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    Optical drive disappears in Vista???

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by JohnnyIrish, Aug 21, 2007.

  1. JohnnyIrish

    JohnnyIrish Notebook Geek

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    Alright, so here's a nice and intriguing situation. I've recently gotten a new Dell 1721 (see sig for specs, if necessary) and I'm happily enjoying Vista, despite its flaws.

    Here's one thing that's really bothering me though...

    Whenever I use the optical drive, to, let's say, watch a DVD, I'll finish watching it, and then, if I want to watch another one, I can insert it into the drive, but as soon as I put the disc in, the computer doesn't recognize the drive, and I have to manually eject the disc with a pin if I want to get it out again.

    No matter if it's ten seconds or seven hours after I've just done ANYTHING with the DVD/CD drive, the only way I can get the computer to find it again is by restarting the computer. It doesn't even show up in the device manager, once I'm done with the original disc I've used since I booted the computer and need to use the drive again.

    Any suggestions???
     
    JohnnyIrish, Aug 21, 2007
    #1
  2. Doodles

    Doodles Starving Student

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    so you cant even press the button to open it once it stops recognizing? Even an unrecognized drive should open wen u hit the button. It almost sounds as if its losing power.
     
    Doodles, Aug 21, 2007
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  3. hehe299792458

    hehe299792458 Notebook Deity

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    Have you tried upgrading the firmware of the DVD drive?
     
    hehe299792458, Aug 21, 2007
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  4. vaio2k7

    vaio2k7 Notebook Evangelist

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    I think you have the same problem I had. Look here:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=158024

    More importantly, go to this location in the Registry and delete "Upper Filters" and "Lower Filters"

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

    After deleting upper and lower filters, restart your computer and open the explorer. You should see your optical disc drive show up.

    I called Sony Support yesterday morning and they told me the same thing a fellow board member told me. Took my about twenty minutes on the phone with Sony but I resolved the problem.

    Hopefully you do too.
     
    vaio2k7, Aug 21, 2007
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  5. JohnnyIrish

    JohnnyIrish Notebook Geek

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    The drivers and firmware are up to date, it was the first thing I checked (the next time I rebooted when the device actually showed up in the device manager...

    But if all else fails, I'll do the registry hack. Thanks for all your help!!!
     
    JohnnyIrish, Aug 21, 2007
    #5