Weird CD-ROM & DVD-ROM drives issues

[varois83]

Hi

My PC is a Dell dimension 8200.
Pentium 4 at 1.8 ghz.
Windows XP home ed
HD has 127 GB available. 768 MB RAM.
Both my DVD-ROM & CD-ROM drives will not play commercial CD's or CD-
ROM's anymore.
They play previously recorded CD-R's fine and record on them if
something is already recorded.
If I try a new blank CD-R it won't record.
DVD's play fine in the DVD-ROM drive.

What I already did:

-I went into "My computer" to double click both these drives manually
and get messages telling me "To insert disc in device" while the discs
are in there.
-I went into "File-->properties-->autoplay" of both these devices
to make sure they were set on "autoplay".
-I disabled in control panel-->system-->hardware-->device manager my
CD-
ROM drive and restarted windows, re enabled the CD-ROM drive to no
avail.
-I try the following hack recommended to me to no avail
"reg DELETEHKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
\Explorer /dNoDriveTypeAutoRun /f "
-I also tried this fix recommended to me to no avail.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060

Do you guys think dust might be an issue? Shall I disconnect my PC,
get a can of air, and clean it up?

Can anybody help?

Thanks a lot

Patrick

 

[Singapore Computer Service]

Hello,

Either the laser is failing or the lenses need cleaning. If the CDs work in
other computers but not yours, it is very likely a laser or wear and tear
problem and not a software problem.

Try those CD Cleaner kits if you have one. If they are quite old, they may
need to be replaced.

The price of a CD/DVD Cleaner kit is about 15% of anew DVD drive so you may
want to instead replace the drive with a new one rather than buying a
cleaner kit.

Previous thread here:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr..._frm/thread/518671b3a09b0415/d2dbeef1ce0cabee

Regards,
Singapore Computer Home Repair Service
http://www.bootstrike.com/ComputerService/
Video Conversion VHS Video8 Hi8 Digital8 MiniDv MicroMv
http://www.bootstrike.com/VHSVideoConvert/

 

[varois83]

Singapore

Thanks for the help but I am not getting anywhere fast unfortunately.
I have a cleaner DVD but how can I use it when the drive does not
detect it?

Thanks anyway

Patrick ;-(

 

[varois83]

Singapore

Thanks for the help but I am not getting anywhere fast unfortunately.
I have a cleaner DVD but how can I use it when the drive does not
detect it?

Thanks anyway

Patrick ;-(

 

[Peter Foldes]

See if this helps. Follow the fix

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060

 

[varois83]

See if this helps. Follow the fix

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060

Pete

I tried this already, it didn't work either.
I might try to buy a new DVD burner and see if that works.

Thanks again

Patrick

 

[Singapore Computer Service]

Hello,

You're right, so the only option is to change the drive since you can't even
load a cleaner disc in.

With the information you've given us so far, the suspect is most likely a
failing drive. To be absolutely certain that your drive is the problem, you
will need to hook the drive to another desktop and see if it works there.

Another [easier] method is to see whether you are able to boot from a
bootable CD such as XP's installation disc or you can download a Ubuntu boot
disk from the net, burn it on another computer and see whether your desktop
can boot from it.

Regards,
Singapore Computer Home Repair Service
http://www.bootstrike.com/ComputerService/
Video Conversion VHS Video8 Hi8 Digital8 MiniDv MicroMv
http://www.bootstrike.com/VHSVideoConvert/