I have a Pioneer DVD-115 (16x) DVD-ROM, and it wont read any DVD's that are colored gold, Windows just says "Please insert a disk into drive..." It will read DVD's that are silver fine, I haven’t tried reading any burnt DVD's (just regular movies) and regular CD's (audio or data) work fine. Related System Specs: - DVD-ROM: Pioneer DVD-115 (16x) DVD-ROM (In the device manager the DVD ROM shows up as "PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-115 SCSI CdRom Device") * Firmware: v1.33 (newest from Pioneer) * Drivers: Microsoft - v5.1.2535.0 - 7/1/2001(Pioneer's were for DOS only it seems) - Motherboard: ASUS A7V (VIA chipset with the latest "Hyperion" 4-in-1 drivers) - CPU: AMD Thunderbird 850MHz - Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - All In Wonder (with all the latest drivers) - OS: Windows XP (SP2) Everything used to work fine too, I hadn't used the drive in a while... but from my research so far it looks like this may have something to do with installing Windows XP's Service Pack 2 (SP2). I don't really want to go back to SP1 though... Solutions I've already tried: (that failed) - Firmware Updates - Driver Updates (Pioneer doesn't seem to have any for WinXP, only the ones that Microsoft auto detected seem to be accepted) - Removing the drive from the device manager and rebooting - Using a "cleaning CD" - Using multiple different DVD's, just incase I've seen a lot of other people that seem to have this problem as well, but no working solutions... I'm stuck! Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks Also, here are a few tips for anyone with similar problems to get at least as far as I have: To Install the Pioneer DVD-115 Firmware Update in WinXP: * Get the firmware update, currently v1.33 - Direct link: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3424/28895985115v133A.exe - Or you can manually visit: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/article/0,,2076_4249_47048,00.html and get the firmware update (115v133A.exe) * Extract the firmware patch somewhere (ex. "C:\temp") * Have old boot disk that will get to DOS (I had an old 98 boot disk laying around... if you don't have one, try http://www.bootdisk.com/) * Shutdown the computer, open the case, and make sure the IDE cable is only plugging into the 1 DVD device, and doesn't chain connect to anything else before plugging into the motherboard * Then make sure that the DVD-ROM is set as the "Master": - See the DVD-115 User’s Manual at http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3424/28895988dvd-115um.pdf - On page -5- there is a diagram of the back of the DVD-ROM in the top right (Fig.2), the number (8) is pointing to the jumper controls, and shows the numbering (#8 on the left, #1 to the right) - On page -6- is the description for (8) Device Configuration Jumper - Pin #1 (furthest to the right) is for Master mode, so use this one * Insert the boot disk and let it go to DOS, with CD ROM support (it should detect the DVD-ROM) * Install the firmware patch (if you don't know your way around DOS, you should be able to just type: c:\temp\up115.bat) * AFTER it finished patching, power off the computer (don't try to abort during the firmware patch, it could damage the DVD ROM permanently) * Put all the cables back the way you wanted them and put the case back on your computer * Remove the boot disk, and restart your computer Note: * This may apply to other Pioneer DVD-ROM models as well, and their firmware can be downloaded via http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/links/list/0,,2076_4249,00.html
My Pioneer DVD-115 recently developed this problem too. It used to play all DVD's just fine, but is now tempremental with certain discs including gold ones. After checking all the physical connections and reading your thread, I decided to just ease the pain and get a new replacement. It is not worth messing around troubleshooting for hours, for the sake of $25, and a 5 minute drive swap. Although I run Windows XP SP2, my problems started in Windows 98, so I doubt it is a operating system fault. I think my drive just started to get worn out, after 3+ years of hard use. Looking at your system specs, I would guess your system is over 3 years old too, thus your drive is probably past its best. I am not sure what the mean time to failure for DVD-115 drives are, but I would assume Pioneer engineers these cheap consumer drives down to a cost, with acceptable durability, rather than producing something that will last indefinately. I would advise you to just replace it.
Just a quick update... I recently installed a $25 Samsung SD-616, swapping out my Pioneer DVD-115. Every DVD I have tried plays great, including gold ones. Thanks incognit0 for saving me hours of head ache!
