Optical Drive Woe's

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Oraklini · #1 Post by **Oraklini** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:02 pm

I rarely use the optical drive in my T42, but now the cdrw/dvd unit
gives the 'please insert disc ...' message.

So I tried a dvd/rw and a dvd rom that I know are good ,but to no avail.
These drives have been tried out yesterday in another T42 and work perfectly.
Hardware manager shows no issues and drivers are ok.

Is a o/s re-install the order of the day or is the problem deeper than that.

Thanks for any input guys.

#2 Post by **richk** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:13 pm

The best way to tell would be to insert a bootable CD and try to boot from the drive. If it will boot, the problem is probably software. If not, it is a bigger problem.

sjthinkpader · #3 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:16 pm

Try a firmware update. Without a working CD drive this gets a bit tricky. A bootable USB stick from www.lenovo.com may help in this regard.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... selected=5

zdriver · #4 Post by **zdriver** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:20 pm

If the dvd's were made on another computer, you may have problems reading them. Does the drive read cdroms ok but not dvd's? Try a commerically made and known good dvd.
Two things to try, uninstall the drivers for the dvd combo drive, unplug the drive and plug it back in, reinstall the ibm drivers.
Download and make a drive firmware update disk and use it.

Stan · #5 Post by **Stan** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:20 pm

This may indicate a problem with the Ultrabay drive connection and hence the motherboard.

A re- installation of the OS might yield positive results and is certainly less daunting than the replacement of the motherboard. If the Windows/ other OS CD won't boot or install properly then the problem isn't OS related.

Try to boot a known good Linux live CD before making a judgement.

Best of luck.

Oraklini · #6 Post by **Oraklini** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:48 pm

Ok, I've got the dvd rom installed and it boots from fine a xp cd .

It will not run known good commercial dvd's or cd's or non commercial.

I just get the 'insert disc...' message, so it must be software related?

Thanks for your replies, most appreciated.

#7 Post by **richk** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:49 pm

If it will boot from the drive, that probably means the machine is OK but the software is bad. I always suspect burning software, like EZCD creator.

zdriver · #8 Post by **zdriver** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:13 pm

My money is on the drive. If it reads cds but will not even come ready with a dvd - just rejects it, it is before the software even looks at the disc. A common failure with the combo drive, seen it many times.
Still needs to update the drive firmware and try cleaning the optics with a cotton swab and iso alcohol.
Runniing diags on the drive would be good too.

sktn77a · #9 Post by **sktn77a** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:37 am

Could be the drive. What exactly are you trying to do and not succeeding at? If you are trying to play DVD video, you need DVD decoder software (usually WINDVD on the thinkpad). Is that installed on your computer? I'm not sure why it boots from an XP CD but not a commercial CD. Does the commercial CD have data on it too?

Oraklini · #10 Post by **Oraklini** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:26 pm

All I really want is to access data on cd's and dvd's,but after trying three different drives that work on another machine, I'm thinking it is a windows problem.

If I right click on the 'D' drive and click on open or explore, windows is telling me that there is not a disc in the drive.

I don't need to burn discs on this machine, so I've fitted the bog standard dvd rom drive, this is a known good drive.

Thanks for your ideas, I've time now to try them out.

Oraklini · #11 Post by **Oraklini** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:31 am

The problem has was solved by an o/s re-install

ELPIRATA · #12 Post by **ELPIRATA** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:58 pm

Hello all:

I'm not really a T42 owner but I support one. He has been experiencing similar issues. When you insert CD's or DVD's, sometimes they will show in My Computer (you know, shows the label used), but often times... it doesnt.

I used to have this problem with a simple and regular CD player (technics) and cleaning solved the problem. I noticed the suggestion about cleaning the optics with qtip, and since I dont have the T42 with me, I was hoping there was a guide somewhere that I could see a pic of it so I can try it.

An OS reinstall would be the last choice, but its not discarded yet.

Thanks in advance...

PS: If there are pics of this somewhere in this forum, just a forum link will suffice, I'm going thread by thread meanwhile, but its 300 pages here

sktn77a · #13 Post by **sktn77a** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:20 pm

"Cleaning" the lense should be a last resort. More problems are caused by lense cleaning that by not cleaning! If you can see dirt/particles on the lense (it's very small), then go ahead but I try to steer well clear of touching optical drive lenses.

ELPIRATA · #14 Post by **ELPIRATA** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:45 pm

Yeah, I will visit the laptop tomorrow and will try first the linux livecd (Ubuntu 8.04) and a couple of other stuff that I've seen here, like running the pcdoctor or the dvd program and see what the results are.

But its quite odd that the drive wouldnt even recognize a new boxed cd of norton antivirus nor microsoft outlook. Will report more soon.

Thanks for all the help

ELP

Beaver · #15 Post by **Beaver** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 2:33 am

I has some problem with my optical driver several days ago (in T40p, CDRW/DVD) when I was going to update firmware of HDD. I almost suspected the drive to be defunct but after I took it from the ultrabay and re-enter it it started working. Do not know why, it was trying to access the media (but failed) before I remove it, so it was not connection problem. Maybe it needs some lubrication after all that years of work, in fact it is sometime a little bit noisy when seeking.

ELPIRATA · #16 Post by **ELPIRATA** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 3:46 pm

Im going to try that too. I did the Live CD test and it was a failure. Funny thing was that decided to get into XP via safe mode and... I could see the Ubuntu 8.04 label in My Computer and upon double clicking... I could see the contents.

Restart, enter XP in normal mode and My Computer shows no label, double clicking gets me in recording mode, but shows no content whatsoever.

Gonna try to take out the drive and pop it back in.

BRB

ELPIRATA · #17 Post by **ELPIRATA** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 5:34 pm

Well, popping it back in didnt help much.

Another thing I noted is that even when I go into safe mode not always sees the Ubuntu live CD inserted. I tried with a DVD video (not commercial and dont have one handy) and it didnt recognize it either.

Threw in a dvd/cd lens cleaner and no label. I can hear the drive spin but nothing else. Then, I tried with an audio cd copy, not an original. This 'copy' is very scratched and dirty, and in safe mode... saw it. I could explore and see all the tracks inside.

Another curious note... in normal xp... when I pop in the ubuntu cd... my computer wont show the label (as has been doing) but, correctly identifies that is a CD. When I throw in the DVD Video, again, wont show the label nor contents, but correctly identifies it as DVD media.

Wish I had another t42 nearby and that I could swap the drives and finally see what is wrong with it.

I'm astounded to say the least, have never seen anything like this.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

ELP

Optical Drive Woe's

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