The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    DVD-RW drive problems

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Harleyquin07, Apr 22, 2009.

  1. Harleyquin07

    Harleyquin07 エミヤ

    Reputations:
    603
    Messages:
    3,376
    Likes Received:
    78
    Trophy Points:
    116
    This has been bothering me for some time but lately it's become worse. Basically when I first startup my PC the DVD-drive will not automatically succeed in reading any disc that has been placed into the tray. I generally hear the drive attempt to read the disc but instead of the disc spinning up faster as the read is successful it will make a few short sounds before the drive powers down and restarts the read process again.

    Normally a restart of my PC gets the drive to read discs 1st time but it doesn't always work and one CD-R I've been trying to run generally takes ages and a lot of taking out and replacing before the drive relents and reads the disc.

    Anyone experienced this (odd) problem before and have any suggestions on how to fix it? I've gone to Dell's support website and updated the firmware for the drive to the latest version but it doesn't seem to have helped.
     
  2. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    7,515
    Messages:
    8,733
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Does this happen in safe mode as well?
    From the sound of it, it seems like a faulty optical drive.
     
  3. Harleyquin07

    Harleyquin07 エミヤ

    Reputations:
    603
    Messages:
    3,376
    Likes Received:
    78
    Trophy Points:
    116
    Never tried running a disc in safe mode. Does a slight laptop elevation (The front two corners are kept up by bottlecaps) affect the drive's ability to read discs?
     
  4. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    7,515
    Messages:
    8,733
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    It shouldn't, unless the drive is faulty.
     
  5. Harleyquin07

    Harleyquin07 エミヤ

    Reputations:
    603
    Messages:
    3,376
    Likes Received:
    78
    Trophy Points:
    116
    Bugger, sounds like that 3 year warranty should come into play soon. Thanks for the advice.