Acer Notebook - DVD ROM works, CD-ROM does not

[Tim58]

I have an Acer Travelmate 4011 Notebook with a combo CD/DVD RW Drive.
Up until recently I could read & burn CD's with no problem.

I thought it peculiar that if the drive was fried, I could still see it in Win XP Device Manager & it is reported as working properly.

I put a DVD Disk in and it plays fine.

Device Manager is reporting this as a DVD RW, not the combo it used to be.

Is this a Driver issue?
Any ideas on how I can recover?

 

[wahnula]

Tim58,

It is not uncommon for one mode to stop working in combo drives. I've had combos that didn't work with CDs and ones that didn't work with DVds while recording/playing the other format just fine.

Don't give up yet...try a CD lens cleaner disk ($10 at Radio Shack) and a few half-second bursts of canned air to perhaps get it back up.

Question: is this a removable/modular drive (look for a release button on the bottom). Perhaps re-seating the module might help.

Tony

 

[Tim58]

No, the drive isn't removable/modular. I did try compressed air but will try the lens cleaner next.

What do think about removing the drive in Device Manager & seeing if it resolves itself on a re-boot?

 

[wahnula]

What do think about removing the drive in Device Manager & seeing if it resolves itself on a re-boot?

Cannot hurt. If you are worried set a System Restore point before you do this. You can also try to do a System Restore to a time when the drive was known working.

Tony