CD/DVD Reader/Writer problem

Seems like my CD-DVD drive cannot read discs at all meaning no burning, nothing.

1. When I insert a CD/DVD the light blinks like its about to read the disc, but doesn't the light just goes blank, and I go into Windows/My Computer (E Drive which is my CD/DVD reader) it says please insert a blank disc or sometimes you can access it but nothing is supposedly on the CD/DVD (Yes I have tried many different ones, ranging from games to movies, to software to windows xp/vista).

Model Number: Samsung SH-W162L / TS-H552L (Samsung doesn't officially call it TS-H552L but thats what it says on the CD case)

I believe my cable uses IDE (Master). I'll look into the Hard Drive thing, but it doesn't seem like there is a slot for it.

Might just be a bad drive. Some MoBo's would rather use the master jumper then the the cable select jumper. There are two types of IDE cables. The 40 wire is what is supposed to be used with Optical drives and the 80 wire is what is supposed to be used with HD's. They look the same but the 80 wire has more wires... thus it usually feels smoother. That drive is very similar to lite-on drives that I have had in the past. I know from experience that my lite-ons always did better on the 80 wire cables. I really don't know why. It shouldn't matter. Try an 80 wire cable, with the jumper selected to master (be at the top of the cable also). If that combo doesn't work, then the drive is probably bad. But you probably won't spend more then 5 bucks on the cable. Or, if you could return that drive, get a SATA drive.

Simply sounds like a bad drive to me.

Will try a 80 cable, but I don't know if it supports it or not.

Any luck with this?

scratch that, it's only a CD/RW drive, mainly need DVDs, I'll post a picture of my CD/DVD drive.

whats really sad about it is that it hasnt worked for two years, now my other one wont read CDs/DVDs but makes a loud high pitched squeal or like a scratching sound (It doesn't scratch the CD, and the CDs/DVDs are not broke, I do have a high enough Power Supply (800 watts) and I was able to install Team Fortress 2 before the drive broke.

That drive might be fixable. Any ideas on these drives?


It's model number is DH-16AYH, says its made by Philips & BenQ.



The one on the right is the BenQ one and the one on the left is the Samsung

Well, the cable in the pic and for those drives is IDE... Sata is nice. I like sata. Better air flow and you don't have to worry about master/slave crap. What MoBo you got?

SATA is just a serial ATA vs. parralell ATA. You would have to have a Sata port open on your MoBo. As far as costs go... no, not really any more. SATA is becoming quite common.

If the 80 pin cable diddn't work, then it is probably a bad drive. You tried this on two computers. Are you in the US? reason why I ask is because you referenced a Microcenter. I like Microcenter. I actually have one not far from here and I think there might be a drive to suit your needs in this months flyer. You would have to have a SATA port open, though.

to make an edit to the previous post, I do have a SATA port available on my MoBo (it has 3/4 remaining)

Ah.... ok then.... http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0293535

Is that the current price of the DVD drive or is it lower. Do you know where to buy a 80 pin before, I go out a buy a new CD/DVD drive

I wouldn't bother trying to fix it. They spin pretty quickly... the tolarences are tight. As far as buying an 80 wire (40 pin... minus the one that is always left out... looks just like the one in the picture you posted) Newegg has them. A local hole-in-the-wall computer store would have it. Microcenter has them. That sort of thing. That is the current price on that drive that I posted. Microcenter rocks. Its a decent drive that will do what most of us need to do. It isn't the most high-end unit, but I have one very similar to it and I was pleased. If you are going to newegg it, I might suggest the Asus DVD/RW drives. I have one by Asus and I am very pleased with it. I have to get... I will check back tomorrow.

Doesn't really matter what the exact problem with it is. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If you tried everything that I suggested, then you have eliminated any MoBo conflicts with the master/slave/cable select jumpers. You have eliminated the cabling as an issue if you tried the 80 wire cable. And you have tested to ensure that it wasn't just your computer when you tried another. At this point, the drive doesn't want to work. I looked up store locator on Microcenter's website. It looks like you have one close. Try the one I suggested. I like SATA anyways. There is less to troubleshoot.

The only other thing you could look at is to see that this isn't a Windows issue. In order to test that, you'd probably have to boot from either a fresh instalation or Linux. I would bet some pretty good money, though, that this is not your problem as it was able to install a game before it died.

Just make sure that you don't leave a disk in the drive when you replace it. =)

If it were just the eye trying to find the correct track, then it should at least keep spinning in an attempt to find it's place. Money is tight, but that drive that I pointed out is only ~ 25 bucks. You would have to get the cable too. That is an OEM drive so it won't have the cable with it. Another thing to consider is this... it gives you another drive to try to ensure that this isn't a windows issue. If a brand new drive won't work, then this could be a windows issue. Another way to try that thery, though, would be to try to boot from the windows installation CD. If it would boot from it, then it isn't a physical issue with the DVD drive. If nothing you try with the old one works, but the new one does... then for 25 bones and a cheep cable, you have solved your issue.

Not usually at Bestbuy. Newegg brings it to you... can't beat that for close.

decided to get a blu-ray drive for about $150 works great and so is picture quality