E1705 DVD Burner - Optiarc AD-5540A...

Dell has no drivers on their site for this and Dell support confirmed this. They do have drivers for the NEC ND6650A. Did I get an old DVD burner? I could request the ND6650A from customer service but I doubt I'd be successful.

 

Skye2, I have the same DVD Burner on my computer. I don't know if there is a specific driver for the Optiarc from this article it seems you can use the NEC driver. Why exactly do you need the drivers, I would think they would be in Windows SP SP2. I did a clean install of Windows Vista and it is using the Optiarc drivers within Windows driver database.

 

I think the Optiarc is an NEC burner.

 

I think it's a Sony/NEC collarboration. It's currently using a driver from 2001 and that may be good enough but I just wanted to be able to update them. I did a clean install as well and I think it's using a generic driver.

 

According to "Liggy's and Dee's modified NEC and Optiarc firmwares", the 5540 is newer than the 6650. I never would have thought. I expect Dell to post drivers in the future. I don't think I'll try to exchange it. Thanks everyone.

http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/5540/

 

That's the same burner I have. My laptop is 2 weeks old.

 

Hey folks,
Ive got the Optiarc AD-5540A burner too. I just went from Vista to XP sp2 and now the DVD won't read. It will do cd's. When I try to do dvd a message comes up that I don't have a driver. Its not on the dell website. Its not supplied with XP Pro and/or sp2. Anyone had to go trough this?

 

I can use a little help here if anyone has a minute.
I just did a clean install on my HD switching from Vista Home to XP pro SP2. I did this because 2 of my programs I must use at work will not be compatable with Vista for some time. All went well, the only problem I have is the DVD does not work and comes up with a message stating that there is no decoder available. Does this mean I have to Flash my DVD drive or just get the software? Evidently it is NOT in SP2. For that matter is this "flash" the drive software and is it also the decoder? Dell is at a loss as they had a hard time just believing I had the 5540A drive let alone know what the machine needs.
I'm no computer expert for sure so I dont know if there is a difference between the flash, the software and the decoder.
Any help appreciated.

 

Optical Drives, like HD Drives and other storage devices, do not require drivers. As a result, you'll never see a driver for an optical drive. What you are most likely seeing from Dell is new FIRMWARE for the ND6650A. The drive you have does not have any newer firmware (at least one that Dell approves of).

Firmware is basically the operating system for the device .

 

I have almost the same system as Skye2. Today, while trying to burn a cd and watch a dvd, my system suddenly started to freeze. I can do absolutely nothing but a hard reset.
As far as I can tell it only happened when a cd or dvd was in the drive. Not every time, but enough to be annoying.

Any ideas?