Computer suddenly stopped reading & writing discs . The device manager says the drive is working properly . I uninstalled ( DVD/CD-rom drives CYBERDRV CW078D ) and then reinstalled using the built in wizard but still the same . Is the hardware probably bad ? How do i know for sure ? Thanks .

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pull it and install in another computer if same problem bad drive

:agree:

Optical drives are craptastic. The life on them is crap and has been for the past couple of years. I would offer to send you one to test with, but when you consider shipping, it'll cost a quarter of the price of going to NewEgg.com and buying a brand new NEC DVD writer ...

Thanks everyone, I am just going to replace it .

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http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827106014 heres the one i ordered came with power dvd and nero burns cds in about 30 secs for me

I just experienced the same problem, but mines in a Dell laptop. Any other advice?
Oh btw, it'll read install discs occasionally, but doesn't recognize cd's or dvd's. I look in 'My Computer' and the drive appears empty. I can sometimes get it to read if I remove it and reinstall it so that's why I think it's a software issue on mine.

Brad :: Some thoughts:

1) When laptop is booting up, the second you see the "DELL" logo, tap the F12 key a couple two or three times. Go through the entire diagnostics. I believe there is a test in there for CDROM/DVD drive. If this is not the case, please let me know. Does it pass or fail?

2) Right-click the My Computer icon. Choose "Manage" from the context menu that will appear. Go into the Event Viewer and look at both the System Log and Application log for any errors related to the CDROM or IDE drives, or any suspicious errors. You can double-click each log entry to see specific data related to the errors in there. There should be a clipboard button in the popup when you double-click. This will allow you to copy all of the content of the popup and paste it in a troubleshooting thread here if you would like.

3) Go to http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen

Get the "Service Tag" number (usually 7-10 digits long, alphanumeric) from the bottom of the case. Plug it into that website and go into the downloads. Download all available related patches for your computer, update all of your drivers.

4) From that last website, there should be a diagnostics tool of some sort. You might download and try that out, if it is something diff't from the aforementioned tool in #1.

5) Check the Device Manager for any yellow exclamation points visible.

That's all that comes to mind immediately.

Jason, I ran my diagnostics disk and it said:
IDE Disk 0 Fail
0F00-133E
IDE Disk 4 Fail
0F00-133E

also, here's what I found using the 'Manage' function:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Cdrom
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Date: 1/18/2007
Time: 1:41:37 AM
User: N/A
Computer: DIESIRAE
Description:
The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b8 00 ..h...¸.
0008: 00 00 00 00 07 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 9c 00 00 c0 ....œ..À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 26 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 &`......
0030: ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 c4 02 00 00 00 @..Ä....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 48 02 00 00 . ..H...
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 30 20 2b e1 58 a7 8c 82 0 +áX§Œ‚
0058: 00 00 00 00 10 68 86 82 .....h†‚
0060: 02 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 ........
0068: 28 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 (.......
0070: 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0078: 70 00 03 00 00 00 00 0a p.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 11 00 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........


Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 52
Date: 1/21/2007
Time: 5:06:40 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DIESIRAE
Description:
The driver has detected that device \Device\Harddisk1\DR1 has predicted that it will fail. Immediately back up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0e 00 03 00 01 00 5e 00 ......^.
0008: 00 00 00 00 34 00 04 80 ....4..€
0010: 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 11 2d 00 ......-.
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 ...

Btw, the other day I recieved a Sony music CD (G3 band) that apparently has a flaw in it and gives you a couple websites to go to in order to fix the flaw in the software. I can't remember for sure, but I think this started before that however.

I highly recommend two things:

1) Go buy a USB stick or something and backup anything that is important to you. Family photos, email, etc. If you need tips on how to do this, please notify me ASAP. It may be advisable to either A) Purchase an external DVD burner (you can build one for around $60 from parts online) or get B) a 1GB USB stick from the local tech store, and use it to transfer the files from your current computer to another.

2) If your computer is under warranty still with Dell, you need to call up Dell support and tell them you have bene having problems and you just ran the "F12" diagnostics menu on boot and it returned the two XXXX-XXXX codes that you see after each line above with the given error messages. They will probably want to replace the motherboard, as the IDE controller on the motherboard is likely dying. I would say it is dying and it is NOT related to the driver, because the driver is only required for Windows XP to operate things, and it is NOT used while in the diag application.

If your computer is not under warranty, Backup your data and be prepared that it could fail or die at any given time; and be happy you found this so soon. It could end up holding out for a year or two, or it could die later tonight. It's kinda like cancer.

This, is just my 2¢ from the experience I've had with systems at the office. Ususally if stuff like this happens, it happens within the first 2-3 years of purchasing the system. Typically, the only reason both drives would be reading as having an error in both the diagnostics app and in Windows XP would be because there is a failure at the hardware level with something that the drives are both sharing. This limits the problem to three things:

1) Bad IDE controller
2) Bad IDE cable
3) Bad IDE cable connection (probably on the motherboard side, but not absolutely)

The latter of those two are easy enough to check - you can replace the cable quite easily and test both at the same time (re-run diagnostics tests)

Hope this helps. If you have other questions, please let me know.

I've already backed up my data and unfortunately, it's not under warranty anymore. I think I'll consider off loading it at this point and perhaps build something else.
Thanks Jason.

If you have nothing better to do, would you like to swap the IDE data cable? If you don't have one, I will send you one (on me - after the webcam not being compatible, I owe you one)

I might need a photo of the inside of your case so I know whether to give you a 40conductor or 80conductor cable.

There is no cable since this is a laptop. I formatted the computer hoping it would solve my issues-I know it's probably hardware and not software, but I wanted to start clean to make sure. I'm still waiting to find out and will let you know.

Ok, I have an external hd that I use as a backup and it plugs in where the cd/dvd player goes and it reads that just fine. I also used the XP disk and it worked just fine. Sometimes the drive recognizes preprinted driver disks but doesn't recognize burned discs or audio discs and dvd's. It seems like it's definately the optical drive, but why is it working sometimes and not others and only certain things? WTF?:crazy:

I truly believe that your optical drive is shot. This is yet another time when I wish you lived nearby so I could let you stop by and use one of mine to test.

Short of buying another on eBay and trying that, not sure what to say :confused:

Are you still seeing disk errors in the Event Viewer, with the new format and install?