DVD will not read CD or DVD's

[sh1ft3d]

This problem is very odd...

I have a Lite On DVD Burner. I was burning a CD, and there was a burn error that it ran into during burn process. I didn't think anything and went to start it again (using nero) with new blank CD, and noticed that Nero wasn't recognizing the blank CD's I put in. I also noticed that the burner now didn't recognize anything I put in it... DVD's or CD's. When I put a DVD or CD in the activity blinks a few times, but tray doesn't start spinning at all. I tried a number of things... system restore, uninstalling/reinstalling DVD Writer, etc all to no avail. Is it possible that the burn error I ran into mentioned above f'd up the hardware somehow and now the DVD burner is toast? Has anyone else ran into odd issues with combo drives? This will be the third combo drive that's gone haywire on me. If I have to replace my next purchase I think I'm going to buy a separate CD Writer and DVD Writer and use the DVD Writer exclusively for DVD's and obviously CD Writer exclusively for CD's. Any help would be appreciated on more things I can try... would have to have to buy another DVD and CD drive.

 

[bmouring]

I believe the more likely scenerio is that the burn error was caused by the hardware "f'ing up". When drives don't recognize disks anymore, that's a bad sign. Check a few things to be sure, though.
1) Is it still listed in Windows as a drive? In either Device Manager, Disk Manager, or My Computer?
2) If not, is it still listed under BIOS as an attached device?
3) In either of the above cases, a final test is to simply try it in a friend's computer and see if it exhibits the same behavior.

If, after doing those tests you still have nothing, the drive is likely gone, start digging for that receipt and exchange it.

Seeing as how you're going through drives at a fast rate, it might be worthwhile to look at you power and/or motherboard as being the culprit destroying your drive (especially the power). If you don't have a spare supply just sitting around, try to find a friend who has an old one you can test with. Good luck.

 

[4745454b]

Third drive in how short a time? If your going through drives this fast, there is something wrong with your system, I'd start looking at the powersupply. My uncle (tech support for the US post office in washington DC.) told me about a computer that lost 3 harddrives. 5volt rail was at almost 7V. He replaced the psu and the hdd, hasn't had a problem since.

 

[sh1ft3d]

Thanks for feedback. I've had some time to cool down (was pretty hot about this last night).

1) Is it still listed in Windows as a drive? In either Device Manager, Disk Manager, or My Computer?
2) If not, is it still listed under BIOS as an attached device?
3) In either of the above cases, a final test is to simply try it in a friend's computer and see if it exhibits the same behavior.

1) Yes. Windows doesn't detect any issues with.
2) Appears in BIOS fine/detected at POST.
3) Will try...

Third drive in how short a time?

Probably wasn't worth mentioning that I've gone through that many because the one I have now (the f'ing up Lite-On) I've had for 1.5 years. With the two before, one was dead on arrival, and the other I wiped its firmware, and couldn't reload new firmware so both were my fault. I'm pretty sure system's stable. I have a 420W Thermaltake PSU, but is same one I originally purchased with system a little less than 2 yrs ago so I don't know... I would think a PSU should last more than 1.5 to 2 yrs, and aside from this catastrophe, system's fine. Maybe it was just its time.

What DVD/CD combo drive would you guys recommend because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to buy a new one. Also, any freeware/shareware software you'd recommend or is what comes with retail normally suitable? (not a fan of the CD/DVD burning Nero software it came with). Is buying a separate CD Writer and DVD/CD Writer (use DVD/CD Writer just for DVD's) a good strategy. I had somewhat intermittent strange issues with this Lite-On CD/DVD writer from the start... i.e. sometimes just wouldn't read DVD's that it's been able to read before or burn would finish successfully (file verification also successful), but couldn't read the CD. Maybe I had a defective CD/DVD Writer all along. I never had any issues with any CD-ROM or CD Writer in the 10 years or so of experience before putting this build together about 2 yrs ago.

 

[nobly]

What model of Liteon is it? Some of their more recent models have had some QA issues. I had one for a little over a year and it died on me.. I think it was like 1633S or something.

On average, I'd say 1.5 yrs is probably typical lifespan of a DVD burner drive if you use it pretty often and bought it within the past 3 yrs. I think its somewhat having to deal w/ working more and more issues out because I think the drives nowadays tend to last longer than the older ones. Better quality, more issues were resolved, etc.

Since this was the 1st Liteon drive to die on me after about 6 Liteon CD-RW/DVD-RW drives I've installed and never had issues with, I'd say try Liteon again... They're fairly cheap in price. The problem with mine was that it couldn't read or recognize blank DVDs, but CDs were fine. I could hear the ball bearings getting ground and a nice "clunk clunk clunk" sound came from my drive.

I use Nero - never really had any issues with it. I have the retail edition though, the OEM version that comes with the drive kind of sucks.

I'd say buying a CD-RW right now would be a waste, unless you can get it dirt cheap under 10 bucks. Just get 2 DVD burners - they're practically the same price.