New DVD/RW, Old Problem..

[Ogamy]

I just brought a new DVD/ReWrite for my computer, as my last one has seemed to of packed up on me.. It would not open, nor play the DVD which had got stuck in there..
The old one was powered by a 4 Pin Molex.. and connected with an IDE Cable..

My new one is powered by SATA, and is also SATA connected.. but I am still getting the same problem as before, It opens now.. but instead of playing a DVD, it freezes up causing me to force restart.

I tried playing a DVD in Safe mode.. no Luck... I also tried it in Vista, and It actually opened the DVD in Windows Media Player.. Played 6 seconds of music.. then locked me out... once again causing the problem..


This worries me, as I brought a New HDD... and I am not sure how to install Windows 7 on it.. Unless install the hardware, then install Windows 7 from my current HDD..

 

[COLGeek]

This doesn't sound like a power problem. First, double check both your SATA data and power connectors to verify that they are firmly attached. Second, restart your system, enter your BIOS, as check your SATA/IDE settings. Make sure your SATA mode is set to either IDE or AHCI (I recommend IDE mode as it is more simple and is more than sifficient for the vast majority of users). You don't need set in RAID config. If you change anything, be sure to save and then reboot.

If these don't help, we will need to know that make and model of your motherboard and what operating system, at a minimum, to troubleshoot further.

 

[Ogamy]

I have checked the connections and they are all ok, I went into BIOS and checked my SATA/IDE Settings, they are set to IDE..

This has not helped, I will include my motherboard and OS..

Mobo: Asrock AliveNF7G-GLAN

OS: Windows 7 64 Bit

 

[COLGeek]

I suspect that you may have a motherboard issue (with its embedded SATA/IDE controller). Is your HDD IDE or SATA? Do you have any other available SATA ports that you could swap your DVD RW to?

Are you overclocking anything? If so, revert to stock settings while trouble shooting this issue.

 

[Ogamy]

My HDD is SATA, and yes I have an extra two available SATA ports. I am over clocking my CPU... So I will put it back to stock now.

Edit: Switching the SATA ports it was using, nothing has changed.

 

[Ogamy]

If I were to wipe my HDD completely, and install Win7 from start up, would my DVD drive work? or is it something more?

Or, if I were to put a new HDD, then install Win7 from start up?

 

[COLGeek]

If I were to wipe my HDD completely, and install Win7 from start up, would my DVD drive work? or is it something more?

Or, if I were to put a new HDD, then install Win7 from start up?

It should work now without doing anything to Win 7 (or your current OS). Try this, download an ISO of Ubuntu Linux. After burning to CD, attempt to boot the live version. If the system boots and reads the DVD, then you have a software problem that a clean install of Win 7 may help. If you can't boot from the CD with the Ubuntu disk or are unable to access the DVD afterwards, you have a hardware problem (per my earlier analysis).

 

[Ogamy]

I did what you said, I burned a CD with Linux on, and ran it from system boot, and Linux was loaded successfully.. so I believe it must be a software problem... any idea how to fix it?

I ran Windows FixIt, and it found nothing causing a problem..

 

[COLGeek]

You can try this. Go into your Device Manager. Find your DVD RW. Right click on in and then select uninstall. When complete, restart the system. Windows will detect the "new" device upon startup and should reinstall the drivers for it.

If that doesn't work, you can do the same with your IDE/SATA controllers.

Worth a shot and won't hurt anything.

 

[Ogamy]

What I've done/ am doing is installing a new HDD, transfering data over and then will wipe old HDD which was the problem one.. once wiped, will re use as a storage drive. Should hopefully work, only really needed to be able to transfer data over

 

[COLGeek]

Sounds like a good plan. Working from a clean install should resolve any config issues. Best of luck!