CD/DVD-ROM issue on T42

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maxshop · #1 Post by **maxshop** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:15 am

I have a T42 with XP Pro SP2 installed, and have started experiencing issues with the DVD/CD drive (HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8083N). Whenever, I insert a CD or a DVD, it spins for a few seconds, and then stops. Autoplay does not work, and when I open Windows Explorer and click on "DVD Drive (D:)", it says: "Please insert a disk into Drive D:".

I have done the following so far in an attempt to fix the issue without luck:

1). Installed the latest XP updates.

2). Updated the firmware on the CD/DVD drive. Current firmware version is: 0K04. To update the firmware, I burned an .iso image on to a CD (using a different PC), and then started my laptop with the CD in the drive. It was able to read the CD, and update the firmware.

3). Un-installed the DVD-ROM drive by going into "Device Manager", and then re-booting. Current Microsoft Driver version is: 5.1.2535.0. I also tried un-installing everything under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" (Primary IDE channel, etc).

4). Made sure that Autoplay is ON by running the "Autoplay Repair Wizard" utility from Microsoft. Also installed "Tweak UI" from Microsoft and made sure that Autoplay, etc is ON.

5). Removed "Filters" (Lower & Upper) by editing the registry and also running a "Remove Filters" utility.

6). Ran "sfc /scannow" to check the integrity of the core XP OS files.

7). A couple of my colleagues have the same laptop, and I have tried using their drives on mine without any luck. Their drives work fine on their laptops, and my drive works fine on their laptops.

I have also noticed that whenever I try to "stop" the device using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature, I always get a "The device HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8083N cannot be stopped right now. stopping the device again later" message. When I take the drive out and push it back in, XP does not seem to recognize it, and I no longer see it under "Device Manager". I have tried "Scan for hardware changes", but the only way for the drive to show up in Device Manager is to re-boot.

Points #2 & #7 lead me to believe that the problem is in XP, and not the drive itself. Is there anything else that I can try (other than un-installing and re-installing XP)?

Thanks!

yak · #2 Post by **yak** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:32 am

Have you tried starting your notebook using a bootable CD? For example a Live Linux CD?

maxshop · #3 Post by **maxshop** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:42 am

yak wrote:Have you tried starting your notebook using a bootable CD? For example a Live Linux CD?

I did try the "firmware" CD which was bootable, and it updated the firmware without any problems. I know that the drive read the CD, since I had to answer a bunch of yes/no questions while updating the firmware.

I will try the XP OS bootable disk that I have, and see what happens.

Thanks!

Trixie · #4 Post by **Trixie** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:21 pm

Since your drive works on other machines and other drives don't work on your machine it seems as though there must be an issue with the connection between the drive bay and the system board.

#5 Post by **richk** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:08 pm

Are you running any sort of CD burning software? Nero? EZCD-creator? (EZCD creator is famous for screwing things up)

maxshop · #6 Post by **maxshop** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:00 pm

richk wrote:Are you running any sort of CD burning software? Nero? EZCD-creator? (EZCD creator is famous for screwing things up)

The only burning software I have is IBM RecordNow!, which I believe came pre-installed...and of course, Windows Media Player that has a "burn" feature. I don't have any other burning softwares installed.

zdriver · #7 Post by **zdriver** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:13 pm

If you go into the properties of the D drive and go to the Recording tab ... is the box checked for Enable cd Recording? Make sure it is checked.
I had a similar problem with your model drive at work, you could not explore the disk and no autoplay. By checking that box, everything worked again. I know you would think it would have nothing to do with the problem.

maxshop · #8 Post by **maxshop** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:19 am

zdriver wrote:If you go into the properties of the D drive and go to the Recording tab ... is the box checked for Enable cd Recording? Make sure it is checked.
I had a similar problem with your model drive at work, you could not explore the disk and no autoplay. By checking that box, everything worked again. I know you would think it would have nothing to do with the problem.

Well, this is just a CD/DVD-ROM, and not a Read/Write drive. I don't see the Recording tab when I view the Properties of the drive.

maxshop · #9 Post by **maxshop** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:21 am

Trixie wrote:Since your drive works on other machines and other drives don't work on your machine it seems as though there must be an issue with the connection between the drive bay and the system board.

But that doesn't explain how it can read a bootable CD at startup. I was able to update the firmware successfully using this method.

Trixie · #10 Post by **Trixie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:28 pm

maxshop wrote:
Trixie wrote:Since your drive works on other machines and other drives don't work on your machine it seems as though there must be an issue with the connection between the drive bay and the system board.
But that doesn't explain how it can read a bootable CD at startup. I was able to update the firmware successfully using this method.

Yes, but if your drive was functioning properly and then stopped functioning properly, without any software changes in the interim, a hardware issue is the most likely cause. Do you have a Linux live CD you can boot up from? That will be a way to determine if you have a hardware or software issue, I think.

DrThinkpad · #11 Post by **DrThinkpad** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:13 pm

Can someone please help ? I'm having the same problem with the exact same dvd model... IE : I can install any software from the CD without any problem but can't launch any game from the dvd drive...

maxshop · #12 Post by **maxshop** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:28 am

[quote="Trixie] Yes, but if your drive was functioning properly and then stopped functioning properly, without any software changes in the interim, a hardware issue is the most likely cause. Do you have a Linux live CD you can boot up from? That will be a way to determine if you have a hardware or software issue, I think.[/quote]

Well, I don't have a Linux bootable CD, but I tried the XP OS bootable "install" CD, and it worked just fine. It was able to read the CD just fine.

Something in the installed version of XP on my laptop is causing the issue with the CD/DVD-ROM. Not sure what it is.....

Trixie · #13 Post by **Trixie** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:32 pm

I had something like this happen on a desktop once; it turned out to be a problem with the power supply. Like you, I was able, sometimes, to boot up from a CD, but could never finish an installation. This is why I'm saying not to discount the possibility of a hardware problem.

CD/DVD-ROM issue on T42

CD/DVD-ROM issue on T42

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