My PC came with two LG DVD drives. (One of them has since ceased to work; according to the technician it was damaged by a power surge.) The model id according to Windows is: HAL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N. The remaining functioning drive has an on/off history of problems recognizing that a CD-R has been loaded in the tray. It usually takes several tries (opening the drawer and closing it again) until the text Windows Explorer shows against the drive letter changes from DVD-RAM drive to ... I've forgotten what it changes to, something with CD in it. I initially put this down to media incompatibility - it first happened with TDK CD-RWs made in Taiwan, now it's also happening with HP CD-RWs, also made in Taiwan. At the same time I never had any problems burning DVDs - both the standard 4.7GB DVD-Rs and the DLs (both made by Verbatim). I've noticed a comment in the sticky thread at the beginning of this forum that DVD burners aren't the best tool for burning CDs, but the detection problem happens well before I can even tell it that I want to burn a CD. What made me look for help is that now the drive also doesn't recognize a recorded CD that I bought after a concert (independent production by the artists). I can play that CD on my Pioneer DVD/CD player hooked up to the stereo, on the CD player in the car, and also on a recently acquired Sony Bluray Disc Player. But the LG drive doesn't want to know that there's a CD in the tray. I have asked Windows to update my drivers but it says it can't find anything better than what I've got. Any suggestions of what the cause of the problem might be and how I can overcome it? In case the answer is "buy another drive," please also suggest which one. TIA GatoMedio
Power surge that only took out the drive? I doubt it. Maybe both drives are faulty. Try original CD's and DVD's to see what happens. Optical drives are plug and prey. So with just basic windows drivers and decent codecs all should work just fine. Jeff
Thanks for answering. The story about the power surge is a little more complex. I was just trying to avoid details that I thought were not necessary for my question. A little over a year ago we had a heavy thunderstorm, with falling trees taking down power lines and by some kind of domino effect shutting down several power stations. But before the blackout there was a power surge which damaged some people's equipment. In my case it "burnt" the power supply in my PC. I took it to the shop to have the power supply replaced. When the PC came back I noticed that one of my DVD drives didn't show up in the Explorer window. When I asked the technician about it, he said, "Oh, that one didn't work anymore. It probably got burnt too. I just disconnected it." I have tried original CDs and DVDs and they are recognized. Your comment about "plug and prey" is a nice play on words, but I'm not sure how I should understand it. You make it sound as if buying a DVD drive is some kind of lottery. Fact is that a large number of households (not to mention businesses) use PCs and that many of those have at least one CD/DVD drive. You seem to be suggesting that the part of the industry that makes these drives isn't mature enough to produce predictable, reliable equipment. I'd rather think that these drives, having a large proportion of moving parts, are subject to some kind of wear, and that they lose accuracy and predictability after a while. I had hoped that somebody out there would report a similar experience and could confirm that replacing the drive was the answer - or suggest some other action. As it happens, I am planning to retire my current PC some time next year after four years of service and I'm kind of loath to spend money on the old one.
Plug and play is a play on words from when MS was pushing the new at the time plug and play. It used to take a little more effort to configure peripherals and third party cards to work properly before PnP. It is possible to knock out the drives during T-storms. In one case my uncles C: drive stopped working. First mind first thought it was the drive had failed. Nope I tested the drive and it was AOK. The storm knocked out the controller on the Asus motherboard. Found a replacement MB for $64.00 + shipping. Jeff
If it's an IDE drive, uninstall the controller and reboot. If system is XP, run ImgBurn and 'Tools '> 'Filter Driver Load order'. If there are 'filter driver name' entries for 'Upper class filter' or 'Lower class filter' remove them.
Thanks for the suggestions. My system is XP, so I used ImgBurn and removed the entries (one each) for Upper class filter and lower class filter. It didn't make any difference to my problem. So I thought perhaps the change only becomes effective after a reboot. Had to wait for a convenient time to reboot, but the end result is the same: no change to my problem. BTW you didn't mention Upper Device filter and Lower Device filter. ImgBurn shows that I've got one each of those as well, but I didn't touch them. Should I have taken them out as well? As far as your first suggestion is concerned (should I have done the two in conjunction or is it one or the other), how do I find out if the drive is IDE? How would I uninstall the controller if it's the case. (Sorry, but my technical knowledge is very limited.)
Don't remove anymore filters. Uninstalling the controllers can be done from ImgBurn (if there is no IDE controller, it will tell you). If it finds any, it will instruct you to reboot. The drivers and drives are re-detected. It doesn't do any harm to the PC. Click Tools > Reset DMA and note any result.
