DVD rw drive not reading!!!!!!!!!!

Help! Suddenly its reading nothing. I put in a music CD, blank CD to put
photos on. It reads nothing....
anyone out there know something I can do??
I have a laptop, when I put the Disc in, the little disc icon shows up for a
second on the mouse & disappears..
Help...thanks!!

lostinla wrote:

> Help! Suddenly its reading nothing. I put in a music CD, blank CD to put
> photos on. It reads nothing....
> anyone out there know something I can do??
> I have a laptop, when I put the Disc in, the little disc icon shows up for
> a second on the mouse & disappears..
> Help...thanks!!

Boot with your Vista DVD or any other bootable disk such as a Linux Live CD
(Knoppix or Ubuntu) or even an XP install disk. Does the drive read any of
those disks? If not, the drive has died. Contact the laptop mftr.'s tech
support for repair/replacement.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:04:38 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>lostinla wrote:
>
>> Help! Suddenly its reading nothing. I put in a music CD, blank CD to put
>> photos on. It reads nothing....
>> anyone out there know something I can do??
>> I have a laptop, when I put the Disc in, the little disc icon shows up for
>> a second on the mouse & disappears..
>> Help...thanks!!
>
>Boot with your Vista DVD or any other bootable disk such as a Linux Live CD
>(Knoppix or Ubuntu) or even an XP install disk. Does the drive read any of
>those disks? If not, the drive has died. Contact the laptop mftr.'s tech
>support for repair/replacement.

You repair computers for a living. Would replacing a laptop optical
drive be a really expensive undertaking? More expensive than buying
an external USB drive?

Nonny wrote:

>
> You repair computers for a living. Would replacing a laptop optical
> drive be a really expensive undertaking? More expensive than buying
> an external USB drive?

It depends on the laptop and whether the mftr. still has replacement parts
for that model. Since the OP has Vista and Vista is still fairly new, more
than likely the replacement parts are available (and the laptop may still
be under warranty). The best solution would be to replace the part rather
than use an external USB drive. The data will not move nearly as quickly
(to be burned) over the USB bus as it will using the internal drive.

I had to buy a replacement optical drive from Dell for a laptop that was
more than several years old and IIRC it was around $50. External burners
from NewEgg start at about $55.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:50:25 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>Nonny wrote:
>
>>
>> You repair computers for a living. Would replacing a laptop optical
>> drive be a really expensive undertaking? More expensive than buying
>> an external USB drive?
>
>It depends on the laptop and whether the mftr. still has replacement parts
>for that model. Since the OP has Vista and Vista is still fairly new, more
>than likely the replacement parts are available (and the laptop may still
>be under warranty). The best solution would be to replace the part rather
>than use an external USB drive. The data will not move nearly as quickly
>(to be burned) over the USB bus as it will using the internal drive.
>
>I had to buy a replacement optical drive from Dell for a laptop that was
>more than several years old and IIRC it was around $50. External burners
>from NewEgg start at about $55.

Ahh... but then the person would have to pay the technecian to install
the thing. I used to have a shop, and laptops were NOT on my list of
things I'd open up and work on.

Thanks.
(Nonny - unmasked)

Paul Montgomery wrote:

> Ahh... but then the person would have to pay the technecian to install
> the thing. I used to have a shop, and laptops were NOT on my list of
> things I'd open up and work on.

Well, that's you. I and many others have no problems working on laptops.
Besides, there's no need to pay anyone to install an optical drive. It is
generally very simple and all major computer mftrs. have instructions on
their websites. We don't know what brand laptop the OP has, but it takes
approximately 5-6 minutes to install an optical drive on a Dell, HP, or a
Thinkpad. This would not be difficult even for a non-tech.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:50:25 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

> Nonny wrote:
>
> >
> > You repair computers for a living. Would replacing a laptop optical
> > drive be a really expensive undertaking? More expensive than buying
> > an external USB drive?
>
> It depends on the laptop and whether the mftr. still has replacement parts
> for that model. Since the OP has Vista and Vista is still fairly new, more
> than likely the replacement parts are available (and the laptop may still
> be under warranty). The best solution would be to replace the part rather
> than use an external USB drive. The data will not move nearly as quickly
> (to be burned) over the USB bus as it will using the internal drive.


Another consideration is that a laptop is a device meant to carried
around. I personally would not want to have to deal with the extra
weight and space required to carry around an external optical drive
along with the laptop.

Even if it cost somewhat more, I'd opt to replace it, rather than use
an external drive.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:nopr84lgipdt9r2pl6nk5sn1ijn3scfheg@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:50:25 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> Nonny wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > You repair computers for a living. Would replacing a laptop optical
>> > drive be a really expensive undertaking? More expensive than buying
>> > an external USB drive?
>>
>> It depends on the laptop and whether the mftr. still has replacement
>> parts
>> for that model. Since the OP has Vista and Vista is still fairly new,
>> more
>> than likely the replacement parts are available (and the laptop may still
>> be under warranty). The best solution would be to replace the part rather
>> than use an external USB drive. The data will not move nearly as quickly
>> (to be burned) over the USB bus as it will using the internal drive.
>
>
> Another consideration is that a laptop is a device meant to carried
> around. I personally would not want to have to deal with the extra
> weight and space required to carry around an external optical drive
> along with the laptop.
>
> Even if it cost somewhat more, I'd opt to replace it, rather than use
> an external drive.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Not to mention the extra battery drain due to the additional circuitry
involved in the external drive controller. Also, laptop optical
drive designs are usually optimized for lower power consumption.