Original discs? Game discs? What about other filenames - it seems to be most prevelant with large AVI files, I wonder why that is...

And why does it happen most frequently in the last 10 secs or so of copying?

Removed content-less dialog

Hi,
Joined this forum specifically for this like a few other ppl here...
I got the exact same problem yesterday.. full disc copied excepting one particular file for which i got the same msdos function error.
Soln that worked for me was to "extract" the file from the cd using extract feature in IsoBuster. Extracted file worked perfectly.

Hope this helps.

The following fixed this problem for me. I had a hunch that it was neither the CD-ROM or the O/S causing the issue - it acted more like there was something in the middle that was causing the issue.

I turned off my anti-virus auto protect software, and then tried to copy everything off of my CD, and voila! Everything copied successfully.

Here's what I think was/is happening. If you have any type of real-time file scanning software installed on your computer, then the computer is reading things off of the CD as fast as it can and trying to write to your filesystem - all the while it is going through the real-time scanning process. If at any point the OS is expecting data to be available but it is not (due to being held onto by your file scanning program), then the 'invalid MS-DOS function" error is thrown and the whole process halts. By turning off the 'middle-man' you allow the hardware and the OS to communicate and negotiate transfer speeds that both can keep up with.

Don't forget to turn your A/V back on. I think you'll only need to do something like this when you're doing large transfers from media where a lot of file buffering might be going on. This is only a theory at this point but it worked for me. Hopefully others of you find it useful.

Thanks,
Jared

That sounds like a very logical response. Thanks for the contribution. Please stick around.

Well.... thought I would join the party myself! haha

I hope this thread isn't dead as its been like 3 days since a post in it...


Well I'm having the same problem as everyone else but it seems most are from movies... I'm having a problem with a CD-RW full of pictures from my digital camera. I don't know if this would make it diffrent from the movies, but ill say this. I have actually always had a problem since I burned this CD but I have managed to get the pictures off once (about 98% of them) awhile back but then to stupid to burn them to a working CD. Does this mean anything? Iv done it once I wanna do it again! This pictures are so important to me just like everyone's movies. I'm on XP and I put the CD in and then when you select one you see a preview... and some I can so ya know I thought that would mean I could just Ctrl c and Ctrl v on my desktop but then I get that ms dos error. I havent messed around to much cause I don't really want to mess these Cd's up and no way in .... I'm gonna throw these away.. someday they will fix this maybe.


Any help? Programs?

I dunno whatever you guys think, I would really appreciate.

>When i tried to copy some information from a CD that i burnt, it gave me an error >message saying cannot copy file, invalid MS-DOS function. What does this mean exactly? >Does it mean that my CD is screwed and i should throw it out? There are no real visible >scratches on the surface and i cleaned the CD to no avail, is there any way i can get my >info off it or is it lost?

Hello fellow sufferers. I signed up here just to bump up this thread and see if there have been any new developments regarding this tedious issue. I have tried all the suggestions mention here so far, but none have worked.

I noticed alot of people are having problems with video files, which might give the impression that it is strictly affecting large files. But in my case, I am trying to copy 1.5 Mb at the most per file. These are *.flp files for Fruity Loops projects and they range from 90 Kb to 1.5 MB individually as file sizes.

The DVD it's burned on is 4.7 Gb capacity with 4.18 used. It's a mixed data DVD with many miscellaneous files, large and small. The FL files are in their own folder... Everything else from the same disc copies over to my hard drive just fine. Just fine... It's the FLP files I can't copy, and them alone.

Please, there has to be someone out there who knows what's going on with this. I'm getting the same "invalid MS-Dos function" error. I have NEVER ever ever had this problem before with any other discs, CD or DVD. These are some precious precious files that I really need to recover. Any help, thanks...

Oh P.S. ... I read about the force acpi (aspi misspelled?) thing. I don't know anything about it really, but I would like to try it and see if it works, since I have ISObuster ready to use. If anyone could link me up or give me a few instructions, I will try it. Thanks again,.

Ok, i joined here just to thank you guys!
I had the same "Invalid MS-DOS function" problem when i was trying to copy large video files (*.ogm) from a dvd.

Disabling the auto virus protect really worked!! Thank you guys!

Welcome to our forums, Despic! It's always good to hear that our advice has helped someone out.

heh actually, (i hate this) it worked only with the first video file...
i dont know what the heck is wrong with it...

Hi Folks

I had this same message this morning on my WinXP Pro SP2 PC:

"Cannot copy xxxx: Invalid MS-DOS function."

The filename is 'industrial heritage lincs.sep' and was contained in D:\PDF\. The filesize is 355MB

It was created about 4/5 years ago on a Win98SE machine (though I can't remember the name of the burning software).

The total data on the disk comes to 638MB.

I tried turining off my Anti-Virus and also using a Windows 98 SE computer (and a Win2k too).

What worked for me was Monitorm's suggestion to use ISOBuster. I placed the disk in the drive and created an ISO image. I then used ISOBuster to load the image, and successfully extracted the .sep file from the PDF folder.

Cheers Monitorm!

Heh check THIS out. I have a Desktop PC running windows XP HOME SP2, and a laptop PC running windows XP PRO SP2. I use my desktop for burning movies and what not onto DVD's for backups. I can read and copy from my DVD's on my desktop all day long, but when I try to do the same with my laptop I get the invalid MS-DOS function error Even happens when trying to copy over .zip, .rar, OR .iso files.... even when in folders. TELL me it's not the OS or the hardware and i'll laugh in your face, possibly spit at you for being retarded!!! IT'S NOT THE DVD'S OR THE PROGRAM IT WAS USED TO WRITE THE DVD'S (NERO), OR THE FILES ON THE DVD'S EVEN. Now if someone has a solution to fixing the problem with WINDOWS please feel free to give me an answer. Sorry I'm just a bit frustrated because the drive reads and recognizes the files but won't copy OR install from drive, and none of the 12 - 14 forums i've visited, OR the microsoft site have been any help. I HATE EVIL CORPORATIONS!!!!!!!! BAH BILL GATES

In Device Manager, remove all drivers for your optical drive. Reboot or run the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard to let it redetect it.

Alternatively, you can try installing manufacturer specific drivers.