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    My DVD drive is not reading Sony Brand DVD's

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by gemmy, Dec 16, 2007.

  1. gemmy

    gemmy Newbie

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    So I own a Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 (i know its old but it still good and running so i use it mainly) and I noticed that lately it's having trouble reading sony brand DVDs. at first I thought that perhaps there was just something wrong with the DVD so I popped in another and it still refuses to read it.
    There's media that I burnt on those DVD and i refuse to believe that both DVDs went bad so I popped the DVD in my other laptop and it worked. So I thought oh great my dvd drive is not working.
    Then the other day, hoping that maybe it was a fluke and thats why it wasnt reading DVDs i popped in another random DVD which was not a sony brand in fact in was a cheapo brand, and it worked! so I'm like great it works so I proceeded to pop in the DVD that I wanted to get something from which of course was a sony and it wouldnt read it...so i tried another non sony dvd -worked- tried a sony dvd -didnt work-
    oh, but it will still burn Sony Brand DVDs which kinda boggles me. for some reason once i load up my burner software and click on burn it will read it, other wise it wont read the blank Disc either ^^;

    so yeah..weird. anyways am I the only one with this problem or does that happen to sony laptops in general. (someone told me they had a similar problem before too however I dont know what model they own) and if this has happened to you what model do you own?
     
  2. dznutz

    dznutz Notebook Consultant

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    if you read these disks before but not now then i would suggest you use a lens cleaner for your drive.
    most likely your sony branded disks were of a bad batch which resulted in low quality burns. any dirt in the laser lens would make reading hard and moreso with bad batches.

    if you were never able to read these disks then i would suggest a firmware upgrade.

    btw, sony made disks are only those that are MADE IN JAPAN with the media identification number (use cd speed or some other program to read this) as "SONYxxx." if it's made in japan with a different media id then it could be ricoh japan, or taiyo yuden (the best). if it's made in taiwan then they contracted another company to make them. dual layers made in singapore (best dual layers) are made by verbatim. dual layers made in taiwan are by ritek (horrible).