Hardware Disc Drive issues

[loco365]

So I've been having a strange problem with my disc drive I can't seem to fix. And if I'm good with fixing computers and I can't fix this, it's probably pretty bad. Anyways, back in late December was when I first noticed the problem. I tried installing Windows 7 using a friend's disc, but the computer wouldn't recognize the disc. It'd recognize a CD, but not a burned retail DVD. Fast forward a month, and I was wanting to burn some discs. I pop a blank DVD in the drive... and imgburn reads the disc properly. I burn an ISO to my disc, and when it cycled the drive to verify, the verify failed because it couldn't read the disc. I then uninstalled the drivers for it and rebooted, to see if Windows would download and install new drivers for it. It did, but it's still having the same problem.

All in all, it can read CDs and blank DVDs, but it won't read a burned DVD disc, either of my own or retail. What could be causing the problem? My first thoughts is that the DVD drive is getting old and needs replacing, but I want to make 100% certainty that it's the cause before getting a new drive.

 

[Celice]

I'm not knowledgeable about how DVDs are written to in a drive, but I'd suppose the actual reading lens has little to do with it. That being said: it was, at least when I was still using a disk drive (2006-8) pretty common to see DVD lens in drives fail, while CD lens still work fine. I'm guessing the architecture behind these disc drives haven't changed much in the past few years, so I'd be willing to say your DVD-part of the drive has died out.

(like I said, I'm not overly familiar with the innards of a drive, so feel free to replace lens with laser, mechanical arm, battery, whatever else has functional purpose and that can go bad)

 

[loco365]

Well, that was what I am thinking - the DVD part of my drive is going. I definitely won't have too much know-how on replacing the drive, but I'd rather replace the drive with my limited knowledge than try disassembling my drive and replacing the laser (Or anything that does need replacing). But if the DVD part of it is gone, than why can it read blank ones and burn to them still? It shouldn't be able to do that if that part of the drive has failed.

Then again, the computer is almost 10 years old and still has everything stock inside of it. I think some parts of it might need replacing soon enough.

 

[Originality]

CD lense and DVD lense are separate. If you've done a lot of DVD burning, you may have burnt out the lense. Otherwise the lense may just be wearing out and the sensitivity has fallen too low. There is a variable resistor in most drives that can be turned up to increase sensitivity and make it work again (I've done that for a few Xbox360s), however that will in turn make it burn out faster.

Sometimes, as you say, it's just a matter of replacing the worn out part (the drive, not the laser).

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

Sounds like the lens is dusty or the laser itself has weakened.

You could pot adjust it if you have the tools and the drive laser supports it, but with how cheap dvdrw drives are these days I would personally just get a new one and put your old one in for recycling

 

[LockeCole_101629]

My last disc drive is benq
it only last for 8 months before it stop completely (tray even won't load)
this was inside the computer.

before that I had LiteOn, last for 5 years.
However I was using external enclosure for it, this also my tools to check HDD specially to clean virus from another system and back-up
this is the most simple method, if you have another computer you can try to hook it up, power shortage also can cause ODD to malfunction (can read, but fail to write or vice versa)

idk... nowadays purchasing a good external enclosure probably will cost more than the drive it self.
I've been live without ODD for almost 2 years, with so much digital download service I don't think I'll ever need it.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

idk... nowadays purchasing a good external enclosure probably will cost more than the drive it self.
I've been live without ODD for almost 2 years, with so much digital download service I don't think I'll ever need it.

Funny you mention that my HP G60 Laptop now doesnt have a ODD, I replaced it with an adapter to use another HDD instead, thinking of doing the same thing with my Current main laptop (Packard Bell MB-85 LE) Its main is a 500GB WD Scorpio Black thinking of comboing it with a 750GB WD blue or something for storage

 

[Originality]

Funny you mention that my HP G60 Laptop now doesnt have a ODD, I replaced it with an adapter to use another HDD instead, thinking of doing the same thing with my Current main laptop (Packard Bell MB-85 LE) Its main is a 500GB WD Scorpio Black thinking of comboing it with a 750GB WD blue or something for storage

That's been getting increasingly popular in the last couple years. Since just about every disk based installation can now be run from USB instead, people are opting to swap their ODDs for an extra drive. One of my friends has 3 SSDs in his laptop from doing that.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

That's been getting increasingly popular in the last couple years. Since just about every disk based installation can now be run from USB instead, people are opting to swap their ODDs for an extra drive. One of my friends has 3 SSDs in his laptop from doing that.

I can see the appeal, Since I got 3 Spare SATA laptop DVDRW's I may slap one in a casing for if the need arises and otherwise go all HDD on this laptop too.

Just got to get around to at least getting the adapter itself lol. My G60 is rocking 2 160GB HDD's (spares but they work fine)

 

[loco365]

Sounds like the lens is dusty or the laser itself has weakened.

You could pot adjust it if you have the tools and the drive laser supports it, but with how cheap dvdrw drives are these days I would personally just get a new one and put your old one in for recycling

That's what I had in mind. I just want to see if there's a particular reason it'll read blank discs still and burn to them. I don't use the drive that often as is, so the first thing that comes to mind is that it's just dirty.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

That's what I had in mind. I just want to see if there's a particular reason it'll read blank discs still and burn to them. I don't use the drive that often as is, so the first thing that comes to mind is that it's just dirty.

Laser increases its power to burn the data to the foil part of the disc it uses less power to read the data