Sony CD/DVD Drive problem.

Hello

I have 2 Sony Laptop in the pass, SZ360 makes my third one. Anyways, I came to a conclusion that Sony has serious problem with their CD / DVD Drive on their laptop. All 3 of my Sony laptop have problems with the CD / DVD Drive. They neither do burn disc properly or they broke within half a year. My R505 can not read any CD, the T150 can not burn CD or DVD properly and my SZ360 can not even load the DVD Recovery disc I've made when I first brought it.

Right now, my SZ360 can not read anything (CD and DVD). Windows still detects the drive but when I pop in a disc, it will spin for 1-2 sec and stop. I've try uninstalling the drivers but it did not solve the problem.. Arghhhhh

Is it just me or is Sony laptop CD / DVD Drives a bit weak?

Ch28Kid

 

There are many problem w/ Sony CD/DVD drives.

JC

 

Well, I'm sure that just about none of the drives in Sony notebooks are made by Sony themselves, I think the largest supplier of their drives in their latest notebooks are Matshita/Matsushita.

 

mine just stopped working today, its werid i was using it just yesterday, I gotta ship it in a have it fixed soon, but I dont really need it.

 

Mine is working fine...
My old dell laptop's drive was terrible...it broke in less than a year!

 

You guys are giving me rough time.
I intended to buy SZ but this thread is not making me happy at all !

 

Check to see if theres a firmware update for your drive.

 

My expereince:

I know for certain that Sony's CD drives don't work well. My old E1505 had a sony one and it broke in 2 months (stopped burning dvds). Dell replaced the part and gave me a Philips, which worked better than the sony.

Anyways, out of all the dvd burners for laptops, NEC makes the best ones. Philips and Matsushita (Panasonic) are ok. Sony drives are not only louder than competing ones, but break within two months.

That prolem shouldn't make u chg ur mind about buying a notebook. if the part has a problem, just have the manufacture replace it with another one. I asked dell specifically not to get me another sony dvd burner and they listened.

And for ppl who wanna buy a sony vaio but do not want their cd drives, just buy a replacement off newegg (about $60) and get the NEC.

 

I've sent my SZ360 to Sony 5 days ago.

I plan to get a external DVD Drive.

I don't think I will be replacing anything until my 1 year warranty expires, but thx tho.

 

Why are you worrying? if u want a VAIO...go and get it...its the best computer on this planet.

the cd drives are fine...sony makes quality things...
also it wouldnt matter if it broke..u are under warranty!!!!
just call up sony and ask for a replacement.

 

I got a VAIO here too and so far it didn't show any problems. Well hardware ones at least. I had problem with faulty burned discs, but nce I changed to nero (from the default roxio program), everything went back to normal *shrug*.

 

Have you tried the matshita firmware upgrade available from sony support?
Also get hold of a can of compressed air. The lens may be dirty.

 

Well I think the DVD drive was working perfectly before Christmas

but during Xmas, I've been watching a lot of DVD on my laptop, I forgot to take the disc out. I always had my disc inside while its running and I always bring it to different places around the house to watch DVD. I think somehow the DVD just broke cause I was moving my laptop WAYYYY to much while it was running....

errrrrr....

And BTW, the Matshita firmware update doesn't work for me.

 

If it is still under warranty, have sony replace the dvd. Also concerning the DVDs you burn not reading properly in other drives, have you tried other better medias? like verbatim or maxel?

 

It seems that the problem is particularly associated ưith SZ Premium which is fragile.

 

Sony SZs typically use Matshita (Panasonic) DVD drives. That brand doesn't make very good drives. I had one of the Matshita DVD drives on a Toshiba laptop (as well as my SZ) & that Matshita drive on the Toshiba doesn't work very well. They tend to be very picky reading the media as well even when the CDs/DVDs are original discs & not burned/copied disks.

maomanmaman, I know you're trying your best to help but the SZ uses the super slim drives so getting the regular notebook drives such as the ones like the NEC-6650 or AD-5540 are just not an option.

 

Sony is not the best on this planet, but their notebooks are ok. i wouldnt recommend their stuff, since theres a bunch of other companies who make nicer notebooks (ASUS, HP Compaq NC series, Lenovo, Apple, etc.).

personally, i would call sony to replace the dvd drive if you got a defective one. perhaps tell them to give u another brand's dvd drive. There's many stories about sony drives breaking after 2-3 months (talk about the PS2 with disc read errors), but it's not a big deal since dvd drives are replaceable. just order another brand's dvd drive from newegg if u're out of warranty and the drive is broken.

the dvd drive shouldn't be a deciding factor in picking a notebook.

SpeedwithJJ, i think the matshita dvd drives are pretty good now. they're somewhat better and quieter than the new sony dvd drives i've used. anyways, it's just preference. matshita's drives are so-so.
Anyways, if the SZ uses super slim drives as u said (never had a SZ, so dunno), it'l be harder to look for online. when shopping online, theres other brands who sell super slim drives. find one that's not made by sony and it's all good.