P-7811FX DVD/CD-ROM Drive

Hi everyone and E-wrecked!

My CD Drive reads blank DVDs and game DVDs, it also burns on DVD, but it doesn't read blank CDs or music CDs nor does it burn on CDs.

 

Buddy..that's a tough one. Could be a million(give or take 990,000) different things. If it reads a regular music CD, not burned..then it should read a CD+-R. Someone else posted this problem a while back. Try Device manager and uninstall the driver, then allow windows to re-install? Or search for some updated drivers? Or, just make sure your software isn't the issue. This one is way too vague but if you describe the issue, Im sure folks around here can help.

 

I uninstalled the driver from the Device Manager and then reboot the laptop. It installed successfully, but it still can't read any CD. It reads blank DVDs and game DVDs, it also burns on DVD, but it doesn't read blank CDs or music CDs nor does it burn on CDs.

 

Try a different burning program? CDBurnerXP is a great freeware program.. Im sure there's an easy fix for it.. something under the CDRom properties.. couldnt tell ya man. Hopefully someone comes along and has some useful input.

 

How did you determine that it doesn't read them? By simply putting it in the drive and waiting for the autorun window to pop up? Or did you put in a music CD and then actually bring up Media Player and direct Media player to play the CD? Also, what are you using for blank media? Is it brand new or something you've had around the house of awhile?

 

I have had this before too, completely random. Just restart

 

fiziks, when I try right clicking on the CD Drive in My Computer it becomes Not Responding and the same happens when I try to access the options in Windows Media Player. The CD Drive just makes some crazy noises and I tried some blank CDs that were lying around for a while and some recent ones.

narsnail, doesn't help.

I tried the method to delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters as well from the registry, although only the UpperFilters was present so it's the only one I deleted; that didn't change anything.

 

Do you have another laptop to test the Rom in? It can be easily swapped out.. sounds to me like it may be bad.

 

Well my dad has an old laptop and my mom, an even older one. I also think it might be a hardware problem. Once I was burning a music CD, but I made a mistake in the order so I pressed cancel because I was in a hurry. It would'nt cancel so I restarted the laptop; ever since, nothing.

I just tried burning on a CD-RW:

 

Well, you'll need someone with a SATA based laptop to test it on.. or a desktop with a sata cable to plug into. What software programs have you tried burning with?

 

What were you using to burn the CD? Do you still have the CD you were burning? Pop it in the drive and see if it is recognize and/or the software you were using will allow you to complete the write. It's a longshot. Windows may have decided not to let you see a new CD unless you complete the previous write. Rebooting during a burn is generally a bad idea, and Windows should be able to recover, but I've seen stranger things when burning.

 

fiziks, Power2Go, it came with the laptop. I popped the CD back in and opened up Power2Go, but no success. Nothing happens, the laptop doesn't recognize the CD in any way. I contacted Gateway through their support site and they redirected me to a troubleshooting page: http://support.gateway.com/s/Checklists/BPC/ck2007030743.shtml. I did everything, except reseating cables, and nothing worked. I sent them another message, asking if they'd want me to open up my laptop and reseat the CD Drive cables.

 

Could someone upload a screenshot or post what they see under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" in the Device Manager of their P-7811FX? I only have Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller and I think I might be missing something under there, causing the misfunctioning of my CD Drive.

 

I can't believe you're still trying to fix this man! Take it in for repair, or send it in.. Or, call Gway and ask for a "Level 2 Tech" and don't let the level one groupies waste your time. And if that doesn't resolve it immediately, then find Jakamo on these foums and call the "escalated issues" number in his signature.

 

hey zubzub, im having a similar issue, except for me my drive will not read anything!!!

when i uninstall the drivers, vista attempts to reinstall them but gives me an error..

anyways.. if you find a fix let me know.. vice verca.

 

I called them up and the tech lady was very nice. She told me the CD Rom laser is probably not functional and the warranty covers the drive. Even though I bought it in USA, I have the option to ship it to Ontario, which is really awesome considering it would've been a mess if it had to go back to USA.

 

May be they can ship you the drive. It's really easy to swap DVD RW drive. That's what Dell did when my Inspiron had a bad drive.

 

I pretty sure if I ask them to ship me a new drive they'll tell me they have to analyze the problem or something of the sort because they could be sending me a brand new drive while mine is still good (even though it's not in reality).

 

I will be real reluctant to ship the laptop for fear of damage. I don't know how to convince Gateway that your drive is bad. Dell has a hardware diagnostic in their bios and that was the proof they needed.

But I do not see Gateway equivalent. May be you can work out an exchange program if it is possible.

Good luck and Happy New Year.

 

HP also ships just the DVD drive

Is gateway supplying you with a box to ship the thing to them? I know here in the USA, HP ships empty Boxes with foam inserts for all Repairs with prepaid postage.

 

Nope, they sent me an e-mail with the address of the place, instructions on what kind of packaging to put the laptop in and to use a company that provides shipment tracking. (They're not covering the shipping fees, by the way.)

EDIT: They won't let me send the optical drive only because they say it's non "user replaceable". They cover the shipping fees when sending the laptop back.