T41 CDRW issues

[rgrosz]

I've been having strange problems with my CD-RW drive. I described the problems to IBM Tech Support, and they helped me a little bit.

ORIGINAL PROBLEM
=============
At one point, the CD-RW was showing up as "bad" in Device Manager. It said the device driver was damaged, and could not repair it or roll back.

Tech support suggested I reload the device driver, but could not tell me how to do it. After a few days of calling IBM, I finally got someone who found a way to do it. They told me to uninstall, then reinstall the RecordNow software. As part of the process, it repaired the device driver.

Gee, I think there ought to be a better way to do this?!

CURRENT PROBLEM
=============
When I insert a CD or DVD, it takes between 40 and 120 seconds for the system to recognize the disk. It freezes Windows Explorer (but not ALL of Windows) for that length of time. Same effect when I try to record a CD - Nero doesn't load until Windows recognizes the CD.

When I boot the machine with a bootable CD, there is no noticeable delay. That makes me think it is a Windows problem.

Tech support had me go through the standard troubleshooting steps, to no avail. I have reseated the drive, updated the BIOS, and updated the firmware. But the problem still exists.

Anyone have any suggestions, or similar experiences?

[sktn77a]

I would get any valuable data files off the hard drive and then do a factory image recovery (press the blue button when you turn the computer on).

If that doesn't work, it sounds like a hardware problem.

[rgrosz]

Yes, I'm working on that right now. I have a Drive Image file that I made of the original partition as delivered on the machine.

[level]

You stated that you uninstalled and then re-installed RecordNow, and that you used Nero to record a CD. There may be a conflict with those two applications, particularly if you're using the dla software.

[rgrosz]

Thanks for the hint. I decided not to uninstall RecordNow, since that might screw up the device driver for the CD-RW.

I did uninstall IBM DLA, since I never use it. Now the discs are recognized in 5-10 seconds. I think I can mark off this problem as "solved".