CDRW/DVD drive stopped recognizing DVDs

[devildog1980]

I put a DVD in the drive, but my computer shows nothing is there. However if I use a software CD or a Video CD both are recognized with no problem. My computer is a Dell Inspiron 9100, and the drive is a Samsung CDRW/DVD SN-324F. I'm deployed in Iraq right now, and watching DVDs helps us all relax after a long day. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[TripleRLtd]

Welcome to WD devildog. Good for you and all your mates serving over there. It must be pretty hot...in more ways than one.
So, what DVD software are you using to "render" the DVD's? WinDVD or what? In other words, what software did you used to run when you watched DVD's? Have you tried reinstalling?
Also, do you know what a "firmware" update is?
Let's go with the DVD software first.

[devildog1980]

Thank you for the welcome. Here's the situation: For the past 2 months I've been using PowerDVD 4.0 by Cyberlink. Since the problem occured earlier today I've tried using WinDVD 4.0 and Windows Media Player, neither with any success. I have tried reinstalling the Cyberlink software and also tried reinstalling the driver for the actual drive. To answer your question, no I don't know what a "firmware" update is but I guess you can explain it. Thanks again.

[TripleRLtd]

Firmware is really software which "writes" to the chip on the CD's pcb to fix certain problems which have been noticed.
Try this:
http://www.samsung.com/Support/ProductSupport/download/FileView.aspx?cttfileid=161286&type=CD-RW+%2f+COMBO&typecode=14&subtype=COMBO+(Slim)&subtypecode=&cmssubtypecode=1403&model=SN-324F&filetype=FM&language=
The zipped file should contain a "readme" file which will tell you what to do.
Also, let some others check in on this for other ideas: don't give up yet.

[devildog1980]

I tried the program you linked. I had to restart my computer after using it. Before Windows could begin loading I got an error "The device in the modular bay is unrecognized" Then I had 3 choices, none of which got me any further than having to power down my computer and try a differnt choice. When I ran out of options, I pulled the drive from the bay and rebooted, inseting the drive only after windows had loaded. Now windows doesn't recognize the drive at all.

[TripleRLtd]

Ah geesh. I have pm's noonoo about this. Let's see if she has any ideas.
What were the three choices? What was the firmware update procedure you tried?

[NooNoo]

Insert the drive and go into the bios setup, does the laptop setup recognise the drive?

There has been many failures of these combo units, usually the dvd side dying for no good reason... is it in warranty?

[TripleRLtd]

Anything yet devildog?
I must tell you that I feel really bad about this right now, with you being in Iraq and me in the states. I should have warned you about firmware updates, but failed to and that is MY fault!! Any glitch, up to and including a wrong flash file can cause things to go wrong. Did you nothce the language of the downloaded readme file? Was it in Korean? If so, why would you even proceed then, not knowing what to do or how to do the flash? But geesh, that was MY fault for leading you in the wrong direction, and if this has died, send my a PM and I will make it right. Damn!! I wish you had taken my final line of advice:
Also, let some others check in on this for other ideas: don't give up yet. But since you took everything else I said, it is indeed my fault. So, pm me please, and I am sorry.

[devildog1980]

TripleRLtd: I'm sorry, they were three steps not choices. They were just instructions to 1) Push the drive firmly into the bay, 2) Press escape to power down the computer, and 3) Press the power key to try and re-detect the device. And once I got into windows a second time, the drive was recognized and is usable again, but still only as a CDRW and no DVD functions. As for the firmware procedure, I downloaded the Zip file that you linked. Inside were 3 files, an application
"sfdnwin", a BIN file "U200MMM", and a text document
"sfdnwin +[+d}2 " which wasn't in any language I've ever seen. I ran the application file. It had 3 buttons, "download file open, "start download" "help" which was more of an "About" than help. I started with the first one, "download file open" and then had to choose a BIN file. I picked the only one available and then moved to the start download button. After the program ran, it told me to reboot which I did, bringing me to the white screen with the instructions.

NooNoo: I tried what you said, I pressed the F2 key to enter the setup with the drive in the bay, but before entering setup the computer still attempts to find out what is in the drive bay. It doesn't enter the setup, it goes to the same white screen with the same 3 instructions (See above.) Yes it is still under warrenty but I won't be able to do anything about that until I return to the US.

I really appreciate the help, but its getting late over here and its about time for me to hit the rack and get some sleep. I'll check back in tomorrow. Thanks again!

[devildog1980]

Nothing yet, but no worries! Everything will work out sooner or later. Until then I'll be able to make do.

[NooNoo]

www.videolan.org a free dvd player, give it a whirl.

I hope you get back before the warranty expires!

[devildog1980]

I tired the videolan dvd player but that didn't work. I will be back before the warrenty expires, but I'd like to do everything I can to get this problem solved before returning home.

[NooNoo]

You have to pin it down to whether it is a hardware fault or a configuration problem.

Purely as an experiment, boot with a dos bootdisk and try and run this dos dvd player... (http://doscdroast.freeweb.hu/dvd4dos.htm) if it works (allbeit slowly) it's windows that is the problem.

[devildog1980]

I've been trying to figure that out all day! I borrowed a CD drive from another Marine and found that it worked flawlessly in my computer. So its the drive thats faulty, correct?

[NooNoo]

probably.... hence the dos experiment... if you have compatible laptops, then try swapping your drives and see if the drive works in another machine. Can't say for sure until that happens.

[devans123]

Most combo CD/DVD players use 2 lasers, one for CD and one for DVD.
If you can not read a DVD in DOS or Windows then it sounds like a hardware problem.
Laser may be dirty, out of alignment/focus or stuffed.
If you can get hold of a laser cleaning disc it would be worth giving it a run.

Dennis

[atticusdemon]

I smell a lemon. My drive just crapped out on me also. I have an hp ze5731us laptop and I'm here in afghanistan. I've had this laptop for 3 months. One of my soldiers has the exact same laptop and his drive went out after one month.

[asmichels]

Have an MPC Transport T2200 with samsung cdrw/dvd sn-324f drive. Had to reload XP a year or so ago, and the combo drive has not worked correctly since. It reads CDs fine, but doesnt recognize DVDs. I've read some internet posts that say it isnt a driver issue. Don't have the factory disk with the drivers, and last i checked on the samsung and MPC site, it was not posted there anyhow. Not sure what i can do to get it to recognize DVDs. Suggestions:confused:

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers asmichels.

Get a bootable DVD and try and boot the pc with it. If it can boot from DVD, the drive is fine, there is something up with windows, if it doesn't, the dvd part of the drive has died. This is not unusual since there is a laser for dvd reading and a different one for cds.