DVD/CR-RW reads CDs but not DVDs

[Another Brian]

I have two Fry's Great Quality (HAH!) computers whose DVD/CR-RW drive
plays a CD just fine but cannot read a DVD. Short of taking the box
apart, I cannot determine the manufacturer of the drive. The driver
disk that came with the computer doesn't have anything for this drive.
Any suggestions how to get this to work? Would going into Device
Manager and deleting the DVD driver help?

Brian

 

[Malke]

I have two Fry's Great Quality (HAH!) computers whose DVD/CR-RW drive
plays a CD just fine but cannot read a DVD. Short of taking the box
apart, I cannot determine the manufacturer of the drive. The driver
disk that came with the computer doesn't have anything for this drive.
Any suggestions how to get this to work? Would going into Device
Manager and deleting the DVD driver help?

Combo drives have two lasers - one for cd's and the other for dvd's. I would
guess that your "great quality" (and I note your "HAH!") drives are faulty.
You can test by putting each drive in another computer. If they can't read
dvd's there, then you know the drive needs to be replaced. Some people have
had luck with drive cleaning kits (laser gets dirty) and you might also
want to try that first. Your call.

If the computers are new and under warranty, get the drives replaced.

Malke

 

[smlunatick]

As mentioned before, all DVD drives, including combo drives, all have
two lasers. One is used to read CDs and the other is used to read DVDs.
If you can only read one type of disks, CDs or DVDs, then you can
"assume" the the other "reading" laser is defective/dead. The only way
to get this to work is to replace the unit(s).

I have a similar problem. I had been successfully reading and burning DVDs
with two separate external USB DVD RW drives until something happened
yesterday that suddenly prevented my DVD drives from recognizing DVD disks
(They both still recognize CDs okay.) If I insert any DVD (whether blank or
a commercial movie, etc.) into either DVD drive, I now get an error message
saying, "Please insert a disk into drive [L: or J: depending on the drive]."
I can't think what I may have done in the last 24 hours to cause this change.
I've uninstalled and re-installed the drives, and I've tried updating
drivers (no updates were necessary), to no avail. That both drives are
similarly affected suggests to me that the problem lies not with either drive
(installation, drivers, connections, etc.) but rather with the system. Any
ideas?

--
jim2148 [I am using a stand-alone desktop powered by a Pentium 4
(1.8GHz), Win XP Home SP2]

Combo drives have two lasers - one for cd's and the other for dvd's. I would
guess that your "great quality" (and I note your "HAH!") drives are faulty.
You can test by putting each drive in another computer. If they can't read
dvd's there, then you know the drive needs to be replaced. Some people have
had luck with drive cleaning kits (laser gets dirty) and you might also
want to try that first. Your call.

If the computers are new and under warranty, get the drives replaced.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Guest]

Another possibility, is perhaps an exclusive lock issue that may have arisen
because of multiple media type players or burning apps, trying to hold a lock
on the drives.. Check the driver details button to see if there are any
unsigned driver entries mixed in, for the optical drives.. These entries
should be identical for both optical drives, so just check one drives
properties in device manager on the drivers tab, details button, see any..?
Sometimes just logging off & on or a warm or cold reboot can help, has for
me on occasion, anyway..
Cheers
j;-j

I have a similar problem. I had been successfully reading and burning DVDs
with two separate external USB DVD RW drives until something happened
yesterday that suddenly prevented my DVD drives from recognizing DVD disks
(They both still recognize CDs okay.) If I insert any DVD (whether blank or
a commercial movie, etc.) into either DVD drive, I now get an error message
saying, "Please insert a disk into drive [L: or J: depending on the drive]."
I can't think what I may have done in the last 24 hours to cause this change.
I've uninstalled and re-installed the drives, and I've tried updating
drivers (no updates were necessary), to no avail. That both drives are
similarly affected suggests to me that the problem lies not with either drive
(installation, drivers, connections, etc.) but rather with the system. Any
ideas?

--
jim2148 [I am using a stand-alone desktop powered by a Pentium 4
(1.8GHz), Win XP Home SP2]

Combo drives have two lasers - one for cd's and the other for dvd's. I would
guess that your "great quality" (and I note your "HAH!") drives are faulty.
You can test by putting each drive in another computer. If they can't read
dvd's there, then you know the drive needs to be replaced. Some people have
had luck with drive cleaning kits (laser gets dirty) and you might also
want to try that first. Your call.

If the computers are new and under warranty, get the drives replaced.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User