Laptop hard-drive question.

Dante

I just bought a laptop and have come across an annoying problem with the cd drive. Whenever I put any games or software CD's , the drive simply doesn't recognise the disk. There is no evidence of a disk being in the drive apart from the fan making a **** load of noise when I initially put it in. For some reason DVD's work fine but games and various installation CD's don't. Does anyone has any idea what the problem is??
The description of the drive is: Optiarc AD-7590S DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM

mp22

if you put a cd or dvd in the drive dose it show up in "my computer"

Dante

Only with dvd's. It doesn't with games or any other cd's.

mp22

If you are using vista go to control panel-auto play and see what the settings for software disks are set to

Dante

mp22 wrote: »

If you are using vista go to control panel-auto play and see what the settings for software disks are set to

I already did that and changed the settings but the problem is that is simply doesn't load the disk, nothing happens at all apart from the fan making loads of noise. I'll try downloading new drivers but if that doesn't work I don't have a clue.

oMega_2093

If you try to access the device in "My computer", does it show something? Or is it more like nothing has been introduced in the tray?

Junior #8

either a bad laser in the actual physical drive or......you just need to get Windows 7....:p

Overheal

Wikipedia wrote:

The on-disc structure of DVD-RAMs is closely related to hard disk and floppy disk technology, as it stores data in concentric tracks. DVD-RAMs can be accessed just like a hard or floppy disk and usually without any special software. DVD-RWs and DVD+RWs, on the other hand, store data in one long spiral track and require special packet reading/writing software to read and write data discs. Like magneto-optical (MO) technologies, DVD-RAM has numerous rectangles on the disc surface that define the boundaries of data sectors. However, DVD-RAM is not MO but a phase change medium, similar to CD-RW, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW.

My reading would seem to indicate the discs arent compatible. However if you can email the manufacturer, they may be able to suggest to you a firmware patch that may make it possible. Long shot.

Junior #8 wrote: »

you just need to get Windows 7....

Read the charter before a nice mod comes along and gives ya a whallop.

marc_cerebis

I would agree with Junior, a bad laser is the most likely. CDs and DVDs are read using different wavelength lasers, which may explain why normal DVDs work but CDs don't.

As to why it wouldn't read game DVDs (assuming the games are indeed DVDs) ... that may be to do with the intentional errors introduced during mastering of these discs to thwart attempts to make direct copies. If the issue is in fact to do with a misaligned mirror (which focuses the laser) that might explain why it isn't able to read games DVDs correctly.

Whichever of these is the issue, its most likely hardware, in which case I would suggest returning the laptop (if its under warranty) as the best course of action.

Windows 7 may not resolve the issue, but I would recommend it over Vista all the same

Good luck with it whatever the cause, I know how annoying it is to buy something and find it isn't perfect.

Overheal

Oh your drive says it dows handle DVD+/-RW. Well then that is strange. defo talk to your warrantor - the coplany you bought it from.

And yeah if you bought it recently :rolleyes: it came with a windows 7 upgrade voucher anyway.. not that it has anything to do with your problem

Dante

oMega_2093 wrote: »

If you try to access the device in "My computer", does it show something? Or is it more like nothing has been introduced in the tray?

Its like nothing has been introduced to the tray, when I put a cd in there is no evidence of a disk in the drive. I tried installing the latest firmware but that did absolutely nothing. Anyone have any other ideas??