DVD-ROM Drive Not Reading

Hey MajorGeeks,
Recently any data or music discs have apparently not been readable in the DVD-ROM drive at D:. Upon insert, DVDs used to immediately start up, now they don't and clicking on D: shows nothing is inserted. Some of the usual hardware tests say "this device is working properly", but I don't believe it is. I usually do not use this drive, but may need to at some point. Is there some other test I could run? I checked the available drivers from the Dell site (this is a Dell Desktop PC) but couldn't find anything that seemed to match if this is a missing driver issue. Thanks for any direction here.

 

Hi Halo!,
Neither solution worked. The disc drive basically accepts the disc and it can be heard barely spinning it, but the message, "Please insert a disc into drive D:" is generated upon clicking on drive D: Any disc in this drive remains unreadable. BTW, this is a HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B drive if that's relevant.

 

Hi again, Halo!

Unfortunately, none of those suggestions worked either. When I first opened up the computer to check the tightness of the cables, there was some dust near the rear grill, but very little by the optical drives. No software was recently installed, and this problem has existed for several months.

I should also add that the DVD+RW DVD drive located at E: works. I can use that one, but I may have to perform an OS reinstall and I'm not sure if that operation would require the use of D: which currently is inoperable.

 

See if this site helps http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

 

Halo suggested all the solutions recommended there, and they have all been tried to no avail unfortunately.

 

I really appreciate the suggestions. At this point, I think the DVD-ROM drive is probably shot and the only potential remedy is to replace it. Because I rarely have any need for it anymore, I really don't want to go through the expense and time to do this. It was installed by Dell when I ordered the computer and was hardly used over the years I have had this computer, so its apparent failure is peculiar, but I cannot determine any other cause for this. Regarding this issue, I have two other questions:

1. Could there be a configuration error (such as in the registry) at fault?
2. If I determine a reformatting of the hard drive and reinstallation the OS is necessary, I presume I could configure BIOS to boot from the working DVD+RW DVD drive located at E:, would this be correct?

 

Hi Halo,

Thanks again. With everything now ruled out, it probably is a faulty DVD-ROM drive. I'd like it if that was the least of my worries, but the reason I may have to reformat and reinstall the OS is because of THIS PROBLEM I posted over on the Software Forum (Scroll down to Post #10). Complicating matters is a three week long severely intermittant DSL Internet connection that today I was told by a Verizon "technician" may be due to malfunctioning of the Westell 327W Modem they provided which is almost five years old. Despite the "technician"s best guess, none of the tests performed have confirmed the exact cause of the often slow constantly intermittant connection problem.

Would I reconfigure BIOS before or after the reformat? If I have to do this, it would be my first re-format. The last time I reinstalled the OS I used a new Hard Drive, but that wouldn't be necessary in this instance.

 

Set the BIOS to boot to the CD first, put your Windows disc in the drive, save the BIOS settings, and exit the BIOS to restart the PC. Take a look at this guide for performing a clean Windows XP install. It is very complete, includes screen shots so you know what to expect, and is easy to follow. Just click the "Next" button or the page numbers to go through each step. I hope this helps!

[dlb]

(NOTE- if you have a SATA hard drive and it is already formatted, then you do not need to use the F6 driver step -probably- .... however, if using an SP1 or older install disc, you may need it anyway; you may want to create an SP2 or SP3 install disc via 'sliptreaming' so you don't have to deal with installing service packs later; for more info on slipstreaming, you can search the Major Geeks forums, use Google, or start a new thread and we'll be happy to help; it sounds scary and tricky, but it's actually fairly easy due to the number of tools available that really simplify the process)