CD-DVD ( Optical Drives ) Common Problems and Solutions

[Lappy_Centre]

CD/DVD Common Problems…

Dear friends, I have noticed that many laptop users suffering from some common problems. cd/dvd ( Optical Drive ) problems are one of them.. so here I am trying to collect and make available solutions related to cd/dvd drives . Almost all solutions are already advised in previous posts but these are  all are in one post. We all are here for sharing problems and solutions. I always appreciate all corrections and additions. In first look optical drive problems seems like hardware problem. These problems have hardware/software both possibility so I request to administrator, to make available this post in both ( hardware – software  ) sections. I put only solution links to save forum’s valuable space.

CD-DVD drive called  an OPTICAL DRIVE.

CD-DVD discs called A MEDIA

There are 2 possibilities for optical drives problems.

1. Widows based problems
2. Hardware based problems

First here are windows based few common problems

All windows based solutions are from Microsoft Corporation.

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs - Windows XP...

Symptom:Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or not recognized by Windows or other programs, so you cannot play or access a CD or DVD

The CD drive or the DVD drive does not work as expected on a computer that you upgraded to Windows V...

Symptom : You upgrade a computer to Windows Vista or install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or you install or uninstall applications that have a CD/DVD filter driver.

When you restart the computer, the CD drive or DVD drive no longer works as expected

Your CD or DVD drive cannot read or write media

Symptoms : Your CD or DVD Drive does not read or write and is shown as disabled

The media in your CD or DVD drive cannot be read

The media cannot be written to by your CD or DVD drive

You receive one of the following errors:

A class specific or device specific driver is missing or corrupt

A CD or DVD drive cannot be found or is not connected

The CD or DVD drive is experiencing a problem that prevents it from working properly

The CD or DVD drive is not accessible via an assigned drive letter

How to troubleshoot common problems that occur when a Windows XP-based computer cannot read a CD or ...

Symptoms:

The disc label does not appear in Windows Explorer.

The contents of the disc do not appear in Windows Explorer.

When you insert the disc in the drive or when your computer tries to read the disc,the computer stops responding.

You cannot eject the disc from the drive.

The computer takes a long time to read the disc.

CD drive or DVD drive errors may cause unexpected program crash in Windows XP

Symptom : Error

"Program_name has caused and error and must be closed. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. Please tell Microsoft about this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to help us improve rogram_name. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous. To see what data this error report contains, click here."

You cannot write to a DVD-RAM disc that is in a DVD-RAM/CD-RW combination drive

Symptom : "The disc in the drive is not a writable CD or it is full. Please insert a blank, writable CD into drive D:\, or insert a disc with enough free space to hold all the files you have selected for writing to CD. "

DVD-RW Drive Appears in My Computer as a DVD-R Drive

Symptom : "If your computer has a DVD-RW (digital video disc rewritable) optical drive, the DVD-RW icon may not appear in My Computer. Instead, your DVD-RW optical drive may appear as a DVD-R (digital video disc recordable) icon."

Windows XP does not recognize a DVD-RW disc

Symptom : When you insert a DVD-RW disc into the DVD drive of a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, Windows XP does not recognize the disc. For example, you do not see any files on the disc.

You may also experience this problem with DVD-RW discs that have been formatted as VD-VR. Some consumer DVD recorders use the DVD-VR format.

CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device

Symptom : When you try to burn data to a CD-R or a CD-RW, you do not have the option to send data to the CD drive.

When you view the properties of the CD-R drive or the CD-RW drive, you notice that the Recording tab is not displayed in the CD Drive (drive_letter: ) Properties dialog box, where drive_letter is the letter of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.

Note To view the CD Drive (drive_letter: ) Properties dialog box, click Start, click My Computer, right-click the CD drive that you want, and then click Properties.

Additionally, you may receive the following error message:

There is no disc in the drive. Please insert a writable CD into drive.

CD-ROM Drive May Not Be Able to Read a UDF-Formatted Disc in Windows XP

Symptom : Your computer cannot read some or all files on CDs or DVDs that were recorded through the use of the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system standard. Symptoms may include:

The disc is not recognized at all and shows up as empty.

Error messages such as "The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable" appear when you try to access files in Windows Explorer.

Some portions of a DVD-video may not function correctly

How to troubleshoot issues that occur when you write data to a CD-R or CD-RW optical disc in Windows...

Symptoms :issues that occur if you write data to CD-R and CD-RW optical discs and how to troubleshoot issues with CD-R and CD-RW drives.

These are most common issues related to optical drivers.

Tomorrow will try to explain hardware possibilities.

All friends suggestions and correction are highly advisable..

[tsnbci22]

I upgraded to W7 and everything works fine except two things.

I followed the

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Operating-systems-and-software/Windows7-Upgrade-Guide-for-dv6000-dv9000...

process and still have the problem DVD not under device manager

 DVD spins when booting but after W7 splash screen no longer functions, it did work prior to upgrade.

I have seen many listed problems but no solution. my device is a TS-L632N and based on the most recent drivers i can find still not working. I looked in the registry and it is not listed under cdrom or

{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

there are no upper or lower filters

[tsnbci22]

can you post the typical registry files and how they are hooked so i can look to see what and where my CD/DVD falls under the registry? or send me a PM?

[koksoon]

My external DVD drive is unable to read CD Rom disc although it was able to previously. The error message I got is ?E:\drive is not accessible. The request cannot be performed because of an I/O device error.

I am still able to use the DVD drive for reading and burning DVDs now. Only had problems with reading CD Rom.

I have tried the automated help from Microsoft but the problem was not fixed. Hope someone is able to help me on this.

[rosek11]

i have a presario a910em laptop. i have saved photos on many discs in the past year.

Now, when I  insert a new disc  the computet begins the format process and after 15mins says the operation was unsuccessful..... can anyone help?

[mulford]

the cd-dvd drive on my satellite (c55t-a5287) has never worked - I never tried to use it until after warranty ran out -

when a disc is inserted (any disc, cd,  dvd, blank or used) and I attempt to open it the drive ejects and it tells me to insert a disc.  I have updated drivers and cleaned the lens to no avail.  The hardware manager tells me the device is working normally - I have also uninstalled and reinstalled the drive - no help