have a philips 8631 that stopped working, the replacement doesn't work either, HELP

I bought an internal Philips 8631 dvdrw for my computer in January 2006. It worked beautifully for three and a half months and then ceased to recognize dvds. (same brands, same package of dvds) It became a dvdrom only overnight. I spent hours with Dell tech support, nice people, tried many things. They sent me a replacement - a Philips 8801. I installed that one and it never recognized a dvd at all, played a dvd movie fine but if I put a blank dvd (again, same brand, package) the icon on My Computer screen for that drive changed from "dvdrw on drive D:" to "cdrom on drive D:' No kidding, freaky to see but happened every time. After 3 hours with a dell tech again, I took the replacement out and put a plain old cdrom drive in and it works fine. This tells me it isn't the cables or basic computer. Has to be the Philips drive. Can anyone help? I have pretty good eomputer skills, but I am stumped. Dell is no help. Any assistance is appreciated.

 

What brand name/format/and speed rate?

Several possibilities:

1) Even though you are using the same brand name and packages,the MID codes can change.HP/Memorex/TDK/Maxell/Fuji/Sony/Philips/etc all outsource their media. Take maxell.

Using their dash 8x gold tops,there's 3 different manufacturers of them:
Hitachi
Ritek
Cmagnetics.

Huge quality difference if going from MXL-rg02 and getting into those cmags. 5 or so burn coasters in a row,and windows will revert to pio mode for safety purposes.


2) The firmware of the drive is another factor.Firmware controls the writing strategy of media.All dvd media has MID codes.The dvd-rw reads these codes,and burns according to the firmware. If the MID code isn't programmed into the firmware,then it'll kick it out as an illegal disc.It can also tell you it's a blank cd.

What's the firmware version of thaat Philips 8631?
Device manager/nero info tool are just a couple programs that will tell us the firmware version.

The firmware may need updated to the latest fw update.Especially if it's the newer 16x media.

I believe the philips 8631 is a rebadged Benq 1620. There's a humungous thread on this particular burner in the dvd-rw drives room.Give it a look.You may even find the latest firmware update for that drive there.


http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/179003

3)After ruling out firmware,Your drive may be lost.Usually if it won't play original/backup dvds/or recognize blank dvds. Go into device manager under cd-rom/dvd drives. Locate that specific drive/uninstall drivers/and reboot.

When I go into my computer and it opens up to all my drives, My hp drive is listed as dvd-rw drive. My benq is listed as a CD drive with a blank dvd inserted into it.When that benq drive is empty-my computer shows it's a dvd-rw drive again.But when I procede to burn with a disc inserted,nero sees it as a dvd-rw drive.


The firmware version or dvd-rw drive is lost,sounds like the likely culprits.Make sure the primary and secondary controllers say DMA/UDMA/or any of those 2 with If available.

 

I have a very similar problem with my DVD+-RW 8801, which Dell sent as a replacement for an NEC DVD+RW. My Dimension 8300 recognizes the drive as "CD-ROM" once I put a blank DVD. Dell says it's a software issue, but this is the same problem I hadd with the DVD+RW they replaced! Any ideas?

 

Thank you for the help. I had already updated the firmware and made sure it was dma but nothing worked. I got an external dvdrw, an i'o magic that came with nero. I took the Philips out and set up the external drive and it works like a champ. Dell won't credit me for the Philips so I just won't ever buy dell products again. It was two of their tech support staff that advised me to get the external 'other' brand after hours of attempting to fix the philips drive. It was a frustrating few weeks but now I can burn dvds and I learned alot from the experience. I guess the bottom line is avoid the philips. Thanks again for the help.

 

Just spent four hours on the phone with Dell. Their new proposal is to back up all my data and reinstall the OS. Not sure I want to do that, and not convinced it will fix the problem.

Any sage words of advice?

 

bradskill, the replacement that didn't work either was also a 8801 dell sent to replace the 8631. Dell's own tech support advised a new drive completely after two sessions lasting hours and trying everything. I did all the software adaptations and it still wouldn't work. I have to recommend an external drive, not a Phillips and nero software. Dell's FAQ pages are full of people who have had serious problems with the Philips hardware and still they send it and try to convince the person having the problem that it is them, not the hardware. I have been working with computers for years, hardware and software, and their condesending attitude really rubbed me the wrong way. No more Dell for this family. The external is working fine. It may be worth the extra expense to have the peace of mind. Sorry I can't be more help.

 

Thanks. I bought an external HP dvd840 and installed NERO software...
no luck, so I'm backing up data and reinstalling the OS.
fingers crossed.