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Laptop CD Drive won't load anything

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  • comstrikeiscool
     
    Level 35
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    Posts: 3616
    Apr 18, 2008 7:47 pm GMT
    My grandpa recently gave me his laptop, but I can't get the cd rom drive to read anything. It opens up, the light on it turns on and the hourglass shows up, but nothing happens. Even when I go to "My Computer" nothing shows. Any help, please, thanks!
    My grandpa recently gave me his laptop, but I can't get the cd rom drive to read anything. It opens up, the light on it turns on and the hourglass shows up, but nothing happens. Even when I go to "My Computer" nothing shows. Any help, please, thanks!
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  • Marfoo
     
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    Apr 18, 2008 8:46 pm GMT
    My Computer doesn't show that media is inserted or it doesn't show the drive at all?

    ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wifi-AP @n X38 Motherboard | Intel QX9770 Yorkfield 4.00GHz OC Processor | 4GB OCZ DDR3 1600 Intel X38/X48 Optimized Series RAM | 2 x Diamond HD 4870 512MB in CrossfireX | HT Omega Claro Plus+ Soundcard | 2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black HDDs in RAID 0 | Aerocool Horsepower 750W PSU | Cooler Master CM 690 Mid-Tower Chassis | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System

    My Computer doesn't show that media is inserted or it doesn't show the drive at all?
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  • crzycespy
     
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    Posts: 191
    Apr 18, 2008 8:56 pm GMT
    Try a few different disks. If none of them show up under "My Computer", it is safe to assume you need a new optical drive for the laptop. They are very easy to install, once you get over the "Oh crap" factor of having to take the underside of the laptop off. Just find the model number of your notebook, go to the manufacturer's site, get the model number of the drive, then hit E-Bay, Newegg, where-ever, and pick one up (They are suprisingly inexpensive).

    If you are too nervous to take the bottom off your laptop, just bring it by a local pc shop and offer them 20 bucks to put it in for you.
    Try a few different disks. If none of them show up under "My Computer", it is safe to assume you need a new optical drive for the laptop. They are very easy to install, once you get over the "Oh crap" factor of having to take the underside of the laptop off. Just find the model number of your notebook, go to the manufacturer's site, get the model number of the drive, then hit E-Bay, Newegg, where-ever, and pick one up (They are suprisingly inexpensive). If you are too nervous to take the bottom off your laptop, just bring it by a local pc shop and offer them 20 bucks to put it in for you.
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  • Marfoo
     
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    Apr 18, 2008 9:00 pm GMT
    Windows may just have confused itself when installing the drive, my optical drive did this recently. It's easy to fix by going in to the registry and deleting a key. Windows will then be forced to reinstall the drive from scratch which could fix it completely. So don't assume it's dead just yet.

    ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wifi-AP @n X38 Motherboard | Intel QX9770 Yorkfield 4.00GHz OC Processor | 4GB OCZ DDR3 1600 Intel X38/X48 Optimized Series RAM | 2 x Diamond HD 4870 512MB in CrossfireX | HT Omega Claro Plus+ Soundcard | 2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black HDDs in RAID 0 | Aerocool Horsepower 750W PSU | Cooler Master CM 690 Mid-Tower Chassis | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System

    Windows may just have confused itself when installing the drive, my optical drive did this recently. It's easy to fix by going in to the registry and deleting a key. Windows will then be forced to reinstall the drive from scratch which could fix it completely. So don't assume it's dead just yet.
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  • crzycespy
     
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    Posts: 191
    Apr 18, 2008 9:54 pm GMT
    Marfoo wrote:
    Windows may just have confused itself when installing the drive, my optical drive did this recently. It's easy to fix by going in to the registry and deleting a key. Windows will then be forced to reinstall the drive from scratch which could fix it completely. So don't assume it's dead just yet.


    Wouldn't it be easier to just uninstall the driver then go through the found new hardware wizard dance? Seems safer than sending him into his reg. Heh, of course I am telling him to take his computer apart, so...
    [QUOTE="Marfoo"]Windows may just have confused itself when installing the drive, my optical drive did this recently. It's easy to fix by going in to the registry and deleting a key. Windows will then be forced to reinstall the drive from scratch which could fix it completely. So don't assume it's dead just yet.[/QUOTE] Wouldn't it be easier to just uninstall the driver then go through the found new hardware wizard dance? Seems safer than sending him into his reg. Heh, of course I am telling him to take his computer apart, so...
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  • Marfoo
     
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    Apr 18, 2008 10:03 pm GMT
    When I was having problems with my drive, Windows didn't think it was DVD burner or even a CD burner. I tried uninstalling through device manager and reinstalling but it wasn't resolving the problem. The problem was some parameters set in a single key in the registry. These were labeled by the device's GUID, that's why when being reinstalled Windows used the same keys because the GUID doesn't change so it just used the old key. The key itself is pretty simple, it defines whether or not you have a burner or not, and what the maximum and other supported write speeds are. You can edit the key yourself to fix it, as in my case all the parameters weren't there. I deleted it and then upon device reinstall Windows derived a fresh key from the driver information and my problem was fixed.

    Anyway, hopefully that's what is happening here, because it is generally easy to fix.

    ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wifi-AP @n X38 Motherboard | Intel QX9770 Yorkfield 4.00GHz OC Processor | 4GB OCZ DDR3 1600 Intel X38/X48 Optimized Series RAM | 2 x Diamond HD 4870 512MB in CrossfireX | HT Omega Claro Plus+ Soundcard | 2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black HDDs in RAID 0 | Aerocool Horsepower 750W PSU | Cooler Master CM 690 Mid-Tower Chassis | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System

    When I was having problems with my drive, Windows didn't think it was DVD burner or even a CD burner. I tried uninstalling through device manager and reinstalling but it wasn't resolving the problem. The problem was some parameters set in a single key in the registry. These were labeled by the device's GUID, that's why when being reinstalled Windows used the same keys because the GUID doesn't change so it just used the old key. The key itself is pretty simple, it defines whether or not you have a burner or not, and what the maximum and other supported write speeds are. You can edit the key yourself to fix it, as in my case all the parameters weren't there. I deleted it and then upon device reinstall Windows derived a fresh key from the driver information and my problem was fixed. Anyway, hopefully that's what is happening here, because it is generally easy to fix.
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  • comstrikeiscool
     
    Level 35
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    Posts: 3616
    Apr 18, 2008 10:26 pm GMT

    Marfoo wrote:
    My Computer doesn't show that media is inserted or it doesn't show the drive at all?

    It shows the drive, but not the media.

    crzycespy wrote:
    Try a few different disks. If none of them show up under "My Computer", it is safe to assume you need a new optical drive for the laptop. They are very easy to install, once you get over the "Oh crap" factor of having to take the underside of the laptop off. Just find the model number of your notebook, go to the manufacturer's site, get the model number of the drive, then hit E-Bay, Newegg, where-ever, and pick one up (They are suprisingly inexpensive). If you are too nervous to take the bottom off your laptop, just bring it by a local pc shop and offer them 20 bucks to put it in for you.

    The bottom of it doesn't need to be taken out or at least that's what I think. The drive has a button where if I press it I can just pull it out from the side. Do you know anything about how these work?

    Edited on Apr 18, 2008 10:31 pm GMT Edited 2 total times.

    [QUOTE="Marfoo"]My Computer doesn't show that media is inserted or it doesn't show the drive at all?[/QUOTE]

    It shows the drive, but not the media.

    [QUOTE="crzycespy"]Try a few different disks. If none of them show up under "My Computer", it is safe to assume you need a new optical drive for the laptop. They are very easy to install, once you get over the "Oh crap" factor of having to take the underside of the laptop off. Just find the model number of your notebook, go to the manufacturer's site, get the model number of the drive, then hit E-Bay, Newegg, where-ever, and pick one up (They are suprisingly inexpensive). If you are too nervous to take the bottom off your laptop, just bring it by a local pc shop and offer them 20 bucks to put it in for you.[/QUOTE]

    The bottom of it doesn't need to be taken out or at least that's what I think. The drive has a button where if I press it I can just pull it out from the side. Do you know anything about how these work?

    [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/john1289/dell.jpg[/IMG]

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  • crzycespy
     
    Level 11
    Atomic Punk
    Posts: 191
    Apr 18, 2008 10:30 pm GMT
    It's prolly not a reg issue though. He got it from good ole gramps who used it for ebay, e-mail, and the occasional online poker when grams hit the sack. I'm not saying it couldn't be reg issue, but if I were a crazy late night gambler like grandpa, I'd wager the drive has seen better days. Ahh well, no point in me typing anymore as this will probably be buried soon.

    edit* Guess it isn't buried. Ahh well, then looks like swapping will be easy.
    Edited on Apr 18, 2008 10:32 pm GMT
    It's prolly not a reg issue though. He got it from good ole gramps who used it for ebay, e-mail, and the occasional online poker when grams hit the sack. I'm not saying it couldn't be reg issue, but if I were a crazy late night gambler like grandpa, I'd wager the drive has seen better days. Ahh well, no point in me typing anymore as this will probably be buried soon. edit* Guess it isn't buried. Ahh well, then looks like swapping will be easy.
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  • Marfoo
     
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    Apr 19, 2008 11:12 pm GMT
    Well, I would say try these two guides before swapping, just to rule out it's a software problem

    Guide 1
    Guide 2

    Both require you get into the registry, but they are harmless procedures.

    ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wifi-AP @n X38 Motherboard | Intel QX9770 Yorkfield 4.00GHz OC Processor | 4GB OCZ DDR3 1600 Intel X38/X48 Optimized Series RAM | 2 x Diamond HD 4870 512MB in CrossfireX | HT Omega Claro Plus+ Soundcard | 2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black HDDs in RAID 0 | Aerocool Horsepower 750W PSU | Cooler Master CM 690 Mid-Tower Chassis | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System

    Well, I would say try these two guides before swapping, just to rule out it's a software problem Guide 1 Guide 2 Both require you get into the registry, but they are harmless procedures.
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  • comstrikeiscool
     
    Level 35
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    Posts: 3616
    Apr 19, 2008 11:29 pm GMT

    Marfoo wrote:
    Well, I would say try these two guides before swapping, just to rule out it's a software problem Guide 1 Guide 2 Both require you get into the registry, but they are harmless procedures.

    Thanks! I'll take a look at these articles in the morning.

    [QUOTE="Marfoo"]Well, I would say try these two guides before swapping, just to rule out it's a software problem Guide 1 Guide 2 Both require you get into the registry, but they are harmless procedures.[/QUOTE]

    Thanks! I'll take a look at these articles in the morning.

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