CD/DVD drives have stopped working...

[tensim]

Hi All...

For some reason my CD/DVD drives have just stopped working... When I go into 'Computer' on Vista it shows the drives are there, but if I pop a CD/DVD in it won't read, just asks me to 'please insert a disc'

Another thing, when I put a game disc in, instead of autorun launching, the drive simply sits there making a 'seek' noise... This is on both drives, both are Samsung models. This has literally just happened after a restart, no warning or prior instances...

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this and fix it?? Thanks for your help

cheers

[blueball]

Installed any games recently that might have SecuRom as their protection system?

(and before the gainsayers start having a go I HAVE had problems with SecuROM where it wouldn't allow me to burn DVDs or if it did they would fail. Uninstalling Securom instantly fixed prob)

[kmac]

Same thing happened to me with a Samsung drive ( but just the one). You can try unpluging the drive and reconnecting it. Also unintstalling it and reinstalling it etc but sadly I think the drives are knackered and need to be replaced. I reckon this is not a software issue but a hardware failure. It's just bad luck that the haveboth gone at the same.

The drives in their current state are veen capable of damaging your discs so beware what you test it with.

[tensim]

Haven't installed any new games... don't think I have securom on my system.

Seems weird that both have gone at once, they're both less than 6 months old and have had very light use (haven't burnt a single disc with either... just used them to run games).

Is there a way of working out what the error/problem is through Windows or somesuch?

Cheers

[kmac]

Try a bootable disc such as Ultimate Boot CD or simialr - if that fails then the drive is bad

Here is the link to Ultimat boot - you will obviously need a working burner to burn this first so call a friend ....

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

oh yeah and you will have to boot from this CD so eliminates any OS issues stopping your drives from working

[0iD]

See if you can find them in the registry, (having backed it up first), delete any entries & reboot. It's a method that's worked for me in the past.

I take it they show up in the BIOS correctly?

[tensim]

Yep, they show up fine in the BIOS... This is annoying, I can't play any games :-(

If I just go ahead and order a couple of new drives, which should I go for (obviously not Samsung!). Should I stick with something like Sony & Pioneer perhaps?

cheers

[0iD]

If they show in the BIOS then they mat well be OK. I experienced something like this some time ago & deleting them from the reg made windows discover them all over again & everything was fine.
Can also try swapping the cable slave/master order if theyre IDE ir jusr swap the cables if they're sata, that is, leave the cables in the mobo, just do a switcheroo on the drives.

[tensim]

OK then... how do I delete them from the Registry? pardon my ignorance

As a matter of interest, when I go into device manager it shows the 2 drives, properties show's the status as 'This device is working properly' etc... so it's not that windows can't see them...

[blueball]

OK then... how do I delete them from the Registry? pardon my ignorance

As a matter of interest, when I go into device manager it shows the 2 drives, properties show's the status as 'This device is working properly' etc... so it's not that windows can't see them...

Try this:

Disconnect the data leads from both and swap the connectors (lead A goes to drive B instead of drive A) - that way they may be re-detected

[0iD]

OK, in which case, for some reason windows may have it's drive letters muddled. Sounds like the drives are fine, just windows has its kinckers in a twist.
Try looking in control panel > administrative tools > computer management > disk management & see if the drives show up there & what drive letters are assigned.

[tensim]

CD-ROM 0 is labelled as DVD (D) and CD-Rom 1 is labelled as DVD (G)

When I click on properties it shows as device is working properly, when I click on eject it opens the drive... so why won't it read anything of either one?

cheers for your help, appreciated

[tensim]

Disconnect the data leads from both and swap the connectors (lead A goes to drive B instead of drive A) - that way they may be re-detected

Should this be done with the PC one or when it's switched off? cheers

[0iD]

try right clicking on them and changing ther drive letter. this 'may' force windows to rediscover them. Failing that, as has been said, switch the cables over.

[tensim]

changing the drive letter didn't help... with switching the cables, should this be done with the PC on or off? does it matter?

I'm off to indoor cricket now, so will check back in this when I get home. thanks for your help thus far, appreciated.

ciao for now

[0iD]

Definately off