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View Full Version : Help please! DVD drive problem

ediddle71
19th February 2010, 05:02
Hey all!
I am frustrated with my two DVD-RW drives. I reinstalled Windows XP on my Dell 4550 Dimension and now when I go to my computer it shows my DVD-RW drives, but when I insert a DVD disc (either movie or software) the icon changes to CD Drive(CD-ROM is what it shows as being inserted in the tray) The drives are the exact same model and both started doing this after the reinstall of XP. They will read CD's just not DVD format.
Example........if I insert a DVD/DVD-RW and click on the drive letter under my computer it will open the window for the drive and show nothing? I know from searching the forums that the response most posted is that the DVD lens/eye is burned out, but these identical drives worked flawlessly before the reinstall of XP and why would both drives have bad DVD lens/eyes?
I have installed Sonic DVD software to play DVD's, and still the same thing. This is really frustrating, please help!
Guest
19th February 2010, 05:21
Try deleting them in Device Manager and then rebooting so they are detected and re-installed.
ediddle71
19th February 2010, 05:50
tried that already too, no luck. When a disc is inserted and clicked on the "disk is not formatted" window pops up and states "windows cannot read from the disk. the disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format not compatible with windows"
Maccara
19th February 2010, 11:22
tried that already too, no luck. When a disc is inserted and clicked on the "disk is not formatted" window pops up and states "windows cannot read from the disk. the disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format not compatible with windows"

Does this (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060) help?
ediddle71
19th February 2010, 13:02
no it didn't do anything, still stuck.
GrofLuigi
19th February 2010, 14:52
Since this is a new installation, check the services:

Imapi CD-Burning COM Service
Shell Hardware Detection

GL
ediddle71
19th February 2010, 22:56
how do I go about doing that?
ediddle71
19th February 2010, 23:00
also now the drives won't read CD's
StainlessS
20th February 2010, 14:09
if I insert a DVD/DVD-RW and click on the drive letter under my computer it will open the window for the drive and show nothing?

Try this, bring up properties for the DVD drive, select CD Recording tab, and
un-tick "Enable CD recording on this drive". Might need a reboot.
I have experienced this, seems to happen with Sony, NEC drives using Sony firmware.
When it shows you "nothing", I believe it is displaying the contents of the CD recording buffer,
otherwise, it would show some kind of error message, eg disk not recognised or something similar.
There are loads of people out there suffering similar problems, especially with SP3. (Are you using SP3?)