CDRW/DVD drive stopped reading

Hi my disk drive just stopped working.

i ripped a cd with iTunes then realise that the 1st track hadn't ripped properly so i put the CD back in but nothing happened apart from the read led flashing. the drive wouldn't recognize there was a CD in there. i tried a different cd same result so i tried a DVD and a software cd and none of them worked either.

i have tried uninstalling the drive restarting then reloading the drive, unplugging the drive restarting with it unplugged then plugging it back in then restarting again and no difference.

i was thinking that the lens was dirty or has died but then i put a blank cdrw in and it read it fine but still wont read another Cd's.

I have tried searching the net and this site for an answer to this fault but i cant find any info anywhere.

i have looked on the lg site and they have a firmware update but its from 2003 and the drive has worked faultlessly until 30min ago so i don't think that is the problem.

the drive is a LG GCC-4480B CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive on a winxp home sp2 machine.

thanks in advance for the help this has me stumped i have no idea what it is

thanks again
Alex

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

..the drive is a LG GCC-4480B CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive

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Hi alex & welcome to wd forums :).

First let's try & test the unit outside of windoze, so as to eliminate s/w issues as much as we can - if you look at the sticky atop this forum, you want to try the 'cd boot test', if you machine can be sucessfully booted from a windows system cd, then your unit is probably ok, or it should read in windoze at least.

My money though is on 'i-tunes' - (its like a flaming virus :rolleyes:, god-damned 'invasive' s/w !), this intoduces another layer of s/w 'complication' over & above that windows already has, but lets make sure the hardware is all 'good to go' before we look at any potential software issues :)

hi thanks for the quick reply.

i rebooted with the cd in there and made sure it was set to boot off the cd in bios and it booted off it fine so that means it not the drive at fault then right?? :confused: :confused:

drive would still not read in windows.

i uninstalled itunes as i was only trying it out anyway.

put the cd in and it read it but it took a while and another cd i tryed said it was blank when it had music on it.

i reripped the track (in wmp10) that was faulty then the disk ejected so i flipped it over to watch the dvd on the other side and it wouldent read so i flipped it back over to the cd side and it wouldent read either. no other disks i try work either.

what should i try next??

Thanks
Alex

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

i rebooted with the cd in there and made sure it was set to boot off the cd in bios and it booted off it fine so that means it not the drive at fault then right?? :confused: :confused:

drive would still not read in windows...

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Hi again Alex, well the test confirms that the machine has no physical problems with the disk controller or its wiring if it can find it & if it can read from it it also partially confirms 'workingness' (testing writing functions ain't as easy unless you have two machines), so the assumption becomes that it must be software somehow, which at least is a start :).

So the thing I'd generally do next is to go back to my sticky & next find the 'filter order load tool' & run that, the results of which you can either type out or attach a screenshot of, & I'll interpret it for you (this tool finds any non-windoze drivers that things such as cd/dvd writing programs, virtual drive software etc may introduce so that they can work - very often these interfere with each other due to various reasons & need cleaning up - often these drivers get left behind after uninstallations too)

downloaded that program here are the results

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...driverlist.jpg

that one that is showing seems sus to me

cheers Alex

This may or not fix your machine. I bet that something has corrupted your firmware. reload the latest firmware and see if that fixes it!

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Originally Posted by Sandwich

This may or not fix your machine. I bet that something has corrupted your firmware. reload the latest firmware and see if that fixes it!

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That comes in a bit ;) .. updating firmware is very much like updating bios & can go wrong which may render the unit useless in extreme circumstance - you've hit a good point though :thumbs:, corrupted firmware seems to happen more & more (though since some updated firmware usually fixes it, I think that means it wasn't right in the first place!)..

For Alex: What are you recording with ? At present you have drivers for sonic 'record now' (pxhelp20) & as for the other lower filter driver afs2k.sys, afaik; that's a driver for an oak cd rom & generally in windows, from 9x onwards, you would have no need for that ..

I think I'd try the 'upper & lower filter fix' also mentioned in the sticky next, & maybe prepare myself for a little reinstalling (of any burning programs)

Hi i updated the bios cause i had already downloaded it. made no difference.

i did the 'upper & lower filter fix' it has just left redbook and imapi.

i use either winamp or wmp10 for ripping cd's and nero6 for burning cd's.

im not realy to concerend about the riping and burning side of thing i just want the drive reading so that i can do a reformat of the HDD

Alex

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

..im not realy to concerend about the riping and burning side of thing i just want the drive reading so that i can do a reformat of the HDD..

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Is that what you want to do ? & don't particularly want to save anything ? .. now he tells me ! .. If it'll boot from your windoze system cd, then you could just boot from that & do it.

yea it boots off the cd but it dosent give any options to reformat or anything it just starts windows as normal after saying booting off cd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

yea it boots off the cd but it dosent give any options to reformat or anything it just starts windows as normal after saying booting off cd

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Huh ? Both start windows 'in their own way' but if it booted from the cd you get to this eventually from an xp system cd (after it gives you the "Press any key to boot from CDROM" message {& pressumably you do})..
http://images.devshed.com/dh/stories...tall_setup.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

yea it boots off the cd but it dosent give any options to reformat or anything it just starts windows as normal after saying booting off cd

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so do you mean? that windows starts normally with the windows cd in the drive. I mean that the HDD starts crackin after it says it's booting from the cd? I'm stumped but I bet someone knows what this means.

if it starts from the hard drive after saying it will start from cd it means it can`t read your cd,so i would think your cd dvd rom is gone,you will need a new one

it is just loding up windows normal after saying booting off cd.

the drive can reconise blank cd's and it reads burned cd as blank. it can tell there is a cd in there as it trys to read ( the light flashes for longer with a disk in and the hdd light flashes but it pretty much flashes all the time) but eventualy says there is no disk in drive.

would that still mean the drive is dead or does it maby have a dirty lazer

Alex

well i think that the drive probaly is dead i just tryed it in my mums win98 machine and it got the same results.

I am achualy moving overseas next month anyway and buying a notebook. I was wanting the computer all cleaned out before i left as im leaving it for my mum to use. never mind i will just have to uninstall everything manualy. i can just put everything i want to keep on my mp3 player.

thanks for all the help in trying to get it going and sorry for the miss understanding there it was a while since i did my hardware course at tech

thanks Alex

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merve0o0

well i think that the drive probaly is dead i just tryed it in my mums win98 machine and it got the same results...

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I'd say that definately confirms the 'deadness' of this particular unit .. (swapping the unit into a known working good setup, is a better test than the 'cd boot test' { Most especially if you didn't realise exactly just what was meant to happen :D ;)}, but usually I don't suggest it, as it means taking yet another machine to bits..).

One good bit of news, is that dvd writers have gotten ridiculously cheap & you ought to be able to aquire one without any difficulty for about £30 or so to replace this one :).

I have this same problem :/ - My CD/DVD drive worked perfectly before reinstalling Windows XP, but then when I reinstalled it it only seems to read the Windows XP disc. Whenever I put a burned CD in the drive it just flashes at me and says its blank. However it discs that haven't been burned (e.g factory made CD's like games, OS), and it reads blank discs in seconds. But with these CDs I've made (Just music files, not an audio CD, loads on my DVD player, and Xbox). But it worked fine before I reformatted, just not anymore.

Any help?

Confirm your drive is set for DMA as preference;

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...e/IDE-DMA.mspx