It still reads CDs ok, but drop a DVD in there and it just spins and never recogizes a DVD. This is a Lite-On 163D from a few years back. I just played around with some newer firmware to see if that did anything, and it is still the same. Are there any tricks to getting DVD-roms to work again?
hi.
try cleaning your drive with cd lens cleaner,
it isd not ligical to read cd's and not read dvd's.
is these happens with every dvd you try to read?
are dvd's original(means movies) or self autoring(write by u)?
try these dvd's on some other dvd.if you are anable to figure a way to read dvd buy a new one.
You can try this method below, it might work but if the problem is either on the circuit board or the laser head then it won't help.
Remove the 4 screws at the bottom cover of the DVD-Rom, try to move the circuit board to the side so you can have a little access to the two stainless beams that support the central laser head. The 2 steel thing that support the moving laser head, get some CRC or WD-40 and a little screw driver. squart a little of lubricant on the screw driver then little by little each time apply it on to the 2 steel thing that support the laser head, this will help the laser head to read the disc more efficiently.
You can also do this on PS2 that don't read discs very well. It works great, especially when the warranty for your PS2 already expired and they are going to charge you $100 to fix the reading disc problem. If there are some dust around the area where u going to apply lubricant you can try clean it off very gently with a cloth or vacume cleaner, but becareful not to thouch the laser head or apply too much force. And of course try not to touch any components on the circuit board either, because they are sensitive to static electric charge on ur hand.
I thougth that there might be a different part that reads DVDs as opposed to CDs. Should it really read both if it reads one?
I have lots of extra CD-Roms around, so I do not need this one if it does not read DVDs; I might just take this DVD-Rom apart and try to figure out what you mean by the two steell thing...
You will see what I mean after u have a look at it inside. It's all the same inside, DVDrom, CDRW, DVDRW. There is always 2 cylindrical steel that support the Laser head in mid air, so the laser head can move forwards and backwards to read the discs you put in. Sometimes the laser head can't move smoothly so you can't read some discs properly, so applying some CRC or WD-40 will help.
I once had an Asus DVD-ROM drive that would not play any DVDs. It didn't have any problems with CDs (at least not any obvious ones). After several trips to the shop (thay told me it was on the wrong IDE cable, that i needed to install some software, that my DVDs were bad, that it was actually working fine, that it's "not logical" for it to not play DVDs and play CDs) they admited it was defective and they replaced it.
