Laptop mounted DVD/CD player will not run

[Vanguard_50024]

Have been trolling the internet for ages now and still no closer to finding a solution to my problem which is this :-

I have a laptop mounted DVD (writer) but although it is recognized in Device manager (functioning normally) with no driver error flag, it will not respond to any disc I put in it. When I double-click the drive in file explorer it pops open and I get a message to insert a disc.. I have physically removed it and re-connected it and it has done nothing to change the status. I have uninstalled and re-installed many times, no change.

So far I have seen many sites, this one included that refers to deleting "UPPER & LOWER FILTERS" in this specific registry key but as you'll see from the attached files, I can't see them SO CANNOT REMOVE THEM.

I have checked MSINFO32 to check it is actually there and as you can see - it is :-

I have checked HP website for software or driver downloads for my laptop - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AVAILABLE - erm, sorry did I have caps lock on there 🙂

Any help appreciated without going in the same circles I have been doing.

PS. If I plug a USB external drive in, it works fine so I am not completely stuck.

[Huffer]

You can check the health of the DVD drive hardware by trying to boot the system from it. Get or make a Windows installation DVD and try to boot the system from it. Just a test you are not going to install the software. If the system boots from DVD then your problem in Windows is a driver. I am betting the laser has gone bad on the drive. It needs to be replaced in that case. It is a very easy replacement. Remove one screw and slide it out. DVD writers are not expensive, either and we can certainly find you a plug in working replacement. 

[Vanguard_50024]

Hi Huffer,

Thanks for your reply to my problem and I understand what I am trying to do here however I am not a tech wiz by any standard but know enough I hope to survive and I have run into a problem with the windows.iso file I have created, It is too big to go onto my DVD-RW (only 4.7GB discs) and although I have just seen I can get bigger discs (DVD-9) this is merely to test the drive so it would be an expense for something I may only use once as I have never really done much burning for ages. I can see if one can be borrowed from a friend though.

Also, not sure whether to select "use as a usb or flash drive" or "use as a CD or DVD" option when formatting before burning?

As I mentioned earlier, I do have an external DVD/CD burner which is actually an HP (dvd550s-HO2 8 model), so I can get by.

Thanks again for your time.

[Huffer]

Format the disk as a DVD....you can get the .iso from Microsoft Media Creation Tool site and I use Rufus or just the Media Creation Tool itself to burn the DVD. But any Windows OS on a DVD or even a CD will work...Windows 7, even XP or Vista. All you are trying to see is if the system will boot from it which shows the hardware works even before any drivers are loaded to rule out a Windows software problem.  An external DVD is a bit of a workaround, but these days my optical drives get very, very little usage anyway. More for tech work than as actual entertainment any more. Good luck.