Toshiba CD/DVDW SD-R5372 won't read or write discs.

I have this Toshiba CD/DVDW and it doesn't matter what brand of CD or DVD I put in it, it doesn't seem to register that there is even a disc in the drive. It won't play music CD's or DVD's or even game DVD's. I've tried uninstalling it and letting windows find and re-install it and still nothing.

I tried the Toshiba web site and it's a mess. Couldn't find anything about this particular CD/DVDW. Been scanning forums in the hopes of finding someone who might know where I can find a firmware update or driver update or something but so far no go.

I'm on a rebuilt system running Windows XP, with I think an Intel Pentium 3 processor. I'm not very tech savvy, so I really don't know what other info to add here or even where on my computer I could find the right information. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much,

Pashakitty

 

Hi my friend , welcome to MG's :major

you should run this tool :wave

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

 

The fix sadly didn't work, so I'm going to see if swapping out disc drives cures the problem. Also thought I might check if any of the connectors are loose before I swap drives out. It occured to me that it's been bumped around a bit and some of the connections might have come loose just enough to cause problems.

The computer is made from spare parts, though I think it was running Windows 98 when I got it (over 15 years ago). I did upgrade to Windows XP home edition shortly after getting it, and never had a problem with it till the last couple of years or so.

 

Thanks much for the info, useful tool even if it didn't fix my particular problem.

 

Sounds to me like its a dead disc drive they do not last very long if they are used a lot CDrom drives are so cheaply made any more they are pretty much disposable.

Go to newegg.com and bye one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...d=1&Description=cd+rom+drive+internal&x=0&y=0
light on CDroms seems to last a long time still have one.

not sure if you have sata or ata.Both work

 

Sorry, I'm not tech savvy enough to know what sata or ata are or what the difference is between them. Though new egg is my go to place to purchase stuff for my computer. Thanks for the recommendation. I checked the link, nice pricing on that. I should be able to pick one up soon enough.

Pashakitty

 

Ah... thanks much for the info. Yeah, I swapped out one of the drives but then promptly had to reformat my hard drive. Now the other disc drive is working the way it used to and the new DVD Rom drive is working fine as well, though they won't read some burned discs. I think it might be more of a formatting issue there on the specific discs rather than the drives.

LOL, now if I could only get my monitor to stop rolling when I scroll my mouse I think I would be good to go again. Heh, always gotta be something going wrong eh?