Disc drive that wont drive

JMSE

I have an '08 HP desktop pc, wont go into the full spec but needless to say, its a great machine but for one bloody big problem. The disc drive wont read discs and never did.

Now I bought this as a display model from Harvey Norman so it wasnt straight out of a box. This is the main reason I've let it go until now, thinking theres something I'm doing wrong and its my fault (Catholic guilt) , but the time has come. Is there anyone out there who can diagnose what is going thru the head of a dvd rw drive and why it wont recognise theres a disc in the drive.

When I go into CP, device manager, DVD/CD-ROM drives, there are two options.
1st is 'HUAWEI Mass storage USB device'
2nd is 'Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201S5 SCSI CdRom Device'

Both report that the devices are working correctly.

I dont know very much about this but 2 things which I think are suspect are
a) the location for the optiarc is Bus Number 0, Target Id 0, LUN 0 so with all values at zero, is something wrong about that
b)why is there a USB device operating under DVD/CDROM drives in control panel?

Hope you can help. Thanks.

Odaise Gaelach

JMSE wrote: »

a) the location for the optiarc is Bus Number 0, Target Id 0, LUN 0 so with all values at zero, is something wrong about that

No, that's not suspect.

JMSE wrote: »

b)why is there a USB device operating under DVD/CDROM drives in control panel?

This could be a mobile internet dongle, like the kinds Vodafone or O2 have. It's filed under drives because it contains data, such as that needed to install the software for the internet connection.


So what version of Windows are you running? Does the drive appear in Computer? Do you get any errors when you try to read from a disc, or do you get any when you try to write to a disc?

Incidentally, you could try running a Microsoft Fix It. Download the program from the Microsoft website and follow the instructions.

Your CD or DVD drive can't read or write media - Microsoft Help and Support

JMSE

Thanks Odaise. You're right, there is a mobile internet dongle being used on the pc.

Am running Visat Home Premium, the drive is there. When I bring up the list of drives in Computer its listed there as DVD RW Drive ( E: ) Type=CD Drive. If I click on it, it tells me to insert a disc and pops the disc slot out. No matter if I have a disc in it or put one in, it spins up, sounds like it tries to read it 3 times, then after 10 seconds it pops the disc out again and tells me to insert a disc.

Interesting to note that a year ago, I attempted to burn my first disc, and after a few fails, it worked for me. But now it doesnt want to read anything.

Odaise Gaelach

First, try the Fix It on the Microsoft Help and Support site:
Your CD or DVD drive can't read or write media - Microsoft Help and Support

If that doesn't work then you can try booting your computer with a bootable DVD in the drive and see if it recognises, reads and boots from it.

If the computer can boot from the DVD drive, that means that the problem's in Windows. If it can't then that means the problem's most likely in the drive itself.

JMSE

So far I've tried the microsoft link you gave odaise, after going thru the routine it says that it found some problems which it has fixed but the main problem which they say still remains unfixed is 'media in cd/dvd drive is not readable. The drive is empty or the media format is not supported.

Shouldnt I be able to throw any DVD (Pal2 version) into the drive and expect it to read it?

I'll try to get my hands on a bootable dvd. Funny this, I had an office job up to '93 and could format a bootable disc from a dos prompt, now having been away from dos and computers while windows took over I havent a clue how to do it now.

oisin

It's possible that the drive has failed, if it's being recognised by the system then it's unlikely to be a driver, cable or power problem. Perhaps try a firmware update.

According to this page
http://drivers.top4download.com/hp-optiarc-ad-7560a-optical-driver-firmware-dh12/puuyz.html

there were read failure problems with Vista ( you didn't say what OS you're running).

Try the HP support site for your model for any firmware upgrades. Failing that a replacement drive won't be that expensive.

JMSE

Thanks people, I think its time for a pc doctor now. I tried the microsoft and hp support sites, even the hp one which seems very good, it was ready to test the drive in all sorts of ways but it fell at the first fence, it didnt read any of the discs I put in. Tried to download a firmware update from hp for my drive but at the very end of the installation it failed saying my system didnt have the minimum requirement.