Asus G1s DVD drive not working

I've had my G1S since July of last year. The bluetooth functionality has never seemed to work but since I have a bluetooth dongle it hasnt been a problem.

Recently though the DVD drive has been getting quite funny about reading cds and dvds. On the odd occasion it works but more often than not now it wont play DVDs at all - the hour glass symbol comes up and eventually I need to control alt delete it to be able to use windows explorer again. This happens with copied DVD media and branded DVDs like films and games.

Its clear the drive has broke in some way. I wouldnt want to send it back to asus as im self employed via the net and this is my main computer - ie. having the laptop away for a few weeks is out of the question.

Has anyone had to deal with this before?
* I assume asus would require you to send it back and wouldnt send you a new drive to replace yourself.
* DVD writers arent too expensive. Replacing it myself is definately an option - Does this harm your warranty in any way?

I bought the laptop from ebuyer who are fantastic with returns so I'm tempted to call them. However, im not sure if they would offer a replacement or try and fix the drive themselves (probably unlikely)

Any help would be appreciated

Kevin

 

At least in the US, it is possible to arrange for cross-shipping with ASUS service. (you give a CC number as guarantee, they will send a new drive, and then you send the old one to them) For this you need to be sure it is the DVD and not something else.

Some things to check first:
1. Vista User Access Control: disable it if you have it. Sometimes it causes problems with ODDs.
2. Did you install any Apple software recently (iTunes for instance)? Sometimes it adds so-called upper and lower filters to the ODD that mess up its functionality. The filters can be removed with RegEdit.

DVD writers for notebooks are usually in the USD200 range on the ASUS estore, so not too cheap.

 

My DVD drive doesn't play new sony DVDs it says the codec deosn't match, apparently sony started useing one that is beyond the normal.

 

mate are you trying to play a Blue Ray DVD? - cos that wont work...

 

I installed itunes recently but I believe the DVD stopped working a while before I installed that. I might uninstall it anyways just to see if it helps.. Just out of curiousity, do you know of a site which tells you what filters have to be removed.

No it wasn't a blu-ray, I was trying to play a laser disc. I did think it was strange that the disc was bigger than the whole laptop!!

 

About the filters, I don't remember but there was a thread longer ago. You can searching for "dvd filters itunes" or something similar.

 

thanks, I'll do a search for it

 

Also, I assume you have installed video games onto your G1S right?

You must know that there are rumors that a so called StarForce Anti-Copying Protection software in SOME games is causing DVD drives to degrade in time until it stops working?

I'm not sure if this happens only if you make backup copies of your games and play them or install them with virtual drives like Daemon Tools and such or not.

Cheers!
RayanMX

 

I have games installed on the g1s but I havent ever backed them up. I have counter strike, BF 2, Civ 4 and football manager 08. FM08 had a lot of software privacy on it - infact, I had to get a patch from Sega so that I could play it! (which I wasnt too pleased about after buying it brand new on the day of release). I do have daemon tools installed though.