The FreeiPodGuide Forums

TryinToGetPaid · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:45 am Post subject: Paging Dr Morris.

I have a CD/DVD DL writer that is no longer recognizing any CD or DVD. It is an ATAPI DVD A DH16A1P ATA Device.

I have uninstalled it and let Vista reinstall it, did not work.
I have tried to redownload the drives on my own, did not work.
I have deleted several registry keys per microsoft support, did not work.

The device says it is working properly in the device manager. When a CD or DVD is put in, it spins and spins and is never read and if I click the drive, it spins and then says Please Insert Disk into Drive and then opens the drive.

Per google many people seem to have this problem after a while with this drive, is it safe to say that I will need a new drive?

doylnea · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:51 am Post subject:

You can buy a new IDE DVD DL drive for $25 (Newegg, for example), and save yourself the troubles, I would. After a while burners do fail...

TryinToGetPaid · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:00 am Post subject:

This burner is around 3 months old, and just recently has it burned anything.

Also, if I have a CD in the drive and restart it does ask if I want to boot from CD, but other than that it will not recognize any disks.

doylnea · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:11 am Post subject:

hrm - how about a firmware update?

TryinToGetPaid · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:25 am Post subject:

Couldn't find it....

manOFice · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:56 am Post subject:

Sounds like you need a new drive

dmorris68 · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:34 am Post subject:

You said BIOS prompts you to boot from CD -- have you tried that with a bootable disc? If it boots up and reads the disc that way, but then refuses to read the disc while in Windows, then it's likely a software issue rather than hardware. Perhaps an IDE driver conflict or something. Have you installed or changed anything related, such as nVidia's IDE driver for their chipsets? I've also heard of virtual CD/DVD drivers like Daemon Tools and Alcohol causing similar problems.

My concern would be if it's a Windows issue, buying a new drive won't fix it. I would first attempt to use this drive from DOS or Linux (try a Linux LiveCD or a DOS bootdisk with CD drivers) to test the drive itself first. Then if it has problems, buy a new drive. Otherwise, you'll probably have to reinstall Windows. If you haven't already, you might try installing the complete chipset drivers for your motherboard chipset (whether Intel or nVidia).

If you have another available IDE port or cable, you might also try swapping them around to eliminate a bad cable/port.