DVD RW behaving strangely
Hello. I have a dell 8300, about 3 years old, and it has a DVD RW, Philips DVD8601 HH 16X DVD+RW, that went weird on me yesterday. I'm kinda stuck, and not sure if its not a hardware issue now.
First, the problem first manifest when I couldn't read a data CD that I had. It came up as an audio CD, with a single .cda track that couldn't be read on it. I tried several other CD's, with the same result. I checked the drivers in tne device manager, and it came up as having no problems, but the driver name was a string of nonsense characters. ("HH-@T)SP RS/@V@ CCC-0480B" is what it had listed) I tried to update the driver and it wouldn't take the driver dell had on their site. I tried removing the drive and restarting the computer, but it came up with the same driver.
I also checked the bios, and the drive listed there had a similar string of somewhat random characters instead of a sensical name.
I tried a system restore, bios flash, ran a norton virus scan, and now I've run into a wall on what to do next. I'm starting to think its a hardware issue and maybe I should replace the drive, but its not under warrenty any longer and I want to make sure before I buy a new drive.
First, the problem first manifest when I couldn't read a data CD that I had. It came up as an audio CD, with a single .cda track that couldn't be read on it. I tried several other CD's, with the same result. I checked the drivers in tne device manager, and it came up as having no problems, but the driver name was a string of nonsense characters. ("HH-@T)SP RS/@V@ CCC-0480B" is what it had listed) I tried to update the driver and it wouldn't take the driver dell had on their site. I tried removing the drive and restarting the computer, but it came up with the same driver.
I also checked the bios, and the drive listed there had a similar string of somewhat random characters instead of a sensical name.
I tried a system restore, bios flash, ran a norton virus scan, and now I've run into a wall on what to do next. I'm starting to think its a hardware issue and maybe I should replace the drive, but its not under warrenty any longer and I want to make sure before I buy a new drive.
Callandor
Take it out and try it in another computer - if it exhibits the same symptoms, I would say the drive is dying and should be replaced.
Has symptoms of drive electronics failure. Won't hurt to test in another PC as Callandor suggested just to be certain.
This is an inexpensive DVD-RW drive that I've good luck with. Quiet and reliable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058 NEC ND-3550A
This is an inexpensive DVD-RW drive that I've good luck with. Quiet and reliable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058 NEC ND-3550A
ASKER
Well, I ended up getting an old regular CD drive, and put it it as the secondary master and put the dvd rw in as the secondary slave. Now it works, it picked up the right driver and is comming up as normal now. I'm pretty puzzled as to what the heck happened, but it works now.
I think the probs was with the physical IDE cable connections. When you added the secondary optical drive, u kinda reseated the connections and that did the trick. Remember, a typical IDE has 40 pins and different pins do different jobs.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.