dvd drive problem

[minty fresh]

just one hard disks are sata

[Sema4]

ok, lets start from the beginning....

You had this computer... for a while now.... it was working good.... then one day the DVD drive that was in it started playing up.... so you bought another one.... a new one.... and the problems you are describing here, are the problems you are getting with the new one....

Right ? or not ?

How long was the computer running ok before the problems started with your first DVD drive ?

What problems were you getting with your first DVD drive exactly, that made you buy a new one ?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to establish the picture of what brought you to the point your at now

[p4ul]

I cant believe how unlucky ive been with dvd/cd burners. Ive gone through about 5 of them in the past 2 years..

I think im going to stop buying cheap dvd drives online, as im fed up of having to return them!

[Sema4]

Liteon drives are very affordable, and generally speaking, very reliable, I've had a number of them and have never had one fail, I only ever bought a new for for faster writing speeds, dual layer, etc...

you can pick up a dual layer liteon drive for around £16, and at that price, if it should happen to go faulty, your cheaper to buy a new one than send it back for replacement !

LiteOn DH-20A3P-12C @ Scan

I have never had a liteon drive fail yet, however...

Got a surge protector on your computer ? Good quality PSU ?

[p4ul]

Well this has been in more than one pc.. 2 of them have very decent 500w psu, and the other was a 400w i think..

I bought 2 dvd/cdr combo drives, one for my pc, the other for a friends pc i was building. They both failed a few months apart. So they were both returned and a few months later both replacements failed also. Must have been a dodgey batch or something.. anyway i build a pc for another friend, and guess what? The dvd drive stopped working a few months later.. by this time i just bought a totally different drive and didnt bother returning this one. (that new replacement is still working today afaik)

So i bought a new LG dvd rw drive last year.. about 6 months later its starts to read cds VERY s..l..o..w..l..y and often wont recognise a disc in the drive. So i buy a new sony NEC drive from ebuyer.. DOA. To this day it has not been able to burn a SINLGE cdr or dvdr.. it wont even read a real CD, never mind a CDR!

SO, i get my RMA Number, and a collection for the item is approved. They came to collect it last monday. Then a few days later i get an email saying that my RMA has been closed because "nothing has been done since the RMA was opend" okkkk... now i dont even know where it is, and to be honest i dont care, as the replacement drive would probably fail in a few weeks anyway, thats if it ever worked at all.

I dont get whats so hard about building these things to actually WORK! They build them too cheap and unreliable imo. I still have my frist ever 4X LG cd burner i bought about 5 years ago that still works today, after burning 100s of discs!! That cost me £99 when today, they are around £16-£20.

But i will take alook at that Liteon drive for the new pc im going to build, ive not tried them before and its only £16.. but i fear, any cd / dvd drive that i lay my hands on seems to be cursed to an early death!

[Sema4]

Is there a heavy smoker in the house by any chance ?

Smoke, dust and vibration, can all cause a premature shortening to an optical drives life expectancy....

[p4ul]

Nope, noone smokes here, and though it can get quite dusty.. my trusty x4 speed 5 year old LG drive is still working fine! Its just all the newer ones that keep dying on me!