I have had my HP DVD 640C for a little over 2 1/2 years. I have never had a problem with it. A few days ago though the drive started locking up whenever I put disc in. I have no clue what could be going wrong. According to the computer there's nothing wrong with it. Any ideas?
@joker80, Please describe "locking up". Will the drive just not spin up, does your system itself lock up? Does your Device Manager see the drive? When was the last time you did a firmware upgrade? It could be a number of things, so it's really hard to say at this point.
When I insert a disk the light will come on for a few seconds and then nothing happens. When I push the eject button, nothing happens. The Device Manager sees the drive and says it's in working order. According to the HP DVD program, my firmware is up-to-date. When I try to use a program that involves the drive, the system will lock up.
Give this a try: Open your Device Manager and go to the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. Choose either the primary or secondary channel selection, depending how you have your drive installed, right click and select Properties. Go to Advanced Settings and make sure that if it isn't already, DMA is selected in your Transfer Mode. If you need to change it to DMA, do that and reboot. See how that works. Second option; Open your Device Manager, uninstall the drive and close the Device Manager. Reboot and let your system find and install the drive again. See how that works. If the two above won't do it for you, it's probably time to replace the drive. Good luck!
I tried both with no luck. I think I'll be picking up a new one tomorrow. OfficeMax has a HP 940i DVD Writer on sale for $49.99.
I'm looking at a new one too, myself. However, I have my eye on the Pioneer DVR-1810B5PK at BestBuy for $40. Don't know how well that one stacks up against the competition, though. But I'd say after over 2 years, you got your money's worth from the old one.
