Fixing a DVD-ROM/CDRW [fixed]

KGhaleon

I have a Presario 2500 with a DVD-ROM, CD-burning drive which doesn't read most of the discs that I put into it. I'm using normal CD, both blank and not-so-blank CDs. I've tried a number of different discs and it only reads a few of them, while the others just show up as blank. I also get hit by a box on startup asking me to install the Storage device drivers, but it doesn't find any. It shows up as a hidden device in device manager, and the CD-drive isn't flagged for problems. I've tried uninstalling and redetecting the drive..but no luck.

When I suspect that there's a software issue, there are a few things I like to try:

wrote:

1.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Control
Class
{4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. After clicking on {4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} you should see two settings
on the right-hand side:
"Upperfilters"
"Lowerfilters"
Click on each of them, press DELETE and click YES.

___________________________________________________________________
2.
Go to My Computer.
Right-Click on the drive w/ the problem
Properties
Recording Tab
and then check the "Enable CD Recording On This Drive" box.

___________________________________________________________________
3.
If you have Easy CD Creator 3.x or 4.x, remove the program from the computer, and then contact Roxio to upgrade to a version of Easy CD Creator that is supported in Windows XP.

If you have Easy CD Creator 5.0x, install the Windows XP update for Easy CD Creator that is available from Roxio.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
Updating the drive firmware.

I checked them all and nothing has changed. I also ran some registry fixing tools. At this point I am about to just contact the owner and give him his options(put a new drive in or get an external device)...but I want to try all my options. Is there anything else I should do? Google fails me.

I'm running a virus scan at the moment. Are there any diagnostic utilities for CD/DVD drives?

KG

blargoe

Cd drive failures in laptops are pretty common. I think you should just suggest a replacement option and not waste any more of his or your time with it - it would cost more time and money to repair it.

KGhaleon

Got it working. It would've been way more costly and difficult to replace it, since it's an older laptop. I did the following as a last resort:

wrote:

Go into My Computer and right-click on the CD-drive and select properties. Go to the hardware tab and double-click on the CD-drive in the list. Next go to the volumes tab and hit "populate." See if it detects your CD and if it loads that CD now.

It loads the CD when I do that and it will work fine until I put another disc in, then I have to do the whole process again. That told me it was a software-issue...so I took out a windows home edition disc and did a repair, which corrected the issue. I haven't had any further issues with it after running windows updates and scanning for viruses(found several).

KG

To the topic creator: Stop making me respond to my own questions.